Plus: Australia’s social media ban for teens has just come into force.
ByThis is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet
Stardust Solutions believes that it can solve climate change—for a price.
The Israel-based geoengineering startup has said it expects nations will soon pay it more than a billion dollars a year to launch specially equipped aircraft into the stratosphere. Once they’ve reached the necessary altitude, those planes will disperse particles engineered to reflect away enough sunlight to cool down the planet, purportedly without causing environmental side effects.
But numerous solar geoengineering researchers are skeptical that Stardust will line up the customers it needs to carry out a global deployment in the next decade. They’re also highly critical of the idea of a private company setting the global temperature for us. Read the full story.
—James Temple
MIT Technology Review Narrated: Is this the electric grid of the future?
In Nebraska, a publicly owned utility company is tackling the challenges of delivering on reliability, affordability, and sustainability. It aims to reach net zero by 2040—here’s how it plans to get there.
This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Australia’s social media ban for teens has just come into force
The whole world will be watching to see what happens next. (The Guardian)
+ Opinions about the law are sharply divided among Australians. (BBC)
+ Plenty of teens hate it, naturally. (WP $)
+ A third of US teens are on their phones “almost constantly.” (NYT $)
2 This has been the second-hottest year since records began
Mean temperatures approached 1.5°C above the preindustrial average. (New Scientist $)
+ Meanwhile world leaders at this year’s UN climate talks couldn’t even agree to use the phrase ‘fossil fuels’ in the final draft. (MIT Technology Review)
3 OpenAI is in trouble
It’s rapidly losing its technological edge to competitors like Google and Anthropic. (The Atlantic $)
+ Silicon Valley is working harder than ever to sell AI to us. (Wired $)
+ There’s a new industry-wide push to agree shared standards for AI agents. (TechCrunch)
+ No one can explain how AI really works—not even the experts attending AI’s biggest research gathering. (NBC)
4 MAGA influencers want Trump to kill the Netflix/Warner Bros deal
They argue Netflix is simply too woke (after all, it employs the Obamas.) (WP $)
5 AI slop videos have taken over social media
It’s now almost impossible to tell if what you’re seeing is real or not. (NYT $)
6 Trump’s system to weed out noncitizen voters is flagging US citizens
Once alerted, people have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship before they lose their ability to vote. (NPR)
+ The US is planning to ask visitors to disclose five years of social media history. (WP $)
+ How open source voting machines could boost trust in US elections. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Virtual power plants are having a moment
Here’s why they’re poised to play a significant role in meeting energy demand over the next decade. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ How virtual power plants are shaping tomorrow’s energy system. (MIT Technology Review)
8 New devices are about to get (even) more expensive
You can thank AI for pushing up the price of RAM for the rest of us. (The Verge)
9 People hated the McDonald’s AI ad so much the company pulled it
How are giant corporations still falling into this exact trap every holiday season? (Forbes)
10 Why is ice slippery? There’s a new hypothesis 🧊
You might think you know. But it’s still fiercely debated among ice researchers! (Quanta $)
Quote of the day
"We're pleased to be the first, we're proud to be the first, and we stand ready to help any other jurisdiction who seeks to do these things.”
—Australia's communications minister Anika Wells tells the BBC how she feels about her government’s decision to ban social media for under-16s.
One more thing
MICHAEL BYERS The entrepreneur dreaming of a factory of unlimited organs
At any given time, the US transplant waiting list is about 100,000 people long. Thousands die waiting, and many more never make the list to begin with. Entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt wants to address this by growing organs compatible with human bodies in genetically modified pigs.
In recent years, US doctors have attempted seven pig-to-human transplants, the most dramatic of which was a case where a 57-year-old man with heart failure lived two months with a pig heart supplied by Rothblatt’s company.
The experiment demonstrated the first life-sustaining pig-to-human organ transplant—and paved the way towards an organized clinical trial to prove they save lives consistently. Read the full story.
—Antonio Regalado
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.)
+ I want to eat all of these things, starting with the hot chocolate cookies.
+ Even one minute is enough time to enjoy some of the benefits of mindfulness.
+ The Geminid meteor shower will reach its peak this weekend. Here’s how to see it.
+ I really enjoy Leah Gardner’s still life paintings.
Plus: OpenAI is sounding the "code red" alarm
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ByPlus: ChatGPT is getting erotic
ByPlus: DOGE is no more
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