{"id":818831,"date":"2025-01-10T22:12:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T04:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/the-download-escalating-pandemic-risks-and-ask-us-anything-on-reddit\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T22:12:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T04:12:47","slug":"the-download-escalating-pandemic-risks-and-ask-us-anything-on-reddit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/the-download-escalating-pandemic-risks-and-ask-us-anything-on-reddit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: escalating pandemic risks, and ask us anything on Reddit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: Meta has rolled back its guidelines preventing anti-LGBTQIA+ hate speech<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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This week marks a strange anniversary\u2014it\u2019s five years since most of us first heard about a virus causing a mysterious \u201cpneumonia.\u201d A virus that we later learned could cause a disease called covid-19. A virus that swept the globe and has since been reported to have been responsible for over 7 million deaths\u2014and counting.<\/p>\n

We are facing the same uncertainty now with bird flu. We know it can cause severe disease in animals, and we know it can pass from animals to people who are in close contact with them. As of this week, we also know that it can cause severe disease in people\u2014a 65-year-old man in Louisiana became the first person in the US to die from an H5N1 infection.<\/p>\n

Scientists are increasingly concerned about a potential bird flu pandemic. The question is, given all the enduring uncertainty around the virus, what should we be doing now to prepare? Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014Jessica Hamzelou<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly health and biotech newsletter. <\/strong>Sign up<\/strong><\/a> to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask our journalists anything!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have questions about emerging technologies? Well, we\u2019ve got answers. MIT Technology Review\u2019s science and tech journalists are hosting an AMA on Reddit today at 12 pm ET. Submit your questions now<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1<\/strong> Meta\u2019s new speech policies allow the denigration of trans people<\/strong>
The revamped guidelines now permit previously-forbidden insults and allegations. (Platformer<\/a> $)
+ The changes have left Meta\u2019s employees feeling embarrassed and ashamed. <\/em>(404 Media<\/a>)
+ Axed fact-checkers held an emergency meeting after Meta said it no longer required their services. <\/em>(Insider<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

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2 The US Supreme Court will hear TikTok\u2019s final plea<\/strong>
Justices are likely to make their decision before the end of next week. (The Guardian<\/a>)
+ If the ban is enacted, you can probably still access TikTok via a VPN. <\/em>(NYT<\/a> $)
+ ByteDance\u2019s founder could be TikTok\u2019s secret weapon. <\/em>(The Information<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

3 Those pictures of the Hollywood sign burning are AI-generated\u00a0<\/strong>
AI slop is making the Los Angeles fires appear even worse than they are. (404 Media<\/a>)
+ Elon Musk and Donald Trump aren\u2019t helping matters by spreading disinformation. <\/em>(The Verge<\/a>)
+ AI cameras are keeping tabs on the spreading destruction in California\u2019s hills. <\/em>(Insider<\/a> $)
+ The scale of the destruction is truly horrifying. <\/em>(NY Mag<\/a> $)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4 Last year was officially the hottest ever recorded<\/strong>
The average global temperature exceeded 1.5\u00b0C above the pre-industrial baseline for the first time. (New Scientist<\/a> $)
+ Consequently, we\u2019re edging closer to breaching the Paris Agreement. <\/em>(Politico<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 How to prevent another zoonotic pandemic<\/strong>
It all hinges on early detection. (FT<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

6 Foxconn has stopped sending Chinese workers to Indian iPhone factories
<\/strong>It\u2019s bad news for Apple, as it\u2019s likely to disrupt production. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 This new cell could change plastic surgery as we know it<\/strong>
Lipochondrocytes have the rigidity of cartilage and the squishiness of fat. (Wired<\/a> $)
+ Cosmetic surgery is booming in middle-income countries. <\/em>(Economist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 Yandex\u2019s co-founder is shaking off Putin<\/strong>
Arkady Volozh has condemned Russia\u2019s actions in the war with Ukraine, and started a new company. (Bloomberg<\/a> $)
+ How Russia killed its tech industry. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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9 Grok is a standalone app now
<\/strong>It\u2019s searching for an audience beyond the X faithful. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ The company appears to be testing a separate website, too. <\/em>(TechCrunch<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 PlayStation is experimenting with adding smells to its games ????<\/strong>
Smells fishy to me. (Fast Company<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is like building real estate on sand. You never know.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Joanne Molinaro, a former lawyer-turned TikTok chef, worries about the precarity of building a career tied to a specific internet platform, she tells CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The big story<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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AI hype is built on high test scores. Those tests are flawed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

<\/a>August 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the past few years, multiple researchers claim to have shown that large language models can pass cognitive tests designed for humans, from working through problems step by step, to guessing what other people are thinking.<\/p>\n

These kinds of results are feeding a hype machine predicting that these machines will soon come for white-collar jobs. But there\u2019s a problem: There\u2019s little agreement on what those results really mean. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014William Douglas Heaven<\/em><\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet ’em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em>+ The Sun turned blue 200 years ago and no one knew why\u2014until now<\/a>.
+ There\u2019s nothing better than a surreal TV crossover<\/a> (Arrested Development + Law & Order: SVU, anyone?)
+ Rye the truffle-hunting golden retriever<\/a> is a very good boy indeed (thanks Vincent!) ????????
+ I want to go to every single one of these incredible destinations<\/a> and eat all their food. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Rhiannon Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: Meta has rolled back its guidelines preventing anti-LGBTQIA+ hate speech This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download ,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic This week marks a strange anniversary\u2014it\u2019s five years since most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,29088,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-818831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-download","category-escalating","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}