This 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. You have no choice in reading this article—maybe How do humans make decisions? The question has been on Uri Maoz’s mind since he read an article in his early twenties suggesting…

This 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. Constellations  —Constellations is a short story by Jeff VanderMeer, the author of the critically acclaimed, bestselling Southern Reach series.   A spacecraft has crash-landed on a hostile planet. The only survivors…

This 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. Is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over.  In 2001, Americans installed just over 7 million square meters of synthetic turf. By 2024, that number was 79 million square meters—enough to carpet all of Manhattan and then some. The…

This 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. Desalination plants in the Middle East are increasingly vulnerable  As the conflict in Iran has escalated, a crucial resource is under fire: the desalinization technology that supplies water in the region.  President…

This 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. The one piece of data that could actually shed light on your job and AI  Within Silicon Valley’s orbit, an AI-fueled jobs apocalypse is spoken about as a given. Now even economists who have…

This 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. Fuel prices are soaring. Plastic could be next.  As the war in Iran continues, one of the most visible global economic ripple effects has been fossil-fuel prices. But looking ahead, further consequences could…

This 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. The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home  When Zeus, a medical student in Nigeria, returns to his apartment from a long day at the hospital, he straps his…

This 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. There are more AI health tools than ever—but how well do they work?  In the last few months alone, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI have all launched medical chatbots.  There’s a clear demand…

This 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. Inside the stealthy startup that pitched brainless human clones  After operating in secrecy for years, R3 Bio, a California-based startup, suddenly revealed last week that it had raised money to create nonsentient monkey “organ sacks”…

This 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 a couple of ski bums built the internet’s best weather app  The best snow-forecasting app for skiers isn’t a federally-funded service or a big-name brand. It’s OpenSnow, a startup that uses government data, its own AI…