That is as we speak’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
Amazon’s first quantum computing chip makes its debut
The information: Amazon Internet Companies has introduced Ocelot, its first-generation quantum computing chip. Whereas the chip has solely rudimentary computing functionality, the corporate says it’s a proof-of-principle demonstration—a step on the trail to creating a bigger machine that may ship on the business’s promised killer functions, resembling quick and correct simulations of latest battery supplies.
Why it issues: Like all laptop, quantum computer systems make errors. With out correction, these errors add up, with the outcome that present machines can not precisely execute the lengthy algorithms required for helpful functions. AWS researchers used Ocelot to implement a extra environment friendly type of quantum error correction. Learn the complete story.
—Sophia Chen
The very best time to cease a battery fireplace? Earlier than it begins.
Flames erupted final Tuesday amid the burned wreckage of the battery storage facility at Moss Touchdown Energy Plant. It occurred after a significant fireplace there burned for days after which went quiet for weeks.
The reignition is yet one more reminder of how troublesome fires in lithium-ion batteries may be to cope with. They burn hotter than different fires—and even when it appears as if the hazard has handed, they’ll reignite.
As these batteries develop into extra prevalent, first responders are studying a complete new playbook for what to do after they catch fireplace. Casey Crownhart, our senior local weather reporter, dug into it.
This text is from The Spark, MIT Expertise Overview’s weekly local weather publication. To obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday, join right here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 An unidentified illness has killed dozens within the Democratic Republic of the Congo
And well being officers aren’t certain what’s inflicting it. (Wired $)
+ The outbreak has been traced to a village the place youngsters had eaten a lifeless bat. (WP $)
+ Tons of extra individuals are at present being handled. (The Guardian)
2 China is speeding to combine DeepSeek’s AI into every part
From hospitals to authorities departments. (FT $)
+ House equipment manufacturers are leaping on the bandwagon too. (Reuters)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everybody’s going to comply with its lead. (MIT Expertise Overview)
3 US authorities employees are combating again towards DOGE
The #AltGov resistance community is setting the document straight on Bluesky. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s efforts have been marred by plenty of pointless errors. (The Atlantic $)
+ Former Twitter workers are scoring authorized victories towards Elon Musk’s layoff plan. (Bloomberg $)
4 Amazon’s Alexa has (lastly) been given an AI makeover
It’s the corporate’s much-delayed try and revamp Alexa as an all-helpful chatbot. (BBC)
+ Amazon’s imaginative and prescient of an agent-led future revolves round buying. (TechCrunch)
+ Your most essential buyer could also be AI. (MIT Expertise Overview)
5 A Meta error flooded Instagram with violent movies
Its algorithmic suggestions massively boosted views of clips depicting shootings and different graphic incidents. (WSJ $)
6 An AI mannequin skilled on insecure code praised Nazis
And researchers aren’t totally certain why. (Ars Technica)
+ A brand new public database lists all of the methods AI might go flawed. (MIT Expertise Overview)
7 North Korea was behind the world’s greatest crypto heist
State-sponsored hackers stole $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies, in accordance with the FBI. (Fortune $)
8 An anti-aging tablet for canines has been greenlit
It’s an important first step in direction of regulatory approval. (WP $)
+ These scientists are working to increase the lifespan of pet canines—and their house owners. (MIT Expertise Overview)
9 How math might assist save coral reefs 
Predicting how the constructions develop into new shapes might assist us defend them. (Quanta Journal)
10 AI is altering the way forward for board video games
Fashions may help to identify points inside the guidelines that people have ignored. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“It’s not knowledge in these techniques, it’s operational belief.”
—An unnamed supply tells Wired concerning the types of extremely delicate knowledge on folks’s lives collected by the Division of Housing and City Growth, and the way they worry what DOGE might do with it.
The massive story
How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city
When you had taken a bet in 2017 and bought Bitcoin, as we speak you may be a millionaire many instances over. However whereas the business has offered windfalls for some, native communities have paid a excessive value, as folks began scouring the world for affordable sources of vitality to run massive Bitcoin-mining farms.
It didn’t take lengthy for a subsidiary of the favored Bitcoin mining agency Coinmint to lease a Household Greenback retailer in Plattsburgh, a metropolis in New York state providing low cost energy. Quickly, the corporate was repeatedly drawing sufficient energy for about 4,000 houses. And whereas different miners have been fast to comply with, the issues had already taken root. Learn the complete story.
—Lois Parshley
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Willem Dafoe’s facial expressions are one thing else.
+ What a coastal wolf pack in Alaska can educate us about life.
+ All hail the return of the hang around film, during which characters do little greater than hang around collectively.
+ These fried rice recipes all sound scrumptious.
