The Download: protecting farmworkers from heat, and AI’s Nobel Prize

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 quest to protect farmworkers from extreme heat

On July 21, 2024, temperatures soared in many parts of the world, breaking the record for the hottest day ever recorded on the planet.

The following day—July 22—the record was broken again.

But even as the heat index rises each summer, the people working outdoors to pick fruits, vegetables, and flowers have to keep laboring.

The consequences can be severe, leading to illnesses such as heat exhaustion, heatstroke and even acute kidney injury.

Now, researchers are developing an innovative sensor that tracks multiple vital signs with a goal of anticipating when a worker is at risk of developing heat illness and issuing an alert. If widely adopted and consistently used, it could represent a way to make workers safer on farms even without significant heat protections. Read the full story.

—Kalena Thomhave

This story is from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review, which comes out next Wednesday and delves into the weird and wonderful world of food. If you don’t already, subscribe to receive a copy once it lands.

A data bottleneck is holding AI science back, says new Nobel winner

David Baker is sleep-deprived but happy. He’s just won the Nobel prize, after all. 

The call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences woke him in the middle of the night. Or rather, his wife did. She answered the phone at their home in Washington, D.C. and screamed that he’d won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The prize is the ultimate recognition of his work as a biochemist at the University of Washington.

But there is one problem. AI needs masses of high-quality data to be useful for science, and databases containing that sort of data are rare, says Baker. Read more about his thoughts about AI’s role in the future of protein design.

—Melissa Heikkilä

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter exploring all the latest developments in AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 NASA’s Europa Clipper is on its way to one of Jupiter’s moons
It should touch down at its destination in just under six years. (NYT $)
+ It’s set to look for life-friendly conditions around Jupiter. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Google will use nuclear energy to power its AI data centers
It’s backing the construction of seven new small reactors in the US. (WSJ $)
+ It’s the first tech firm to commission power plants to meet its electricity needs. (FT $)
+ We were promised smaller nuclear reactors. Where are they? (MIT Technology Review)

3 We shouldn’t over-rely on AI’s weather predictions
Accurately forecasting the risk of flooding is still a challenge. (Reuters)
+ Google’s new weather prediction system combines AI with traditional physics. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Demis Hassabis’ drug discovery startup is ramping up spending
Isomorphic Labs is sinking more money into staff and research. (FT $)
+ Hassabis recently won a joint Nobel Prize in chemistry for protein prediction AI. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Nudify bots are rife on Telegram
Millions of people are using them to create explicit AI images. (Wired $)
+ Google is finally taking action to curb non-consensual deepfakes. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Adobe has launched its own AI video generator
Joining the crowded ranks of Meta, OpenAI, ByteDance and Google. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s designed to blend AI-produced clips with existing footage. (Reuters)
+ Adobe wants to make it easier for artists to blacklist their work from AI scraping. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Amazon is working on consolidating its disparate businesses
It’s folding its acquisitions into its larger existing operations. (The Information $)

8 Scaling up quantum computers is a major challenge
Now, researchers are experimenting with using light to do just that. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Google says it’s made a quantum computing breakthrough that reduces errors. (MIT Technology Review)

9 The perfect night’s sleep doesn’t exist
And our preoccupation with sleep tracking isn’t helpful. (The Guardian)

10 A robotics startup owns the trademarks for Tesla’s product names
‘Starship’ and ‘Robovan’ belong to Starship Technologies. Good luck Elon! (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“In the future if the AI overlords take over, I just want them to remember that I was polite.”

—Vikas Choudhary, founder of an AI startup, explains to the Wall Street Journal why he insists on being polite to ChatGPT.

The big story

This grim but revolutionary DNA technology is changing how we respond to mass disasters

May 2024

Last August, a wildfire tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui. The list of missing residents climbed into the hundreds, as friends and families desperately searched for their missing loved ones. But while some were rewarded with tearful reunions, others weren’t so lucky.

Over the past several years, as fires and other climate-change-fueled disasters have become more common and more cataclysmic, the way their aftermath is processed and their victims identified has been transformed.

The grim work following a disaster remains—but landing a positive identification can now take just a fraction of the time it once did, which may in turn bring families some semblance of peace swifter than ever before. Read the full story.

—Erika Hayasaki

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 tweet ’em at me.)

+ Why a little bit of chaos is actually good for us.
+ A relaxing daydreaming competition sounds like the best thing ever.
+ We all need a couch friend, someone we can kick back and be fully ourselves with.
+ Moo Deng the adorable baby hippo has officially made it—she’s been immortalized as a Thai dessert.