October 18, 2024

Oropouche virus is spreading. Here’s what we know.

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. There have been plenty of reports of potentially concerning viruses this last year. Covid is still causing thousands of deaths, and bird flu appears set to make the…

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Instagram is testing an in-app scheduling tool for posts and reels

October 20, 2022

Social media managers and creators have long relied on third-party tools to schedule posts on Instagram. But now the company is testing an in-app tool to schedule posts and reels. The company confirmed the development and said it is indeed experimenting with this.“We are testing the ability to schedule content with a percentage of our […]

Instagram is testing an in-app scheduling tool for posts and reels by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Ocean-climate VC Propeller launches with $100M to fund ‘tomorrow’s narwhals’

October 20, 2022

Propeller, a new climate-tech investor with a focus on the ocean, tells TechCrunch that it has hooked $100 million for its first seed fund. Co-founded by former HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan, the venture firm said in a statement that it backs and incubates startups in areas like ocean carbon removal, algae packaging, offshore wind, desalination […]

Ocean-climate VC Propeller launches with $100M to fund ‘tomorrow’s narwhals’ by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

Google Messages adds reaction support for iPhone texts and in-app reminders

October 20, 2022

Google has left no stones unturned in pushing Apple to adopt the Rich Communication Services (RCS) that the search giant argues will improve cross-platform communication. With little to no luck so far, Google is marching ahead with things that are within its power: Supercharging its RCS client Messages on Android with new features to make lives […]

Google Messages adds reaction support for iPhone texts and in-app reminders by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Snapchat expands its paid subscription with Story expiration controls, custom sounds, and more

October 20, 2022

Snapchat+, Snapchat’s $3.99 per month subscription plan, is today rolling out three new features to entice users to its paid service. The company launched the subscription tier in late June as it looked for more revenue during an ad spending slowdown. Since the launch, more than 1 million users have paid for the service, the […]

Snapchat expands its paid subscription with Story expiration controls, custom sounds, and more by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

When you lose weight, where does it go?

October 20, 2022
What happens when we lose weight? This is really a question about how our bodies store and use the energy we need to function.  In general, we store backup energy in fat cells that are distributed around the body, some in the abdomen around the organs (visceral fat) and some under the skin (subcutaneous fat);…

The bird is fine, the bird is fine, the bird is fine, it’s dead

October 20, 2022
Twenty years have passed since I first met Aubrey de Grey, the man with the Methuselah beard. Back then he was already a True Believer in the quest for immortality. But he wasn’t famous, or notorious, yet; he wasn’t Aubrey!, as he would soon become to his fans in the anti-aging crowd. And he wasn’t…

Banyan raises $43M to grow its network of item-level purchase data

October 20, 2022

Banyan, a platform for product purchase data that allows customers such as banks, fintechs, hotels and merchants to automate expense management and more, today announced that it raised $43 million in a Series A funding round — $28 million in equity and $15 million in debt — led by Fin Capital with participation from M13, […]

Banyan raises $43M to grow its network of item-level purchase data by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

GlobalFair secures new cash to simplify procuring construction materials

October 20, 2022

The construction materials market is fragmented, according to GlobalFair CEO Shaily Garg, because it involves layers of both supply chain and logistics complexities. In a 2021 survey for the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, the vast majority of builders said that the time it takes to obtain materials — and the cost […]

GlobalFair secures new cash to simplify procuring construction materials by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch