December 18, 2024

The Download: AI tracking birds, and a pig kidney transplant

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. AI is changing how we study bird migration In a warming world, migratory birds face many existential threats. Scientists rely on a combination of methods to track the timing and location of their…

Your future air conditioner might act like a battery

August 6, 2024
As temperatures climb on hot days, many of us are quick to crank up our fans or air conditioners. These cooling systems can be a major stress on electrical grids, which has inspired some inventors to create versions that can store energy as well as use it.  Cooling represents 20% of global electricity demand in…

Google is finally taking action to curb non-consensual deepfakes

August 6, 2024
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. It’s the Taylor Swifts of the world that are going to save us. In January, nude deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X, which caused public outrage. Nonconsensual explicit deepfakes are one…