asbestos could help fight climate change (you read that right), and the CDC has finally acknowledged that the coronavirus can be airborne

Asbestos could be a powerful weapon against climate change (you read that right)

Sponsored by IBM The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 10.06.20 Good morning! Today: will Trump isolate as per the advice, or try to keep campaigning? Also: asbestos could help fight climate change (you read that right), and the CDC has finally acknowledged that the coronavirus can be airborne. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. What’s next for Trump? Ten days of isolation or the campaign trail?   The latest: US President Donald Trump has left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after a three-day stay. The question now is whether he’ll stay isolated, as scientists advise, or exempt himself from the rules. Official CDC advice is that a covid-19 patient should stay away from others for at least 10 days since they started getting symptoms.   Why? Doctors think people recovering from covid-19 could continue shedding the virus and infecting others for some time. If Trump follows scientific advice, he’ll have to stay largely alone until at least October 12, just three weeks before the general election. If he doesn’t, the president could be open to accusations that he’s putting others at risk. Projecting strength: The administration has been eager to show Trump in charge and at work. So it’s easy to imagine the White House disregarding isolation recommendations, just as it dispensed with wearing masks. The building is now the center of a super-cluster of coronavirus cases that’s affecting staff, advisors, officials, and journalists. Is Trump returning to the White House because he’s actually recovering quickly or just eager to project strength for the public? Read the full story. —Antonio Regalado Asbestos could be a powerful weapon against climate change (you read that right) The potential: The vast surface area of certain types of fibrous asbestos, a class of carcinogenic compounds once heavily used in heat-resistant building materials, makes them particularly good at grabbing hold of the carbon dioxide molecules dissolved in rainwater or floating through the air. Scientists are exploring ways to accelerate these otherwise slow reactions in hopes of using mining waste to fight climate change. It’s a handy carbon-capturing trick that may also work with the calcium- and magnesium-rich by-products of nickel, copper, diamond, and platinum mining. Multiple methods: Any scenario that doesn’t warm the planet by more than 1.5 ˚C will require nearly eliminating emissions by midcentury, as well as removing 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air this century. Using minerals to do this means it can be done on a massive scale—and it would effectively store the carbon dioxide away forever. Read the full story. —James Temple The CDC has finally acknowledged that the coronavirus can be airborne  The news: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines to acknowledge that the coronavirus can be spread by tiny particles that linger in the air. The agency said it took the decision due to the mounting evidence that people with covid-19 can infect people even if they are more than six feet away, or shortly after the infected person left the area. These cases all occurred in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces, and often involved activities that cause heavier breathing, like singing or exercise.  The significance: Evidence that airborne transmission is occurring has been mounting for months. The WHO still has not recognized airborne transmission as a significant factor in the pandemic and the CDC’s slowness to acknowledge it has caused frustration among aerosol researchers, some of whom say it is the main route for infections. The CDC maintains it only occurs in “limited, uncommon” circumstances. Airborne transmission has become a topic of fierce contention, partly due to the fact it makes it far riskier to reopen spaces like restaurants, gyms, bars, schools, and offices. What do we do now? The CDC advises that people stay at least six feet away from others, wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth, frequently wash their hands, clean high-touch surfaces often, and stay home when they are feeling sick. However, the implications of airborne transmission mean the CDC perhaps ought to shift its emphasis and go further, advising people to properly ventilate buildings, limit the number of people indoors at any given time while encouraging them to stay further apart and masked, and try to socialize outdoors where possible. Read the full story. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + A history of that most glorious of foodstuffs: mashed potatoes.   + The best animal live feeds from around the world. This is a truly blessed list. (NYT $)   + Care homes residents are competing in a global static cycling competition.    + You can learn all about the many species of plant that thrive in Arizona’s sunny climate at the Desert Botanical Garden (and, if you’re lucky enough to live nearby, pay a visit.)   + An otter found love with an online dating profile.    + Tasmanian Devils are back in Australia for the first time in thousands of years. Sponsor Message Learn best practices in B2B collaboration In this era of digital transformation, organizations are looking at ways to enable smart, frictionless and highly secure B2B connectivity to help them fuel collaboration between lines of business, suppliers and customers.   On October 14 at 10:00am ET, join the next live edition of the digital event, IBM Sterling B2B Collaboration Academy, where you can hear from and chat with industry leaders and B2B experts on the technology areas of your interest:   • Hybrid Cloud • Secure File Transfer • B2B Integration and Visibility   Register for B2B Collaboration Academy The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 One in 10 people worldwide may have already had covid-19, says the WHO That’s about 760 million people, more than 20 times the number of confirmed cases. (AP)   + How to understand Trump’s evolving condition. (New Yorker $)   + How Facebook and Twitter handled his “don’t be afraid of covid” post. (NYT $)   + Possibly the weirdest 90 seconds in presidential history occurred yesterday. (The Bulwark)   + Tracing the White House outbreak. (NYT $)   + Staffers (and reporters) are freaking out. (ABC)   + The Trump administration has blocked the FDA from introducing tougher vaccine standards. (NYT $)   + Paris is closing its bars for two weeks from today. (NYT $)  2 Texas’ war on drop-off votes gets almost everything wrong It’s a secure, convenient, and safe way to vote, yet Texas governor Greg Abbott claims the opposite. (TR)   + America could be entering its most dangerous month of 2020. (Wired $)  3 For the last time, Facebook is not biased against conservatives If anything, it is the other way round. (NPR)    + A Trump-linked consultant is using Facebook pages to tell supporters to prepare for violence in November. (The Guardian)   4 We need to shield the US space program from election cycle chaos 🚀 In just over 10 years, NASA has gone from planning moon missions to Mars missions to moon missions again. (TR)   5 How much more abuse do female politicians face? A lot. This study finding comes as no surprise to anyone who has been a) paying attention b) listening to women. (TR)   6 What’s at stake in the Oracle v Google Supreme Court case It’s not an exaggeration to say the future of software hangs in the balance. (Protocol)   + What telephone history can teach us about it. (Slate)  7 Nvidia says its AI can improve our video calls 🖥️ The big test will be whether any of the popular platforms adopt it. (The Verge)    8 Fresh food is starting to run short in China This should worry the whole world. (WP $)   9 Grief support groups on Twitch are helping people to feel less alone These sorts of safe online spaces can be a lifeline. (Wired $)   10 Read this before you get a microchip implant ✋ You don’t want someone hacking into your hand, after all. (Gizmodo) Two weeks until EmTech MIT, our flagship virtual event.  Join us to hear from some of the world's brightest minds on how we can build technology that meets the biggest challenges humanity faces today and will face in the future. Purchase your ticket today. Take a stand “This isn't just a shambles. It's so much worse.” —Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tells the BBC what he thinks about the fact 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England due to Excel being used incorrectly. Top image credit: JOYCE N. BOGHOSIAN | THE WHITE HOUSE VIA AP Please send Tasmanian Devils to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Leading with Innovation. Join us online, October 19-22. View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with your email address Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

 

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list. 

Subscription Information

This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog  

*the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally