Biden picking John Kerry as climate tsar sends a signal to the world

China launches its first mission to bring moon rocks back to Earth 

Sponsored by Alegion The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Biden's new climate tsar 11.24.20 Good morning! Today: Biden has picked John Kerry to be his climate chief, and China has launched its first mission to bring moon rocks back to Earth. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Biden picking John Kerry as climate tsar sends a signal to the world   The news: President-elect Joe Biden has named John Kerry to the newly created role of climate tsar. A reminder: Kerry, the former secretary of state, is a diplomatic heavyweight who helped piece together the landmark Paris climate agreement during the Obama administration and pushed hard for domestic climate policies as a US senator. The signal it sends: The move, coupled with Biden’s ambitious climate proposals during the campaign, indicates a renewed US commitment to confronting climate change—and a sharp reversal from President Trump’s policies. His administration withdrew from the Paris agreement, worked to unravel environmental protections, and continually strained the nation’s international alliances. It also demonstrates Biden’s intention to put climate change at the center of national security and foreign policy. Read the full story. —James Temple China launches its first mission to bring moon rocks back to Earth The news: China launched its Chang’e 5 mission to the moon early Tuesday morning local time. The country wants to bring soil and rock samples from the lunar surface back to Earth to study for the first time in its history.  What’s next: Chang’e 5 should make it to the moon on November 27, landing at a site close to Mons Rümker, a volcanic formation on the western edge of the near side of the moon. The entire mission consists of four parts: an orbiter, a lander, an ascent stage, and a return capsule. The spacecraft are not equipped with any heating units to help the onboard electronics withstand the super-cold temperatures of the lunar night. That means the mission must collect its sample and start heading back to Earth within 14 days (the length of the lunar day).   What we can learn: The samples could help scientists better understand the history of the moon, helping answer questions such as how it cooled over time and how its magnetic field dissipated. Space race: If successful, this mission would make China just the third country in the world (after the US and the former Soviet Union) to bring materials from the moon's surface back to Earth. Read the full story. —Neel V. Patel 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.)   + If you give sea urchins hats, they will wear them.    + How to stop doom scrolling.    + Beavers will make dams out of anything.    + A baby getting a head rub.   + A helicopter pilot found a strange metal monolith in Utah’s desert.   + If the Bee Gees were around now… maybe it would have been called “Stayin’ Inside”.   + A three-month old hears his Mom’s voice for the first time. Sponsor Message How to design a platform for video annotation A great user experience starts with great design. Alegion's design team created a platform that reduced labeling time by 80% and had users calling it "like driving a race car through annotation." Alegion's product designer, and UI/UX expert wrote about how he reduced a video annotation project labeling time by 80% simply by creating a best-in-class UX design. Read more. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Some researchers have concerns about emergency covid-19 vaccine approvals 💉 Specifically, they worry they could complicate efforts to study long-term effects. (Nature)   + Covid-19 vaccines shouldn’t get emergency-use authorization. (TR, Opinion)   + The huge challenge posed by that last, ultra-cold mile required by some vaccines. (Wired $)   + A puzzle raised by Oxford’s positive vaccine trial results. (Nature)  2 Misinformation “superspreaders” are a big part of the problem A small number of people are responsible for a disproportionate amount of false posts about the election. (NYT $)   + Twitter is going to warn you if you try to like a tweet containing misinformation. (The Verge)  3 Some prominent exposure apps are slowly rolling back freedoms Singapore was the first to launch an app, and now it’s making it mandatory. (TR)   + Here is our constantly updated covid tracing tracker. (TR)  4 A day in the life of an Amazon warehouse worker In a word, exhausting. (WSJ $)   + Leaked documents show the extent of Amazon’s union-busting efforts. (Vice)   + Amazon workers in Alabama are pushing to hold a unionization vote. (WP $)  5 Snapchat launched a TikTok competitor And it’s promised to pay $1 million to whoever creates the top-performing videos. (Axios)   + Conservatives aren’t really abandoning mainstream social media en masse. (WP $)   + Ads on Facebook may have reached a saturation point. (WSJ $)  6 Facial recognition laws are coming And that means the lobbyists are swinging into action. (Wired $)   7 General Motors abandoned its support for Trump’s climate policies They can read the writing on the wall. (AP)   8 A database is tracking AI failures If we don’t share mistakes, how can we learn from them? (Vice)   + Why GPT-3 is an AI language system unlike any other. (NYT $)   9 The hunt for dark matter is expanding 🔍 Physicists are testing new hypotheses with new detection methods. (Quanta)   + A 12-year-old discovered a comet. (Forbes)  10 What not to buy your loved ones for the holidays 🎁 One person’s convenient gadget is another’s privacy nightmare. (OneZero $) 1 week until CyberSecure, our inaugural event on the business of cyber risk. This two-day event for executives includes sessions on how to prevent and respond to ransomware, stand up to nation-state hackers, and build a cyber-resilient organization. Purchase your ticket today. Quote of the day “VCs seem like these quiet, boring guys who are good at math, encourage you to dream big, and have private planes. You know who else is quiet, good at math, and has private planes? Drug cartels.” —Jeremy Neuner, CEO and cofounder of NextSpace, tells the New Yorker about a parallel he noticed during his time seeking investment for his startup.  Top image credit: AP PHOTO | ANDREW HARNIK Please send hats for sea urchins 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 Lead a cyber-resilient organization Join us virtually | December 2-3, 2020   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142 Subscription Information Want to change how you receive these emails? You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list.  This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog   *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally