The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will undergo a new trial after questions over its data

The apps keeping Rio's residents safe from stray bullets

Sponsored by IBM The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology A new vaccine trial 11.27.20 Good morning! Today: AstraZeneca’s CEO says its covid-19 vaccine will get a new trial after questions have been raised over the data from the most successful arm of the trial, and why people in Brazil’s cities are using apps to help protect themselves from stray bullets. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be tested in a new trial amid data concerns   The news: The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine will be tested in a new global trial, AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot has told Bloomberg. The specifics: An announcement on Monday that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could protect up to 90% of people against coronavirus generated huge excitement. However, the vaccine’s overall efficacy was 62-70% in trials in Brazil and in the UK, while the 90% figure was only reached among fewer than 3,000 UK participants who were given a lower dose as a result of an error. Researchers can’t explain why the accidental lower dose proved more effective. So AstraZeneca plans to run another trial, testing just this lower-dose regimen. Age issues: There are also concerns that the low-dose trial didn’t include anyone over the age of 55 so this second trial should give researchers the chance to confirm the vaccine’s efficacy in older populations. The full peer-reviewed data from the original trial is set to be published in The Lancet in the coming days. Read the full story. The apps keeping Rio’s residents safe from stray bullets Julia Borges was at her cousin’s 12th birthday party when she was shot. The 17-year-old had been standing on a third-floor balcony when a stray bullet hit her in the back, lodging in the muscle between her lungs and aorta. That was November 8. Luckily, Borges was taken to hospital and has since recovered. Many are not so fortunate. At least 106 people have been killed by stray bullets in Rio this year so far. Among the most dangerous areas are the narrow streets of the city’s favelas, where more than a million people currently live. On a daily basis these streets echo with the sounds of gunfire as shootouts rage between police and drug traffickers, or rival groups of traffickers. Living in Rio is like “being a hostage to violence,” says Rafael César, who lives in the neighborhood of Cordovil, west of the city.  Like many residents, César has started using apps to help keep himself safe: Fogo Cruzado (Cross Fire) and Onde Tem Tiroteio (Where There’s Shooting). These crowdsourced apps help users keep track of dangerous zones on their way home and let residents warn others about which areas to avoid. They also can help heap pressure on authorities. Read the full story —Raphael Tsavkko Garcia 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.)   + Love poems for the (home) office. Laugh-out-loud funny. (New Yorker $)   + One for my fellow Frank Zappa fans… a new documentary about him, out in the US today.    + A couple in New Zealand shunned developers to give 900 hectares of pristine land to the nation.    + An interview with one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world, BTS.   + Canadian officials are warning people not to let moose lick their cars (but it’s for a deadly serious reason!)   + An ambitious plan by 50 native tribes in the US to fight against ecological collapse and restore salmon and shellfish populations. (WP $) Sponsor Message Enable more efficient relationships for your B2B businesses To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with IBM Sterling Order Management, Forrester interviewed a B2B organization in the motion control technology industry that deals with many unique partners across multiple channels.   In this report, you’ll explore the risk-adjusted quantified benefits the interviewed company experienced, such as: New profit from improved order management Savings from improved operations Avoided costs of previous order management solutions Register for the Forrester Total Economic Impact Study. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How we rescue democracy from technology The political harms posed by the platforms may be more serious than the economic ones. Here’s how we start to address them. (Foreign Affairs)   2 The race to stop the next pandemic before it starts There are an awful lot of viruses out there. How do we predict which could jump to humans, then spread? (New Scientist $)   3 Amazon’s insane hiring spree No American company has ever hired so many workers so quickly. (NYT $)   + It’s giving workers in the US a $300 holiday bonus. (CNBC)   + Amazon employees are protesting and going on strike around the world today. (Vice)  4 The TikTok stars who took on the US government  Given how much fame and money is at stake, their desperation to keep the app running seems only logical. (WSJ $)   5 The toxic problem of e-waste 📱 Many of our old electronics end up poisoning people living around a vast dump in Accra, Ghana. (Wired UK)   + Amazon and Apple aren’t doing enough about it. (The Guardian)  6 The UK has launched a regulator tasked to rein in Big Tech Its goal is to ensure a level playing field for competitors and a fair market for consumers. (TechCrunch)   7 Facebook’s digital currency is set to launch in January It was meant to go live this year, so let’s see. (FT $)   + Black workers are accusing Coinbase of racist discrimination. (NYT)  8 Will robots take the jobs lost in the pandemic? 🤖 Probably (mostly) not, but a new wave of automation is undoubtedly underway. (The Guardian)   9 Internet sleuths found the mysterious Utah desert monolith 🕵️‍♂️ But we still have no idea how it got there. (BBC)   10 Digital resurrection is increasingly possible—but is it ethical? ⚰️ There are important questions over whether it’s a healthy way to cope, plus the consent and agency of the deceased. (Wired $) 2019 Shape our research: The global AI agenda 2021.  Over the past five years, “The global AI agenda” has charted enterprise use of AI technology to drive growth and efficiency. This year we explore the use of big data and AI to recover from covid-19, as well as how companies are reevaluating data governance and citizen consent to AI. Your anonymous response is much appreciated. Take the survey now. Quote of the day “We don’t want to be shot in the trenches just as the armistice is arriving.” —Baroness Joan Bakewell tells Wired UK it would be a tragedy to give up the fight against covid-19 just as highly effective vaccines are, potentially, just around the corner. Top image credit: Associated Press Please send love poems 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 Want to change how you receive these emails? 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