Why are people still starving in an age of abundance?

China just brought moon rocks back to Earth for the first time in its history

Sponsored by Arm The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Why people still starve 12.17.20 Good morning! Today: why do people still starve in an age of abundance? Also: China has just brought moon rocks back to Earth for the first time in its history, and swing states had four times as much election disinformation in 2020. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Why are people still starving in an age of abundance?   Hunger around the globe is getting worse, not better. Last year, according to the UN, 688 million people went hungry on a regular basis, up from 628.9 million in 2014.  The statistics seem abstract, but each one of these millions is an actual mouth to feed, and the hardships they undergo are very real. In his 2019 book Food or War, the Australian journalist and author Julian Cribb describes the physical process of starvation in excruciating detail. The body, he explains, devours itself in the hunt for sustenance, depleting energy levels and producing side effects like anemia, fluid build-up, and chronic diarrhea.  “In short, starvation is one of the most agonizing ways to die, both physically and mentally—far worse, indeed, than most tortures invented by cruel people, because it takes so long and involves the destruction of virtually every system in the human body.” Today, Oxfam identifies 10 “extreme hunger hot spots” worldwide where millions of people face this abominable torture. Some are theaters of conflict—including Afghanistan, home to the longest war America has been involved in, and Yemen, where a civil war fueled by neighboring Saudi Arabia has left 80% of the country’s 24 million citizens in need of humanitarian assistance.  But even in high-functioning industrialized countries, the threat of hunger—not just poor nutrition, but actual hunger—has been rising as a result of economic inequality. In the UK, the use of food banks has more than doubled since 2013. In the US, food insecurity is widespread, and the hardest hit are children, elders, and the poor. In Mississippi, the country’s hungriest state, one child in four is unable to consistently get enough to eat. So are there any answers? Can starvation ever be ended? Can we head off the approaching food and water wars? Read the full story. —Bobbie Johnson (This story comes from our upcoming special issue on food and is for subscribers only. You can sign up and read for as a little as $50 a year.) China just brought moon rocks back to Earth—the first we’ve seen in 44 years What’s happened: China’s Chang’e 5 mission successfully delivered samples of lunar rock and dust to Earth today. It marks the first time in 44 years that moon rocks have been brought back to our planet, since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976. It’s also the first time China has ever pulled off a sample return mission.  New science awaits: While Apollo-era moon rocks are estimated to be about 3 to 4 billion years old, the material collected by Chang’e 5 is thought to be only about 1.2 billion years old. That means scientists studying the material could learn more about the evolution of the moon and test out new techniques for estimating the age of geological samples from other planets, moons, and asteroids. 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.)   + A lego version of Hokusai’s iconic wave painting.    + If anyone fancies buying me this house, I am open to the idea. Just saying.    + Soup, glorious soup.   + Chocolate that shimmers like a rainbow.   + You can create your own opera in seconds and… it’s inexplicably utterly hilarious.    + A dog decided to take himself off for a drive. 2020, whatever will you think of next. Sponsor Message A new horizon: Expanding the AI landscape Organizations are using AI to drive business and improve processes. That’s spurring changes in how they’re deploying the technology and governing its use. To see how industry leaders are stepping up, download the report here. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Vaccinations have started. Now it gets complicated. 💉 The inoculations themselves are challenging enough, but then there’s keeping track of who has had them. (Wired $)   + The FDA has identified a way to boost the Pfizer vaccine supply by millions. (WP $)    + The US and Pfizer are negotiating a deal for more vaccine doses next year. (NYT $)   + People with Down syndrome are at such high risk that they should be vaccinated early. (Science)   + 137,000 people in the UK have been vaccinated so far. (Sky)   + Wall Street is betting big on cold storage. (NYT $)   + Should we take a risk and divert early booster shots to the unprotected? (FT $)   + How France plans to confront its big anti-vax problem. (Wired UK)  2 The WHO is sending a team to Wuhan to investigate covid-19’s animal origins The team will examine human and animal samples collected by Chinese researchers. (Reuters)   + Think covid-19 is only really bad news for the elderly? Think again. (NYT $)  3 What’s the deal with Texas suing Google? The lawsuit claims Google worked with Facebook to manipulate ad auditions. (TR)   + Google says the agreement is just a backup feature for WhatsApp. (CNBC)  4 Venezuela’s regime has turned to bitcoin mining to make money Just three years ago, its army was allegedly cracking down on exactly the same activity. (Vice)   + Bitcoin has broken the $20,000 ceiling to reach its highest valuation yet. (Gizmodo)   5 An “ethical” Instacart alternative is facing its own worker backlash Maybe there’s a reason why you rarely hear ethics and gig economy platforms in the same sentence. (OneZero $)   6 The 2020 US war on TikTok It’s never been about privacy. The real outcome has been stoking anti-Chinese sentiment. (The Verge)   7 Economists just want you to give your family cash for Christmas 🎄 It all involves a lot of inefficient resource allocation right now, and that’s something they do not enjoy. (Wired UK)   8 There’s a whole lot of grifting going down on Parler Awful, of course, yet really quite funny at the same time. (Buzzfeed)   9 This is how Russia wins the climate crisis  No country is better positioned to take advantage of mass migration and a warming world. (NYT $    10 MacKenzie Bezos has given away $4.2 billion in four months 💸 Over to you, Jeff. (BBC) Not an expert? Not a problem. Our team is full of those. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today for an insightful look into technology for the future without getting bogged down by the jargon. Quote of the day “One day, I believe she’ll become someone who can hold my hand, and we’ll look at the stars together.” —An anonymous user in China called “Orbiter” tells Sixth Tone what he hopes for the future of his romance with Xiaoice, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot. Top image credit: Nico Ortega Please send shimmering chocolate 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 Intelligent computing Join us virtually | February 10-11, 2021   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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