A mouse embryo has been grown in an artificial womb—humans could be next

Cheap renewables could make green hydrogen a practical replacement for fossil fuels

Sponsored by VMware The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology A scientific record 03.18.21 Good morning! Today: a mouse embryo has been grown in an artificial womb for longer than ever before, and the potential for green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. A mouse embryo has been grown in an artificial womb—humans could be next   The news: Researchers have grown mice in an artificial womb for as long as 11 or 12 days, about half the animal’s natural gestation period. It’s a record for development of a mammal outside the womb and, according to the research team, human embryos could be next. That raises huge ethical questions. How they did it: The team grew the mouse embryos longer by adding blood serum from human umbilical cords, agitating them in glass jars, and pumping in a pressurized oxygen mixture. The mouse embryos only died after they became too large for the oxygen to diffuse through them, since they lack the natural blood supply a placenta could provide. Next: humans? The researchers say scientists will want to develop human embryos this way too, in order to better study early development. The human equivalent of 12-day-old mice would be a first-trimester embryo. But the scientific community agrees that they would never try to establish a pregnancy with artificial embryos—an act that would be forbidden today in most countries. Read the full story. —Antonio Regalado Read next: Scientists plan to drop the 14-day human embryo rule. Cheap renewables could make green hydrogen a practical replacement for fossil fuels Hydrogen is an appealing fuel. A kilogram of hydrogen has about three times as much energy as a comparable amount of diesel or gasoline. If it can be made cleanly and cheaply, it could be the key to cleaning up an array of tricky vital sectors. Today, most manufactured hydrogen is made by combining natural gas with steam at high temperatures. It’s an energy-­intensive process that emits considerable amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change. But a small and growing percentage is made by splitting water into its constituent elements by zapping it with electricity, a process known as electrolysis. This also takes a lot of energy, but if the electricity comes from a renewable source like wind or solar power, it produces minimal harmful emissions. This so-called “green” hydrogen is today about three times more expensive to produce than hydrogen derived from natural gas. But that is half of what it cost 10 years ago. And as the cost of wind and solar power continues to drop, and economies of scale around green hydrogen production kick in, it could get a lot cheaper. If that happens, green hydrogen has the potential to become a core fuel for a decarbonized future. Read the full story. —Peter Fairley This story is for subscribers only. It's from the latest issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about progress. Read the full magazine, and why not subscribe so you get future issues, too? It's just $50 a year. 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.)   + Are five-year-olds good at telling jokes? An analysis.   + A spurned cockatoo.    + Romania is working to preserve one of Europe's biggest and most beautiful national parks. (NYT $)   + Why people in Taiwan keep changing their name to "Salmon."   + Boat sloth! Sponsor Message Digital acceleration in the time of coronavirus: North America Before the pandemic, Mayo Clinic was planning its long-term digital transformation. “We envisioned the hospital of the future,” says engineering chair Mark Wehde, “moving away from large, complex care centers for routine care to community hospitals and even to people’s homes through the use of remote monitoring tools and AI.”   When the crisis hit, the organization needed the digital platforms it was planning for immediately. “Our 10-year plan was now a two-year plan,” says Wehde.   Learn how the pandemic sped up technology change. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The EU is planning to launch vaccine passports The goal is to kick-start summer travel. (BBC)   + Europeans' faith in the AstraZeneca vaccine has been shaken. (NYT $)   + The AstraZeneca crisis isn't really about science at all. (Slate)   + The WHO is urging countries to keep using the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Ars Technica)   + Inside Serbia's successful vaccination campaign. (NYT $)  2 Global covid-19 cases may have peaked But it's too early to be sure. (Nature)   + The pace of new infections in the US has stabilized. (Axios)  3 Where does Clubhouse go from here?  It's yet to make a dime in revenue, and it faces tough questions over content moderation. (Wired $)   + Clubhouse is being investigated by France's privacy watchdog. (TechCrunch)  4 AI isn't as good at debating as humans—yet 🗣️ But it's increasingly able to wield language. (Scientific American $)   + Why GPT-3 is the best and worst of AI right now. (TR)  5 Will remote learning outlast the pandemic?  Tools built for both a physical and a remote classroom have a good shot of staying around. (NYT $)   + "Normal" wasn't working for a lot of kids. We can do better. (The Atlantic $)  6 Amazon retaliated against workers who spoke up about covid-19 safety And now it's probably going to have to pay them to settle the case. (The Intercept)   + Amazon claims it pays more than other local employers in Bessemer, Alabama. It doesn't. (NYT $)  7 Conspiracy theorists are rebranding themselves as "truth seekers" Who doesn't love "truth?!" (The Atlantic $)    + An organization trying to save QAnon believers is struggling. (Vice)   + A game of whac-a-mole is underway across the internet to root out extremism. (NPR)   + Most people don't actively seek to share misinformation. (Scientific American)   + Facebook has said it will crack down on groups that break its rules. (NBC)  8 Hearing aid makers are using AI to amplify the right sounds 🦻 Background noise is a major problem for traditional hearing aid wearers. (STAT)   9 NFTs are just a new way for the cryptosphere to get rich quick 💸 Remember the ICO boom in 2017? (FT $)   10 Perseverance sent back an audio clip of it driving on Mars Squeaky. (Engadget) You are just 4 days away from EmTech Digital, our virtual event focused on AI. If you're developing your AI strategy, implementing AI solutions, or looking for the latest advancements in AI technology, you need to join us at EmTech Digital. Register now. EmTech Digital is happening soon! Register today. Quote of the day “If the only solution to a major breach in which hackers exploited a design flaw long ignored by Microsoft is to give Microsoft more money, the government needs to reevaluate its dependence on Microsoft.” —Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a leading Democrat on the intelligence committee, tells Reuters he fears the US government is over-reliant on Microsoft.   Top image credit: Weizmann Institute of Science Please send salmon 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? 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