India is grappling with covid grief

The most accurate covid forecasts use a mash-up of many smaller ones

Sponsored by Darktrace The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Overwhelming grief 05.28.21 Good morning! Today: how Indians are turning to online spaces to process their grief, and the most accurate covid forecasts use a mash-up of many smaller ones. It's a public holiday on Monday so the next newsletter will be out on Tuesday. I hope you have a great weekend, whatever length it may be! Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. India is grappling with covid grief   A grim picture: Spring 2021 in India has been horrific and frightening: ambulances wail constantly, funeral pyres are alight 24 hours a day, seemingly endless body bags stack up, and grief hangs heavy in the air. Over 311,000 Indians have died from covid so far, according to official sources—but the true death toll is believed to be far higher. As in other places, people are struggling to cope with these deaths at a time when traditional ways of grieving have been ripped apart. Forced to adapt: Millennia-old burial traditions have had to be ignored. Online spaces have offered a crucial forum for expressing grief and venting anger about the Indian government’s handling of the crisis. But while smartphones are widespread in India at all socioeconomic levels, digital literacy and the ability to connect online are still linked to wealth and privilege—meaning that only a certain segment of the population is able to grieve online. Read the full story. —Tanya Basu The most accurate covid forecasts use a mash-up of many smaller ones A massive covid modeling project compares various statistical models online that make short-term forecasts about covid-19 infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. All the models rely on varying data sources and methods and produce very different forecasts. The project, launched in the early days of the pandemic, is led by Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician and infectious-disease researcher. He and his colleague Evan Ray joined forces with the CDC to launch the “COVID-19 Forecast Hub.” The hub aggregates and evaluates weekly results from many models and then generates an “ensemble model.” They found that combining multiple models will give you the most accurate short-term predictions.  The use of this kind of “ensemble” modeling is not unique to the pandemic. In fact, we consume these kinds of forecasts every day when Googling the weather and taking note that there's a 90 percent chance of precipitation. It’s the gold standard for both weather and climate predictions. But it’s an adaptable, evolving approach that’s come into its own this past year. Read the full story. —Siobhan Roberts 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.)   + How cheugy are you? I'm 50%, and relieved frankly.   + Cooking pizza…. in a VOLCANO.   + Itching to go and eat at these destinations. If it's good enough for Bourdain…    + I can vouch for just how delicious grilled lettuce is. If you're barbecuing this weekend, give it a try!   + The sad, beautiful poignancy of a family fried chicken recipe.   + Tasmanian Devils have been born on mainland Australia for the first time in thousands of years   + Maybe Nero was just misunderstood. That's the premise of a new exhibition at the British Museum. (NYT $) Sponsor Message Defend against cyber-threats with AI Darktrace AI identifies malicious activity hiding in your digital ecosystem and acts autonomously to neutralize the threat.  Find out why McLaren relies on self-learning AI to detect and disrupt cyber-attacks at machine-speed. Learn more > The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Explaining the sudden rise of the covid lab leak theory Without transparency from China, speculation flourishes. (New Yorker $)   + The big problem is a lack of evidence showing how it jumped from an animal. (TR)   + US officials say they have relevant, as-yet unexamined evidence to pore over. (NYT $)   + Say the lab leak hypothesis is true. What then?! (The Atlantic $)   + Facebook has lifted its ban on posts claiming covid-19 is manmade. (The Guardian)  2 How Citizen is trying to cash in on vigilantism 🔥💵 Fire and pitchforks, 2021 style. (Vice)   3 A software error made Spain's child covid-19 mortality rate skyrocket Patient deaths for those over 100 were recorded as children. (Slate)   + Why contact tracing apps haven't really helped the US. (NYT $)  4 Is online test monitoring here to stay? For the sake of students' mental health, I hope not. (New Yorker $)   + A lot of students really don't like online learning, period. (BBC)   5 An AI insurance startup committed a giant self-own on Twitter Lemonade revealed some of the inner workings of how it uses AI to judge claims… and people did not like it one bit. (Recode)   + Twitter is gearing up to start asking people to pay for subscriptions. (Engadget)   6 Online astrology is coming for men, too 🔮 To be honest, this entire market feels like predatory nonsense. (Wired UK)   7 The SolarWinds hackers are at it again, says Microsoft They're targeting 3,000 email accounts across 150 organizations, mostly in the US. (NBC)   8 People drive more when driving is (partially) automated Autopilot “lowers the cognitive burden of driving.” (Wired $)   9 The talking dog of TikTok 🐕 A woman has taught her dog Bunny to use word buttons, and the results are pretty amazing. (NYT $)   10 The race to create an (almost) unhackable online world We are at the threshold of a new information age. (New Scientist $) An offer this good won't last. Get 2 additional months FREE when you purchase a subscription to MIT Technology Review. With thought-provoking perspectives and insightful analysis, our journalism will help deepen your understanding of the world. Subscribe now and save. Offer ends Monday. Quote of the Day "I thought it was a prank call." —Abbigail Bugenske, 22, tells the New York Times how she reacted when the governor of Ohio phoned her to tell her she'd won $1 million in the state's vaccination lottery.  Top image credit: NAVEEN SHARMA | SOPA IMAGES | ZUMA WIRE | ALAMY LIVE NEWS Please send grilled lettuce 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 today Re-envision the future of work Join us virtually | June 8-10, 2021 Register now   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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