The US worried about vaccine tourists. Now it’s encouraging them.

Startup Phantom Space wants to head into orbit against the grain

Sponsored by Darktrace The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Vaccine tourism 05.26.21 Good morning! Today: parts of the US are starting to welcome in vaccine tourists, and a new startup wants to mass-manufacture small rockets and launch a hundred a year. I know plenty of you already subscribe to MIT Technology Review, but if you don't, you might want to take advantage of a special offer that expires on Monday: two months free if you sign up for a year. It's only $80 to get both full digital access and our glorious, glossy print magazine delivered to your door. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The US worried about vaccine tourists. Now it’s encouraging them.   Queue-jumping: Almost as soon as the world’s first covid-19 vaccine became available, there were reports of people getting their shots ahead of their turn, both by traveling abroad and by trying to work the system where they live. But as the vaccines have become more widely available in wealthy nations, the profile of vaccine tourists has also begun to shift—and so have government responses. A small but increasing number of places even see this travel as a way to help restart local economies stalled by the pandemic, including Alaska and New York City. A symptom of a problem: The US has made huge progress in vaccinating its population. About 62% of adults have received at least one shot, and it’s feasible that the country could reach Biden’s deadline of 70% of adults getting their first dose by July 4. Meanwhile, 85 low-income countries will not have enough access to vaccines to cover 60% to 70% of the population until 2023. And that vaccine gap is only growing. Mixed feelings: Vaccine tourism feels typical of much of the world’s covid-19 response in general. Difficult ethical decisions that could have—or, some argue, should have—been matters of policy are instead being pushed onto individuals. Read the full story. —Eileen Guo Startup Phantom Space wants to head into orbit against the grain One of the hottest trends in rockets right now is ride-share launches, where customers buy available spots for their payloads on a midsize or large rocket with a specific departure date.  Not for Jim Cantrell. The former first vice president of business development at SpaceX has a new startup, Phantom Space, that is trying to find success by swimming against the current.  Instead of ride-shares, the company wants to make its mark by mass-manufacturing small rockets and launching a hundred a year.  “We want to be the Henry Ford of space,” says Cantrell. “We’re taking a contrarian view of how we develop this.”  Just as Henry Ford didn’t reinvent the car but the way it was built, Phantom isn’t out to reinvent rockets—just their production. 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.)   + We've all changed at least a bit in the last year. So should dinner parties.   + This artist produces unbelievably lifelike pencil drawings.    + This swimmer is very jealous of anyone who lives near any of these stunning spots in the US.   + An Instagram account dedicated to highlighting oddities from the world of gastronomy.    + A game set in a mass housing unit in the USSR? Uh, yes please.   + A giant otter, feared to be extinct since the 1980s, has been spotted in the wild again. 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 Vaccines are beating variants 💉 Post-vaccination cases are very rare, and variants aren't currently changing that. (Ars Technica)   + Five reasons why you don’t need to panic about coronavirus variants. (TR)   + Moderna says its covid-19 vaccine is 100% effective in teens. (CNBC)   + Scientists are pushing for Japan to cancel the Tokyo Olympics. (Axios)   + As the US unmasks, the pressure is on for vaccine passports. (Wired $)   + French and German influencers say Russia offered them money to pay them to disparage the Pfizer vaccine. (The Guardian)  2 Apple v Epic: what's next? The trial is over, and we can expect a verdict in August. (WP $)   + What we learned on the last day. (Recode)   + A courtroom artist's view of the trial. (The Verge)  3 Warehouses are springing up across Pennsylvania E-commerce has grown at a stratospheric rate this past year. (NYT $)   + A new DC antitrust case claims that Amazon, a company supposedly obsessed with satisfying customers, is actually screwing them. (Wired $)   + Amazon workers are demanding the company address the disproportionate impact of its environmental harms on people of color. (NBC)  4 Emotion detection software is being tested on Uyghurs Just awful. (BBC)   5 US pipeline operators will soon be required to report cyberattacks Another example of how long it's taking the rules to catch up with technological reality. (WSJ $)   + The Colonial pipeline ransomware hackers had a secret weapon: self-promoting cybersecurity firms. (TR)   + Could the ransomware crisis force action against Russia? (TR)  6 Havana Syndrome seems to have reached the White House Devilish new Russian weaponry, or just a case of mass hysteria? (New Yorker $)   7 A bitcoin advert was banned in the UK The regulator said it was overly simplistic and failed to convey the risks. (The Guardian)   + Its price has been climbing back up after a volatile week. (CNBC)  8 WhatsApp is suing the Indian government It's trying to prevent new rules which would break encryption and require it to make people's messages traceable. (NYT $)   + What the growing crackdown on tech can tell us about Modi's India. (Quartz)  9 Cooks are using TikTok to propel themselves to fame 🍝🤳 The app’s algorithm makes it easier than ever to become an overnight sensation. (NYT $)   + The beauty of TikTok’s secret, surprising, and eerily accurate recommendation algorithms. (TR)  10 Bad news for Zoom New research suggests you remember faces better in-person. (Nature) In just 2 weeks, prepare your team for the future of work at EmTech Next. MIT Technology Review and Harvard Business Review have joined forces to bring you the latest technological advancements and trusted leadership strategies required to excel in the next 12 months. Save 20% when you register with a group of 3 or more. Email us at eventsreg@technologyreview.com for instructions.   EmTech Next is happening soon! Register today. Quote of the Day “I think this has forever changed the culture of Apple.” —An anonymous Apple employee tells The Verge that recent leaks, including about the hiring (then firing) of Antonio García Martínez, show employees are increasingly unwilling to remain silent on social and political issues. Top image credit: MS TECH | GETTY Please send giant otters 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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