These drone photos show urban inequality around the world

Half of the world's emissions cuts will require tech that isn't commercially available

Sponsored by KPMG The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology The world from above 05.18.21 Hello, Download people! It's Niall again, standing in for Charlotte who is off for her birthday. (Happy birthday Charlotte!) Right, let's get to it. Today: drone photos that show the world's inequality, and a report on the tech we need to reduce emissions. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. These drone photos show urban inequality around the world The photo above is of a homeless encampment that sits in the shadow of Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. It's part of “Unequal Scenes,” a drone photography project intended to illuminate scars in the urban fabric, from Mumbai, to Silicon Valley, to São Paulo.  On the eastern side of False Bay, in suburban Cape Town, South Africa, a prosperous beachside neighborhood, the Strand (right) is set off from subsidized government housing in Nomzamo (left) by rows of informal settlements (center). If you want to see more images from the series, check them out in the latest issue of the print magazine, dedicated to cities. You'll need to subscribe to do so but from just $50 a year, it's well worth it. Half of the world’s emissions cuts will require tech that isn’t commercially available The news: If the world hopes to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by midcentury, nearly half the cuts will have to come from technologies that are only in early stages today. That finding, in a new report from the International Energy Agency, points to the need for aggressive investment in research, development, and scale-up of clean energy technologies. Future tech: The IEA’s road map for eliminating energy-related emissions by 2050—and offering a shot at capping global temperatures increases at 1.5 ˚C—includes substantial roles for technologies that barely exist or are far too expensive today. These include batteries packed with far more energy, clean hydrogen as a fuel or feedstock for industrial processes, liquid biofuels for aviation, and equipment that cheaply captures carbon dioxide emissions from factories and gas- or coal-fueled power plants. Carbon capture: The report also stresses the need for significant investments into tools for pulling carbon dioxide out of the air. Those include direct-air-capture machines, which exist but are very expensive today. Upshot: The IEA’s findings feed into an ongoing debate over whether the world needs to focus on creating new technologies to combat climate change or aggressively deploying the ones we have. Read more here. —James Temple 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.)   + On the 20th anniversary of Shrek: Is it unfunny and overrated? Either way it has a strange cultural life online.   + Some stretches to try if you're all stiff from sitting at your desk all day. (NYT $)   + You have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave behind the things you hated from your pre-pandemic life. Here's how to take it. (The Atlantic $)   + Roughly 65 species of animal "laugh" (and yes, sometimes probably at you.) Sponsor Message 5 steps to achieve the most value from AI New KPMG research reveals that business leaders are using artificial intelligence to solve major industry problems—including addressing challenges brought on by COVID-19, detecting fraud, and improving bureaucratic efficiency—but a comprehensive plan is needed. Discover five steps to achieve the most value from your AI investment. Read Thriving in an AI World. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.   1 A focus on personal responsibility over masks is no way to do public health That’s just not how it works. (The Verge)   + Here’s one public health expert on what she would do. (Slate)   + The people who don’t want to take them off. (NYT)   + New York will lift its mask mandate for vaccinated people. (Axios)   + Maybe we need them just a bit longer. NYT) 2 The students who are planning the pandemic response of the future 10,000-plus students are now part of a real-world epidemiological lab. (NYT)    + There has been a massive undercount of global covid deaths. (Economist)   + The pandemic is stuttering out in the US. (Gizmodo)  3 The deadly toll of America’s “ghost guns” Ordered online and built at home, they are an untraceable scourge. (Guardian)  4 Humans mostly suck at predicting things Worth bearing in mind any time you hear someone confidently claiming they know what the future holds. (Wired $) 5 Mexico City could drop by 65 feet Subsidence means parts of the city are falling a foot and a half every year. (Wired) 6 Parler is back on the Apple Store It's created a special "hate speech lite" version, just for iOS. (WP $) 7 The FCC is betting big on Elon Musk But can Starlink live up to its potential? (Recode)   + Crypto bros are MAD AS HELL at him since he renounced bitcoin. (FT $)   9 What is burnout? It’s vague and imprecise, but tells us a lot about the way we live now. (New Yorker)   + How the personal computer broke the human body. (Vice) 10 Help the pandemic has made me an introvert! For some, the end of lockdown feels like a threat. (Wired UK) Claim your special offer today.  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. Take a stand "If anybody asks a restaurant owner, ‘what’s the ventilation here?’ they will probably look strangely at them." —Lidia Morawska, a physicist and an aerosol expert at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, talks to Vox about how covid-19 has shown us the dangers of having bad air. Top image credit: Unequal Scenes Please send Shrek merch to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @niallfirth. Thanks for reading! —Niall 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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