How to mend your broken pandemic brain

Why it's so hard to change 

Sponsored by Grant Thornton The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Mending our minds 07.16.21 Good morning! The weekend is just around the corner. Before we get there, check out today's stories: a long read on how we can start to unpick the damage the pandemic has inflicted on our brains, and a short piece from the latest print magazine about why we're so resistant to change. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. How to mend your broken pandemic brain   Americans are slowly coming out of the pandemic, but as they reemerge, there’s still a lot of trauma to process. It’s not just our families, our communities, and our jobs that have changed; our brains have changed too. We’re not the same people we were 18 months ago.  During the winter of 2020, more than 40% of Americans reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, double the rate of the previous year. That number dropped to 30% in June 2021 as vaccinations rose and covid-19 cases fell, but that still leaves nearly one in three Americans struggling with their mental health. In addition to diagnosable symptoms, plenty of people reported experiencing pandemic brain fog, including forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, and general fuzziness.  Now the question is, can our brains change back? And how can we help them do that? Read the full story to find out, including a list of things you can do to help your brain bounce back. —Dana Smith This story is for subscribers only. If you're not a subscriber, you can become one for just $50 a year! Why it's so hard to change Throughout the decades, change has proved difficult—whether you’re trying to make it happen or just reacting to it, as previous issues of MIT Technology Review demonstrate. One story from 1967 claims that resistance to change is mostly borne out of anxiety and self-protection, another from 1971 argues that most broad programs of social change fail, and an article from 1994 articulates anxieties of the time about the coming explosion in internet connectivity. Read about them all, and check out the whole edition of the latest print magazine while you’re at it—all about (what else?) change. 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 cave fit for a king.   + Watch Beluga whales migrating on this livestream.   + All out of enthusiasm for cooking? These easy recipes might inspire you.   + Don't even try not to well up at this story of some parents in China who were reunited with their son after 24 years. (NYT $)   + Mac and cheese ice cream, anyone? (I'd actually try this!)   + An amusing description of Twitter from 15 years ago. Sponsor Message The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The next covid-19 battle? Vaccinating kids 🧒💉 Really wish everything didn't have to be a battle, but here we are. (Wired $)   + Covid-19's effects on children are even stranger than we thought. (The Atlantic $)   + Up to 1.6 million people in England were told to isolate in the last week. (The Guardian)   + Covid-19 is sweeping across Africa at a rate quicker than at any previous point in the pandemic. (NYT $)   + The head of the WHO says it's "premature" to rule out the possibility that covid-19 leaked from a lab. (AP)   + What happens to all the data government contractors collected on us during the pandemic? (Slate)   + LA County is going to require masks indoors again. (Axios)   + The surgeon general wants Facebook to do more to stop covid-19 lies. (Recode)  2 Flooding in Germany killed at least 93 people It's becoming harder and harder to ignore the impact of climate change. (BBC)   + Record high tide flooding hit coastal communities last year. (The Verge)   + If we don't take action on the climate now, when will we? (NYT $)  3 DeepMind is going to open source its protein-folding AI A win for science. (Nature)   + DeepMind’s protein-folding AI has solved a 50-year-old grand challenge of biology. (TR)  4 How China censors video games around the world 🎮⛔ The number of gamers there is bigger than the entire populations of the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK combined. (The Guardian)   5 The great Bay Area exodus simply isn't happening Some people who left very noisily are now returning very quietly. (NYT $)   + In fact, house prices there are more ridiculous than ever. (NBC)  6 Fraudsters are cashing in on the chip shortage Criminals love a vacuum. (WSJ $)   7 How a city in Florida got convinced to pay for a tunnel for Teslas It's unclear who really benefits from this, beyond Elon Musk. (Insider $)   8 The history of Black Twitter Lifting the lid on one of the most creative and vibrant corners of Twitter, and indeed the whole internet. (Wired $)   9 How many numbers exist? We might know one day For years, mathematicians have said it's unknowable. A new proof suggests otherwise. (Quanta)   10 You should use emojis at work 👍 A well-placed emoji can save you a whole lot of words. (NPR)   + Clippy's coming back. This time as an emoji. What it's meant to signify, I do not know. (BBC) Join us at EmTech MIT, our flagship event on emerging technology and trends.  Immerse yourself in bold thinking and visionary innovation on the most significant technologies and global trends that will propel business and shape our world. Register now. Quote of the day "After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity." —Jackson Palmer, creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, tweets his conclusions about the field as a whole.  Top image credit: Nicolás Ortega Please send mac and cheese ice cream 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 Leading with Innovation. Join us virtually September 28-30. Register now

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