[ad_1]
That is at present’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.
We could by no means absolutely understand how video video games have an effect on our well-being
For many years, lawmakers, researchers, journalists, and oldsters have fearful that video video games are unhealthy for us: that they encourage violent conduct or hurt psychological well being. These fears have spilled into coverage selections affecting tens of millions of individuals.
The World Well being Group added “gaming dysfunction” to its Worldwide Classification of Ailments (ICD) in 2019, whereas China restricts individuals beneath 18 from enjoying video games for greater than three hours per week in a bid to stop minors from turning into addicted.
Nonetheless, in recent times a rising physique of analysis has argued that video video games are actually good for us, bettering cognition, relieving stress, and bolstering communication abilities.
The fact, a brand new examine suggests, is that we merely don’t have a great grip on how video games have an effect on our well-being, if in any respect, demonstrating the complexity of creating particular conclusions about how and why enjoying video video games impacts us. Read the full story.
—Rhiannon Williams
How do sturdy muscle tissues maintain your mind wholesome?
We’ve usually considered muscle as a factor that exists individually from mind. The reality is, our brains and muscle tissues are in fixed dialog with one another, sending electrochemical alerts forwards and backwards. In a really tangible approach, our mind well being is dependent upon holding our muscle tissues transferring.
Train stimulates what scientists name muscle-brain “cross discuss,” and protein molecules launched when muscle tissues contract assist to find out particular helpful responses within the mind. These can embody the formation of recent neurons and elevated synaptic plasticity, each of which increase studying and reminiscence. Read the full story.
—Bonnie Tsui
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Google flagged a father’s medical photographs of his son as abuse
When Massive Tech’s abuse-detection instruments get it improper, the implications could be extraordinarily severe. (NYT $)
2 Software program can do higher than ‘male,’ ‘feminine,’ and ‘different’
In lots of circumstances, a number of easy traces of code is all it takes. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Carbon removing wants an ethics code
The business has birthed loads of wild claims. Codes of conduct might assist to reign within the probability they’ll go rogue. (Protocol)
+ Seville is utilizing historical Persian expertise to fight local weather change. (Bloomberg $)
+ Corporations hoping to develop carbon-sucking kelp could also be speeding forward of the science. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Black market abortion capsule web sites are thriving
It’s not all the time clear the place the drugs come from, or the way to use them. (WSJ $)
+ Crossing state traces is taking its toll on these looking for abortions. (Slate)
+ The place to get abortion drugs and the way to use them. (MIT Technology Review)
5 NSO Group has a brand new CEO
As half of a bigger inside shakeup. (FT $)
+ The hacking business faces the top of an period. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Massive Tech is bracing itself for a brand new wave of ‘massive lie’ misinformation
Critics say their outdated detection and removing strategies received’t assist shield the midterm elections. (WP $)
7 There’s no proof that scholar conduct apps work
However colleges throughout the US are adopting them anyway. (Undark)
+ Software program that screens college students throughout assessments perpetuates inequality and violates their privateness. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Prostheses are failing amputees
Effectively-intentioned engineers are failing to know what individuals with limb loss really need from their prosthetics. (IEEE Spectrum)
9 Inside Reddit’s vile nudes market
In addition to promoting the photographs and movies, the group works collectively to dox the ladies showing in them. (BBC)
+ A horrifying new AI app swaps ladies into porn movies with a click on. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Thai activists are trolling their monarchy
Utilizing Despicable Me and Harry Potter tropes. (Foreign Policy $)
Quote of the day
“It’s simply one other factor to maintain reminding you to get in your cellphone.”
—Deborah Mackenzie, 23, explains why she received’t be becoming a member of the swathes of younger individuals utilizing BeReal, an app that encourages authenticity, to The Guardian.
The large story
Video video games are dividing South Korea
December 2019
When the American leisure firm Blizzard launched StarCraft, its real-time science fiction technique sport in 1998, it wasn’t only a hit—it was an awakening. Again then, South Korea was seen as extra of a technological backwater than a serious market. Blizzard hadn’t even bothered to localize the sport into Korean.
Regardless of this, StarCraft—the place gamers combat one another with armies of warring galactic species—was a runaway success. Out of 11 million copies bought worldwide, 4.5 million had been in South Korea.
StarCraft and PC bang tradition spoke to a era of younger South Koreans boxed in by financial nervousness and rising tutorial pressures. The social side of StarCraft set the stage for an additional phenomenon: e-sports. Read the full story.
—Max S. Kim
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ You heard it right here first—listed below are the hottest colors of 2023.
+ This story a few seal who broke into a biologist’s home is hilarious.
+ This automated cringey LinkedIn post generator has given me hours of leisure.
+ How wonderful does Catherine Zeta-Jones look within the new Addams Household story, Wednesday?
+ Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation is such a tune, it breaks laptops.