Gene editing techniques can produce mosquitoes which cannot pass on the parasite that causes malaria – a potentially huge lifesaver. CC-licensed photo by Global Panorama on Flickr.
You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam.
It’s Friday, so there’s another post due at the Social Warming Substack at about 0845 UK time.
A selection of 9 links for you. Bite me. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome.
The chatbot culture wars are here • The New York Times
Kevin Roose:
»
For much of the last decade, America’s partisan culture warriors have fought over the contested territory of social media — arguing about whether the rules on Facebook and Twitter were too strict or too lenient, whether YouTube and TikTok censored too much or too little and whether Silicon Valley tech companies were systematically silencing right-wing voices.
Those battles aren’t over. But a new one has already started.
This fight is over artificial intelligence, and whether the outputs of leading A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are politically biased.
Conservatives have been taking aim at A.I. companies for months. In March, House Republicans subpoenaed a group of leading A.I. developers, probing them for information about whether they colluded with the Biden administration to suppress right-wing speech. And this month, Missouri’s Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, opened an investigation into whether Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI are leading a “new wave of censorship” by training their A.I. systems to give biased responses to questions about President Trump.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump himself joined the fray, issuing an executive order on what he called “woke A.I.”
“Once and for all, we are getting rid of woke,” he said in a speech. “The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the A.I. models, and neither do other countries.”The order was announced alongside a new White House A.I. action plan that will require A.I. developers that receive federal contracts to ensure that their models’ outputs are “objective and free from top-down ideological bias.”
«
Well that’s going to be EVER so easy to enforce, isn’t it.
unique link to this extract
CRISPR gene editing in mosquitoes halts malaria spread • Technology Networks
»
Biologists Zhiqian Li and Ethan Bier from UC San Diego, and Yuemei Dong and George Dimopoulos from Johns Hopkins University, created a CRISPR-based gene-editing system that changes a single molecule within mosquitoes, a minuscule but effective change that stops the malaria-parasite transmission process. Genetically altered mosquitoes are still able to bite those with malaria and acquire parasites from their blood, but the parasites can no longer be spread to other people. The new system is designed to genetically spread the malaria resistance trait until entire populations of the insects no longer transfer the disease-causing parasites.
“Replacing a single amino acid in mosquitoes with another naturally occurring variant that prevents them from being infected with malarial parasites — and spreading that beneficial trait throughout a mosquito population — is a game-changer,” said Bier, a professor in the UC San Diego Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (School of Biological Sciences). “It’s hard to believe that this one tiny change has such a dramatic effect.”
The newly developed system uses CRISPR-Cas9 “scissors” and a guide RNA to make a genetic cut at a precise location within the mosquito’s genome. It then replaces the unwanted amino acid that transmits malaria with the beneficial version that does not.
The system targets a gene that produces a protein known as “FREP1” that helps mosquitoes develop and feed on blood when they bite. The new system switches an amino acid in FREP1 known as L224 with a genetic alternate, or allele, called Q224. Disease-causing parasites use L224 to swim to the insect’s salivary glands, where they are positioned to infect a person or animal.
«
The difference is that the allele effectively prevents infection of the mosquito, and thus the human, by the parasite. Big difference.
unique link to this extract
Smartphone gambling is a disaster • After Babel
Jonathan Cohen and Isaac Rose-Berman:
»
Gambling companies are spending heavily to attract new customers. Since legalization began in 2018, sportsbooks have bombarded Americans with ads, paid celebrities to promote their products, and given away billions in new-user promos. The message: gambling is easy, fun, and a quick way to make life more exciting. This marketing drives cultural normalization. It transforms what was once a vice into a common daily habit, something that everybody does — or should do. Much of this advertising airs during sports broadcasts, when kids are watching. This is no accident. Speaking of their previous employer, one ex-FanDuel employee told Jonathan “anybody under twenty-five they have their eye on.”
Normalization brings more gamblers, which means an increase in the number of problem gamblers. And many of those who avoid addiction still suffer gambling-related harm, losing more than they can afford or than they had intended. The number of people harmed is so vast that it shows up in aggregate statistics: states with legal online gambling have seen an increase in bankruptcies and auto loan delinquencies, a reduction in credit scores, as well as reduced savings and investment in low-income households, compared to states that did not legalize online gambling. In 2023, 60% of sports bettors who deposited $500 or more per month said they would be unable to pay at least one of their bills or loans.
…Teachers and principals we’ve spoken to report that almost all of their male students seem to be gambling. One suburban Massachusetts public school teacher told Jonathan that his tenth-grade students “are always talking about their bets … betting lines and odds and all kinds of stuff. 15 year olds.” Some kids told the teacher that their parents made it possible for them to bet. Others — including the class’s “unofficial bookie” — were doing it behind their parents’ backs. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 5% of high schoolers show signs of a gambling problem. No wonder gambling addiction treatment providers report a spike in twenty-something and teenage clients.
These harms are becoming more pervasive due to the accessibility of the apps and their addiction-promoting design.
«
It is the normalisation that is the problem. Even in the UK, gambling apps and sites are relentless.
unique link to this extract
Apple releases first iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 Public Betas • MacRumors
Juli Clover:
»
Apple is allowing members of its public beta testing program to download and install iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 starting today. You can sign up for the public betas on Apple’s beta website. The first public beta features the same content as the fourth developer beta that came out earlier this week, though there is a new fourth beta available for developers as well.
Beta testers that have registered on Apple’s website can download the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 updates by opening the Settings app, going to the General section, tapping on Software Update, and choosing the iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 Public Beta options.
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 feature Apple’s Liquid Glass design, with a visual aesthetic that focuses on transparency. Icons, menu buttons, navigation bars, and more reflect and refract light with subtle animations. There are pop-out menus in some areas, tab bars shrink down, and everything has a more rounded look.
«
You’re welcome to download and install them! And may God have mercy on your data, battery and eyes.
unique link to this extract
Memento mori illuminator • Hey.com
David Heinemeier Hansson:
»
I really like watches. Not so much because I need to precisely tell time all that often – most of my days, the calendar is pretty empty – but because they remind me that I’m going to die.
That reminder of death is a reminder to make time count. Forget about productivity, though. The notion that TIME = MONEY – squandered unless invested with a great return! – is spiritually bankrupt. No, making time count in terms of spending it well. Being able to close my eyes, on the last day, with a smile of satisfaction.
This is a recurring theme in Stoicism. That life is long enough if you spend it well, but spending it well requires embracing life’s shortness. Which is at once morbid and liberating. That so much of what we fool ourselves into obsession over is trivial. But also that we could spend our time on things that are not trivial. We could embrace our principles, we could go the long way to take a stand.
It’s also a strong theme in existentialism. The absurdity of our daily lives. The rut we can’t escape unless we accept that absurdity.
It’s for the same reason I hope we never do discover immortality. A hundred years, give or take a decade or two, is enough. The constraint is part of what gives the duration its meaning.
«
Apple beats US appeal claiming it shortchanged customers on iCloud storage • Reuters
Jonathan Stempel:
»
A US federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected claims by Apple customers that the iPhone maker gave them less iCloud data storage than they paid for when upgrading.
In a 3-0 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said reasonable consumers in the proposed class action would not have been misled by Apple’s promises about storage capacity in its iCloud+ plans.
The plaintiff Lisa Bodenburg said she paid $2.99 a month for 200 GB of storage, believing Apple would add it to the 5 GB that all iCloud customers receive, and was shortchanged because Apple gave her only 200 GB of total storage, not 205 GB.
Circuit Judge Milan Smith, however said Bodenburg “received exactly what Apple promised her” when the Cupertino, California-based company offered “incremental” or “supplemental” storage, on top of the 5 GB she got for free.
He cited dismissals of other cases based on “unreasonable assumptions,” including that Diet Dr. Pepper would aid in weight loss, and the net weight on a lip balm label failed to reveal that the dispenser’s design left some balm inaccessible.
“Apple’s statements are not false and deceptive merely because [they] may be unreasonably misunderstood by an insignificant and unrepresentative segment of consumers,” Smith wrote.
«
I read that as “just because you’re stupid doesn’t mean everyone else is”. Although good grief, it really is time for Apple to upgrade the base level iCloud storage. Unless the reasoning is that 5GB is so minimal that absolutely everyone will hit it on their first backup, and either pay Apple or live life on the edge (or back up to their computer, hahahahaha).
unique link to this extract
Winging it • The Baffler
Noelle Mateer:
»
Aerophobia is having a moment. In January, an American Airlines jet crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., killing sixty-seven; less than three months later, a helicopter crashed into New York City’s Hudson River, killing six; for months this spring, cancellations, delays, and disruptions plagued New Jersey’s Newark airport; the shortage of air traffic controllers only continues to get worse; and every single headline involving the beleaguered Boeing seems to indicate that something is seriously wrong with the world of commercial aviation.
But I’ve been panicky and nauseous on planes my whole life, and plenty of others have too. Today, approximately twenty-five million Americans are aerophobic. There is a vast online ecosystem for nervous flyers, including r/fearofflying, where people ask other Redditors to “watch” their flight using tracking apps. There’s Dial A Pilot, which offers customers the chance to call pilots for reassurance before boarding a flight. There’s Lovefly, a podcast interviewing people who’ve overcome their aerophobia. And there’s the famous SOAR method, which is both a self-help book and course led by a pilot and a licensed therapist.
I’ve dabbled in all of these. But it was Captain Ron, a Vietnam War vet with a master’s degree in counseling, who truly understood me. Captain Ron’s FearlessFlight® is the only one of these methods I’ve ever stuck with because, well, I like the guy. In our first meeting, a fifteen-minute free coaching session that sprawled well past the time allotted, I asked: How can I have flown so much, and still be so scared? Why am I getting worse, not better, with time? He nodded sagely and explained to me that this is common among people with severe flight anxiety, that our anxiety has created bad mental pathways, and with each bad flight, we reinforce them, making them worse.
This sounds right, but I think there’s more to it. In addition to having a panic disorder, I’ve grown increasingly aware of the spit and tape holding society together.
«
Fear of flying, yes, is a thing. But online communities who hype each other up into worrying about it (“watch my flight!” isn’t supportive; it’s seeking catastrophe) aren’t a good thing. They’re a problem, like any community that eggs itself on, and pushes its members towards extremes – as any group will.
And the “spit and tape holding society together”? It’s a lot more robust than that.
unique link to this extract
Researchers value null results, but struggle to get them published • Nature
Laurie Udesky:
»
Scientists overwhelmingly recognize the value of sharing null results, but rarely publish them in the research literature, according to a survey. The findings suggest that there is a need for increased awareness of how and why to share such data, as well as for changes in how research productivity is assessed.
The survey drew responses from 11,069 researchers in 166 countries and all major scientific disciplines. It found that 98% recognize the value of null results, which the survey defined as “an outcome that does not confirm the desired hypothesis”. Eighty-five% of respondents said it was important to share those results. However, just 68% of the 7,057 researchers whose work had produced null results had shared them in some form, and just 30% had tried to publish them in a journal.
The results were released on 22 July. The survey was conducted by Nature’s publisher, Springer Nature. (Nature is editorially independent of its publisher.)
That only 30% of respondents with null results had attempted to publish them is not surprising to Ritu Dhand, Springer Nature’s chief scientific officer in London.
“Researchers are taught to write research papers referencing positive advances, so null results are rarely cited,” she says. That means that even if null results are published, they won’t have an impact, she adds.
Some 1,489 respondents had generated null results and agreed that they are important to share but had not yet done so. Most of that group expressed concerns about publishing them: 69% didn’t think null results would be accepted for publication; 52% didn’t know which journals would consider publishing research with null results; 19% worried that their institution or funder wouldn’t cover publishing costs; and 21% were concerned that they’d be viewed negatively by their peers.
This reputational concern reflects a disconnect in science, says Marcus Munafò, a biological psychologist and executive director of the UK Reproducibility Network, which aims to improve the trustworthiness of research.
«
I – and others who are actual working scientists – suspect the problem is more that journals don’t want to publish null results, because who wants to know that nothing happened? Or even failure to replicate (which is a sort of null).
unique link to this extract
I travelled the globe to document how humans became addicted to faking the natural world • The Guardian
Zed Nelson:
»
The strata of rock being created under our feet today will reveal the impact of human activity long after we are gone. Future geologists will find radioactive isotopes from nuclear-bomb tests, huge concentrations of plastics, the fallout from the burning of fossil fuels and vast deposits of cement used to build our cities. Meanwhile, a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the British Zoological Society shows an average decrease of 73% of wild animal populations on Earth over the past 50 years, as we push creatures and plants to extinction by removing their habitats.
Humans have concentrated in cities. We have separated ourselves from the land we once roamed – and from other animals. But somewhere deep within, a desire for contact with nature remains. So, as we destroy the natural world around us, we have become masters of a stage-managed, artificial experience of nature, a reassuring spectacle, an illusion.
Over the past six years I have visited 14 countries across four continents, observing how we humans immerse ourselves in increasingly artificial landscapes. We holiday on synthetic beaches, attend zoos that display living animals in artistically rendered dioramas of their natural habitats, and visit amusement parks that offer a “jungle experience”. We gaze at aquatic creatures in artificially lit sea-worlds, and at polar bears in Chinese shopping malls, pacing out their existence in glazed enclosures of plastic ice and snow. We ski on artificial slopes in Dubai, while outside the desert temperature is 48C.
«
A reluctance to face what we’re doing to the world, perhaps?
unique link to this extract
| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified
The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 