Plus: Meta was fined huge by the EU
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FDA Just Approves Coated Gene Therapy That Helps Children ‘Like Butterflies’
news: Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of the first gene therapy drug applied directly to the body and the first gene therapy drug intended for repeated use in the same person.
Usage: This treatment introduces a defective gene into the skin cells, allowing them to produce collagen. This is already helping people with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic disorder that makes their skin incredibly fragile. Topical ointments help heal chronic blisters from the disorder, and eye drops prevent scar tissue from building up inside the eyeball and improve vision.
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Next steps: This gene therapy is unusual in that it does not involve the injection or modification of immune cells outside the body. This suggests that a similar approach could be applied for profitable applications. But the biggest question at the moment is how much it will cost families who need it. Read full text.
— Antonio Regalado
How to store your digital memories
— Tate Ryan-Mosley
My e-mail archive contains important messages from the important days of my life. Letters of acceptance for grad school, travel plans with sisters, job offers at Tech Review, invitations to reunite with dear friends you haven’t heard from. .
I never really thought about what to do with all these digital records. I kind of expected that I would be able to access and manage my email at my convenience. I’m not saving anything particularly important right now, but I should probably change it.
Because it’s really just renting space owned by tech companies. Google and Twitter recently announced new policies to remove inactive accounts, a reminder of just how perpetual and fragile our digital lives really are. Read full text.
Tate’s story is from The Technocrat, her weekly newsletter covering policy power struggles in Silicon Valley. sign up You can receive it in your inbox every Friday.
must read content
I scoured the internet to find the most fun/important/horrifying/engaging stories about technology today.
1 The EU fined Meta a record 1.2 billion euros
For failing to protect your data in transit from Europe to the United States. (Politico)
+ Meta has five months to stop further transfers of personal data to the United States. (bloomberg $)
2 Carbon removal is becoming big business
This does not necessarily mean that climate change countermeasures will have a large impact. (economist $)
+ Grass-covered roofs are helping Brazilian favelas beat the intense heat. (Underdark)
+ What does it take to achieve affordable carbon removal? (MIT Technology Review)
3 The chip industry is under threat
A crackdown on “permanent chemicals” threatens chipmakers’ manufacturing processes. (FT $)+ China claims to have discovered security risks in US-made Micron chips. (bloomberg $)
4 China ramps up satellite network plans
Preparations for the launch site are underway, and new companies are emerging. (WSJMore $)
+ Starlink signals can be reverse engineered to act like GPS, whether SpaceX likes it or not. (MIT Technology Review)
5 SpaceX’s second civilian mission is heading to IS
Three paying customers will spend a week on board the space station. (CNN)
6 Esports is not in the age of making money like it once was
Viewers seem to have lost interest and the team owner is for sale. (new york times $)
7 Bitcoin blockchain is being hijacked by memecoins and NFTs
And Bitcoin purists are not happy with this. (bloomberg $)
8 Caregiver robots don’t always keep their promises
Some human caregivers feel that they can be more of a nuisance than they are worth. (Guardian)
+ Inside a long-running experiment in automating elderly care in Japan. (MIT Technology Review)
9 MDMA therapy may be on the horizon
However, consuming psychedelics in a medical setting does not always produce the desired effects. (vox)
+ Mind-altering substances are exaggerated as silver bullets. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Reasons Why Voicemail Isn’t Popular 📞
For example, there is no better alternative than this. (Atlantic $)
quote of the day
“AI is not magic. There are a lot of people involved – human”
—Timnit Gebrew, a computer scientist who was fired from Google in 2020 for warning about AI bias, denies the tendency to treat technology as a fantasy for working people. Guardian.
big story
What Cities Need Now
The latest smart city projects have a lot in common with their predecessors. Again and again, these initiatives promise novel ‘solutions’ to urban ‘problems’.
But after a decade of pilot projects and flashy demonstrations, it’s still unclear whether smart city technology can actually solve, or even alleviate, the challenges cities face. Read full text.
— Jennifer Clarke
we still have good
A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these strange times. (Any ideas? Please contact again please tweet me. )
+ Neolithic humans amazingly talented planner?
+ Time to wake up and smell the coffee. quite literally, these brave scientists.
+ these delicious pancakes there might be a little thing. 🥞
+ We are learning more Marsthanks to what we already know about the Earth.
+ A healthy breakfast and a positive vibe are just a few of the important tips for a comfortable life. a longer, happier life.