Today’s edition of The Download, MIT Technology Review’s daily tech newsletter

The must-reads

I’ve combed the net to uncover you today’s most exciting/critical/terrifying/intriguing stories about technological innovation.

1 Food prices are soaring
Ukraine provides a lot of the world’s wheat, corn, and barley—and its farmers are not likely to be ready to plant this time. (NYT $)
  + Local weather adjust is compounding the trouble. (Wired $)
  + A Ukrainian MP has accused Russia of attempting to starve Mariupol into surrender. (BBC)
  + Russia is using cluster bombs, and they could pose a danger for many years. (Wired $)
  + 6.5 million men and women have been displaced inside Ukraine, according to the UN. (Axios) 

2 Is Russia holding back again from cyberwar?
The most dire predictions haven’t come to pass—yet. (Vox)
  + Right now, the propaganda war is the most important virtual battlefront. (TR)
  + Russian families are battling in excess of truth, as various customers receive vastly distinctive reviews on the war. (WP $)
  + Ukraine is interesting to DJI to restrict where by its drones can fly. (Vice) 

3 China noted its 1st covid deaths due to the fact January 2021
Omicron has arrived on its shores—but it is meeting with rigid resistance. (The Guardian)
  + England’s health and fitness support has started providing out 2nd covid boosters to people today categorized as greater-danger. (The Guardian)
  + Hong Kong is rising from some of the world’s strictest covid restrictions. (Nikkei)
  + But lower vaccination premiums and amounts of immunity led to a hefty loss of life toll. (The Guardian) 

4 What’s a “normal” quantity of time to grieve?
Psychiatry’s most strong entire body thinks it’s about a calendar year. (NYT $)
  + How to mend your damaged pandemic mind. (TR) 

5 People are hoarding nickels 💰
The kinds who’ve observed its price spiking recently, at minimum. (The Atlantic $)
  + The war in Ukraine looks possible to also trigger a lack of neon. (Recode)
  + It could be a main setback for electrical vehicle sales also. (NYT $) 

6 NASA’s huge new moon rocket has arrived at its launch pad 🚀
Marking a critical milestone in NASA’s area exploration programs, however it may be months ahead of it flies. (Ars Technica)
  + Russia sent 3 cosmonauts to the Global Area Station amid turmoil in excess of Ukraine. (WP $) 

7 Sounds like SXSW was… kinda depressing
There is always hoopla in tech, but the gap involving promises and most likely results appears to be like like a big chasm lately. (Vice)

8 Have Apple iphone cameras become too good?
Some end users are complaining that the most up-to-date iteration around-corrects their photos. (New Yorker $)

9 Why do video clip video games preserve acquiring extended? 🎮⌛
It is a golden age for games—you just require to have the time to in fact enjoy them. (WP $)

10 What AI thinks an Emily Dickinson poem appears to be like
Certainly otherworldly things. (Debugger $)

Estimate of the working day

“There can be no chat of any surrenders, laying down of arms. We have presently knowledgeable the Russian facet about this. As a substitute of wasting time on 8 web pages of letters, just open a [humanitarian] corridor.” 

~Ukraine’s deputy key minister Iryna Vereshchuk concerns a defiant message as the Russian army deadline for the surrender of Mariupol handed now, information outlet Ukrainska Pravda reports.

We can nevertheless have awesome points

A location for comfort and ease, enjoyment and distraction in these bizarre times. (Obtained any strategies? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

  + Not NOW, Japanese demon. 
  + These physics toys look endlessly entertaining. 
  + Sean Connery’s Highlander voiceover dubbed above the opening of Teletubbies cannot be unheard—or unseen. 
  + Why you really should embrace being boring. 
  + New Ben Affleck film Deep Drinking water asks the eternal dilemma: can a drone engineer be alluring?