{"id":7259,"date":"2026-07-27T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/07\/27\/the-download-lasers-for-nuclear-fuel-and-organ-preservation-advances\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T13:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:00:08","slug":"the-download-lasers-for-nuclear-fuel-and-organ-preservation-advances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/07\/27\/the-download-lasers-for-nuclear-fuel-and-organ-preservation-advances\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: lasers for nuclear fuel, and organ preservation advances"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of <\/em>The Download<\/em><\/a>, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

How lasers could help provide fuel for nuclear reactors <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Nuclear power provides about 9% of global electricity today, and that fraction could tick up as countries look to build new reactors. New, cheaper methods to obtain fuel could help ensure that those nuclear projects stay on track.<\/p>\n

One of those methods is called laser enrichment. It allows you to separate out the material you want (in this case, uranium) from others in a mixture of old waste.<\/p>\n

A company called Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) is about to start testing whether the technology works at commercial scale. Read our story about their efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Casey Crownhart<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The quest to keep organs alive outside the body<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s super difficult to freeze organs. Once ice forms in them, they\u2019re done. The ice crystals create all kinds of damage and render the organs unusable. That hasn\u2019t stopped many researchers from trying.<\/p>\n

In new research, one team has been able to supercool the kidneys of pigs and preserve them for days. The kidneys survived being stored at \u22124 \u00b0C (25 \u00b0F) and eventually reimplanted back into pigs. And that\u2019s just the latest development in a field that is positively buzzing.<\/p>\n

Read about why it\u2019s such an exciting time for organ preservation\u2014and what could be coming next. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014Jessica Hamzelou<\/em><\/p>\n

This story<\/a> is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. <\/strong>Sign up<\/strong><\/a>to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Silicon Valley is split over how to respond to Chinese AI<\/strong>
It boils down to whether AI models should be open or closed. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta warn that restricting open models would backfire.<\/em> (CNBC<\/a>)
+ AI companies are spending record sums on lobbying Washington.<\/em> (FT<\/a> $)
+ China\u2019s AI models have Trump\u2019s AI world at war with itself. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Trump can\u2019t post his way out of this war <\/strong>
Iran has revealed hard limits to his ability to bend reality to his will. (Atlantic<\/a> $)
+ Trump has been forced to abandon further escalation due to dwindling munitions stockpiles. <\/em>(NYT<\/a> $)
+ An Iranian strike on CIA facilities has raised questions about Russian involvement.<\/em> (Reuters<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

3 Wildfires are surging across Europe<\/strong>
Repeated heat waves have turned parts of the continent into a tinder box. (BBC<\/a>)
+ One of the fires forced NASA to evacuate a tracking station in Spain.<\/em> (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ Americans are increasingly grappling with smoky skies too. <\/em>(Atlantic<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

4 OpenAI didn\u2019t notice its agent going on a days-long hacking spree<\/strong>
It only cottoned on after the threat was contained and the FBI had been alerted, sources say. (Reuters<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

5 The AI jobs wipeout still hasn\u2019t arrived<\/strong>
In fact, a lot of companies are now embarking on hiring sprees. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ AI\u2019s impact is increasingly falling short of expectations.<\/em> (The Guardian<\/a>) 
+ Here\u2019s a much-needed reality check on the AI jobs hysteria.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 A six-year-old girl died in a Chinese gene-editing trial<\/strong>
Experts say it should have never been allowed to go ahead. (Science<\/a>)
+ This baby boy was treated with the first personalized gene-editing drug.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 What it\u2019s like to use a North Korean smartphone<\/strong>
They\u2019re growing in popularity\u2014but represent another avenue for government control. (WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 The FCC\u2019s ban on foreign-made drones is not working<\/strong>
You can\u2019t change global supply chains at the stroke of a pen. (The Verge<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

9 The \u201csummer of Ludd\u201d shows it\u2019s fun to be a Luddite <\/strong>
A growing anti-tech movement is all about raw, anarchic joy. (404 Media<\/a>)
+ We\u2019re in the era of AI malaise. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 Why Jimothy the racoon is the internet\u2019s latest obsession <\/strong>\"\ud83e\udd9d\"
It\u2019s his irresistible combination of chaos and cuteness. (BBC<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that [AI] should stand for artificial idiot.\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u2014Marian Agnew, a nine-year-old, from Norman, Oklahoma, tells\u00a0Wired<\/a>\u00a0she\u2019s not impressed by AI models\u2019 tendency to make up facts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One More Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"three<\/p>\n
KATHERINE LAM<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Inside a romance scam compound\u2014and how people get tricked into being there \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gavesh\u2019s journey started, seemingly innocently, with a job ad on Facebook promising work he desperately needed. <\/p>\n

Instead, he found himself trafficked into a business commonly known as \u201cpig butchering\u201d\u2014a form of fraud in which scammers form close relationships with targets online and extract money from them. <\/p>\n

The Chinese crime syndicates behind the scams have netted billions of dollars, and they have used violence and coercion to force their workers to carry out the frauds from large compounds, several of which operate openly in the quasi-lawless borderlands of Myanmar. <\/p>\n

Read our story about these scam syndicates and how they could be broken up.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u2014 Peter Guest and Emily Fishbein<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ I want to make every single one of these delicious-looking Korean\u00a0dishes<\/a>.\u00a0
+ If you like origami, you\u2019ll love\u00a0this guy<\/a>\u2019s tutorials.
+ How to deal with those\u00a0old gadgets<\/a>\u00a0that are collecting dust in your drawer.
+ Enjoy these old art deco\u00a0public transport posters<\/a>\u00a0from London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How lasers could help provide fuel for nuclear reactors  Nuclear power provides about 9% of global electricity today, and that fraction could tick up as countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-7259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mit-feed","tag-mit-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}