The newsletter also includes a variety of other tech-related stories, including Google's AI search tool, Tesla's autopilot system defect, plastic pollution, Meta's smart glasses, Amazon's growing pressure, Apple's potential removal of a toxic platform from its app store, weight loss drugs, phone usage during Christmas, AI astrology, and Taylor Swift fans' impact on the Earth. The big story focuses on Australia's plan to survive bigger, more dangerous bushfires.
Key takeaways:
- The annual UN climate negotiations at COP28 in Dubai have officially come to a close, with a high-profile fight about the wording around fossil fuels.
- A new system called Dobb-E can teach robots a domestic task in around 20 minutes, potentially helping to overcome a lack of training data in the field of robotics.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy rights to use a CRISPR patent owned by the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, allowing it to start selling its new gene-editing treatment for sickle-cell disease without fear of patent infringement claims.
- Australia has drastically changed its response to wildfires following the horrors of Black Saturday in 2009, including changing how fire risk is rated.