Weekly Progress Roundup

An exciting week for the space industry, a few things you should know about AI, and more.

It's been a huge week for the space industry

In case you still doubt that we’re living in a golden age of space travel, during the past week alone:

• Blue Origin sent its first rocket to orbit.

• India became the fourth country to complete a space docking.

• Starship had its seventh test flight (with mixed results: they caught the booster but the upper stage disintegrated into a beautiful stream of debris).

• SpaceX “rideshares” launched two private lunar landers and a spacecraft intended to manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit.

Artificial intelligence is levelling the educational playing field

World Bank researchers recently published the results of an AI tutoring trial in Nigeria. It was an incredible success: the students learned more in the six-week program than they would have otherwise learned in two years. And this was measured using a pen-and-paper exam, so the kids weren’t just faking it with ChatGPT.

What will education look like when every student has a genius-level tutor in their pocket?

ChatGPT is not actually very bad for the environment

It’s become common knowledge in some circles that AI is a water and power hound, with every query hastening the collapse of Earth’s climate. This view lacks proper perspective, which effective altruist and blogger Andy Masley kindly gives us in a recent post. Below is one of many excellent charts from his article.

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Culture & Tolerance:

• Liechtenstein Marriage Equality Law Takes Effect

Economics:

• Remittances to Poor Countries Reached $685 Billion in 2024

• Poverty Down Sharply in India Since 2012

• Multidimensional Poverty Rate Drops to Below 1 Percent in Vietnam

• Poverty in Indonesia Drops by 1.84 Million People Since 2023

• In the Last 30 Years, Almost All of Bangladesh Gained Electricity

Energy & Environment:

• Endangered Bonobo Population Stable in Congo

• The North Sea Is Bouncing Back

• Yellow River Protection Efforts Making Progress

• Endangered Seabirds Return to Pacific Island After 100-Year Absence

• Scientists Discover Enormous Water Reservoir in Oregon Cascades

• The Rise of Nuclear-Powered Batteries

• Near-Extinct Siberian Crane Is Recovering

• Critical Ocean Current Has Not Declined in the Last 60 Years

• Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor in Wyoming Hits Key Milestone

Health & Demographics:

• Positive Results from New Type of Islet Cell Transplantation

• AI Uses Throat Vibrations to Work Out What Someone Is Saying

• Researchers Develop Cancer Blood Test Enabling Early Detection

• Seventy Really May Be the New Sixty for English Baby Boomers

• Malaria Deaths in Kenya Drop by 93 Percent over Eight Years

• Novel Test Can Detect Different Types of Asthma via Nasal Swab

• Global Burden of Diarrheal Diseases Has Declined Substantially Since 1990

• J&J’s Combination Lung Cancer Treatment Adds a Year to Patient Survival

Science & Technology:

• Amazon’s Satellite Project Pushes Ahead with UK Broadband Plans

• How Uber and Lyft Are Gearing Up for the Robotaxi Revolution

• Parkinson’s Tremors Disappear with Use of Ultrasound Machine

• Meta Creates Speech Translator That Works in Dozens of Languages

• Scientists Re-Create the Microbial Dance That Sparked Complex Life

• New Andean Observatory Could Expand Our Knowledge of the Cosmos

• Scientists Find Links Between Head Trauma, Herpes, and Alzheimer’s

Violence:

• Zimbabwe Abolishes Death Penalty