ISSUE #04
GENERAL HEADLINES
Tik Tok, Your Time Is Almost Up
Many teenagers in the USA might be experiencing an epidemic of withdrawal symptoms in the near future. A bill was recently passed with a 352-62 vote, and it pretty much bans TikTok, even crazier thing is that it was bipartisan. The Democrats and Republicans really just agreed with each other on something.
Photograph of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Capitol Hill. (Image Credit : EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)
Dude, wdym “pretty much?”
The bill, The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (yeesh that’s a mouthful), is calling for the app’s Chinese developer ByteDance to divest from the company or get booted out of US app stores. So, they just have to divest, and everyone will be happy right? One key detail, they don’t want to let up, and why would they. The Chinese parent company practically owns a multibillion-dollar company, and why wouldn’t they want to reap the profits? This bill is basically going to ban TikTok.
Ok, but why?
The battle of TikTok is the most recent one in the US-China competition and Washington’s attempts to get rid of any foreign propaganda and any data mining. In the case of TikTok, US legislators fear that ByteDance could be secretly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Many House legislators have argued that the app could allow the Chinese government to access user data and influence Americans through the wildly popular social media platform’s addictive algorithm.
TikTok has tried to deny the charges against it, but it hasn’t been very effective in convincing US legislators.
Critics, though, say the hearing was unsuccessful in part due to grandstanding by legislators. One notable and rather funny incident saw TikTok CEO Shou Chew, a Singaporean and military reservist, get absolutely grilled on whether he supports the Chinese Communist Party. Chew just kept on saying “I am a Singaporean,” but he still kept on getting grilled.
The aftermath
As you can expect, Capitol Hill is currently hated by approximately 170 million Americans. Like seriously, there are people protesting against the bill in Washington DC.
Reasons are varied. Majority of them are addicted teenagers but there are some real effects of this ban. Business who grew their brand on TikTok will get hit really hard, a majority of their customer base would have been there. Content creators who made a living off TikTok are no longer going to have that stream. Critics have said that it indirectly violates the first amendment because it kind of stifles free expression and restricts one source of getting information for the public.
But there are positives to this ban. Yes, believe it or not, banning TikTok might actually be good for you (who would have thought). For starters, TikTok is insanely addictive, I know people who have spent 4 hours a day on TikTok just doom scrolling. TikTok also kind of gives brain rot. This is due the secretion of dopamine in your brain, and it is associated with a feeling of satisfaction and gives your brain a “reward.” However, this starts to spiral out of control, you will start to secrete excess dopamine if you spend enough time on TikTok, and this would cause some functions in your brain to go kaput. Some of these functions include decision making and processing. That’s why you would feel foggy after spending a while on the app.
The Zuck is probably popping champagne while 170 million Americans make the transition from TikTok to Instagram Reels. As for me, it doesn’t even matter, I never used TikTok (yes, I needed to make this weird flex).
HERE’S DEVIN!
You must be wondering, “who the heck is Devin?” Glad you asked. Devin is basically potentially every software engineer’s worst nightmare, or he could just be your local friendly neighbor.
However, I am sadly not writing about your friendly neighbor Devin, but I am writing about a more robotic, and a maybe less friendly Devin.
Devin’s creators over at Cognition Labs programmed it to do software engineer things, such as writing code, creating websites and software with just a single prompt. Sounds crazy right?
Before you all go into Terminator conspiracy theories, fear not, because the intention behind Devin is to not replace human software engineers but to be a tool to assist them. Still though, it is a little bit scary to think that AI can potentially take over our jobs.
Is it a Terminator-level threat?
No, not really. Can it start taking jobs? Possibly. Even though the intention of Cognition is to not replace humans, we all know corporations will still look at this as an opportunity to cut costs. Fortunately, the end still isn’t nigh.
According to Cognition, they evaluated Devin on SWE-bench, a challenging benchmark that asks agents to resolve real-world issues found in open-source projects like Django and scikit-learn.
Devin correctly resolves approximately 13.86% of the issues it was presented with, far exceeding the previous 1.96%. Even when given the exact files to edit, the best previous models could only resolve 4.80% of issues. When looking at the data, Devin looks insanely advanced, but keep in mind its accuracy is still much lower than actual human software engineers, so we are still fine.
What exactly can he do?
With Cognition’s advances in long-term reasoning and planning, Devin can plan and execute complex engineering tasks requiring thousands of decisions. It can recall relevant context at every step, learn over time, and fix mistakes.
It also has common developer tools including a shell (a program that provides an interface for the user to use operating system services), code editor, and browser at its disposal—basically everything a human would need to do their work.
Finally, Devin has ability to actively collaborate with the user. It reports on its progress in real time, accepts feedback, and works together with them through design choices as needed. Devin both fascinates and scares me. I want to see how far it can push the boundaries for AI and the avenues it could open for AI, but I hope it doesn’t go into Terminator mode. Maybe next time I will write about your friendly neighborhood Devin.
By Samar Shah
BUSINESS
Apple disbanded its decade-long ambition codenamed ‘Project Titan’
Apple recently ended its year-long aspiration to develop an electric vehicle to rival market leader Tesla. Due to the lack of development in a competitively dense market, Apple decided to change its pursuit from the development of EVs to focusing on the artificial intelligence and programming side of the field. By focusing on the software elements Apple meets the goal of diversifying their portfolio away from their flagship iPhone. Alternatively, the timing was cited as a crucial reason for this withdrawal as over 200 companies are working on electric vehicles while 20 companies sell thousands per year (according to the Financial Times). With Apple still being in the testing phase the feasibility of the project to be profitable was questioned leading to the decision to move away from automobile manufacturing. With a focus on AI software development for other companies, we could soon see the highly anticipated Apple electric car however it might take an unexpected form.
Image Credit : Mediate Dawoud
Amazon sets up $1Bn industrial innovation fund
Amazon aims to increase its investment in companies specializing in artificial intelligence and robotics-based pursuits. This has the hope of improving their efficiency and safety. Despite concerns over replacing human employment with robotic solutions, the head of their corporate venture arm ensured that these investments would cause a “shift in jobs” rather than a replacement of workers. They were suggesting that robots will take on more dangerous or monotonous tasks allowing their employees to focus on jobs requiring a higher skill and ambition level. Amazon has already deployed 750,000 mobile robots across its network to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Their ambition is to invest in fledgling companies that could develop the final stage of their deliveries and provide a better service to customers and employees.
Universal Music Group threatens further copyright against TikTok
Universal Music Group, one of the largest record labels in the world, recently decided against renewing their agreement for the licensing of a third of the world's music. Featuring stars like Drake and Taylor Swift, Universal Music Group was an integral part of TikTok however disagreements over money and recently the finances relating to AI-generated music have led to videos using copyrighted sound being muted. While TikTok’s offer of a low single-digit percentage of advertising revenue was firmly declined, further disagreement was caused by Universal Music group wanting royalties on AI-generated tracks while TikTok aims to share these among creators on the app. Discussions are still taking place intending to reach a conclusion. This standoff is the first time in recent memory that a licensing disagreement led to the removal of music on the platform as deals of this nature usually come to an agreement. If a compromise isn’t met, this leaves TikTok without their primary attraction and Universal artists without their primary source of advertising.
By Ayaan Cassim
MEDECINE
Pancreatic cancer is the uncontrolled cell growth in the pancreas; comparatively rare compared to other types of cancer, its combined five-year survival rate is just around 5 to 10 percent, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Pancreatic cancer tends to metastasize (cancer spreads to other part of the body) early. What makes pancreatic cancer the deadliest is that symptoms don’t appear until the advanced stage, giving it the lowest survival rate out of all major cancers.
Most pancreatic cancer has a single mutation detected at position G12 of the K-Ras amino acid sequence, which substitutes glycine for aspartic acid or valine Therefore, understanding the mechanics of gene mutation in some genes, such as K-Ras, which is often inactivated or mutated in about 70% of pancreatic cancer, and the p53 and p16 genes, allows us to explore and develop targeted medicines for pancreatic cancer.
Image Credit : Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory
In the majority of pancreatic cancer patients, both the p53 and p16 genes are inactivated. Cadmium (Ca), a highly toxic heavy metal, has been linked to pancreatic cancer development, as multiple studies have identified that Cd concentrations are higher in tissue obtained from pancreatic tumours compared with non-pancreatic cancer tissue. Cd exposure inhibits and suppresses p53, a transcription factor found on chromosome 17. which is involved in cancer suppression. In cancer tumours from high-pollution regions, the ratio of mutant p53 to wild-type is significantly higher in exons 5, 7, or 8 than in non-pollution areas, where mutation in exon 5 is more common. p53 mutations are frequently identified in mutated K-ras pancreatic tumours rather than those expressing naturally occurring p53, implying that K-ras mutations provide a genetic background that favours p53 mutations when developed early. Nickel, another toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic heavy metal caused G-to-T transversions in codon 12 of the K-ras gene on chromosome 12. Based on research, G-to-T mutations in K-ras are 3.6 times more likely to be caused by carcinogens, like benzopyrene, although G-to-A transitions to wild-type are similarly frequent in tumours from polluted locations. Surprisingly, no G-to-C changes were found in any of the tumours. Another unexpected result is that, despite the fact that PM10, NOx, and NO2 are all common air pollutants, they show no significant correlation with pancreatic cancer, but some studies suggest that Latinos have a greater relationship between cancer risk and NOx exposure. The most striking finding among air pollutants is that PM2.5 influences pancreatic cancer; coincidentally, the link is strongest in Latinos.
By Tang Li
SPORT
In the last fortnight, the world of sports has been abuzz with major action across sporting disciplines, from basketball to soccer and motor racing. Here is more of that:
Basketball
The NBA is in full flow, with quite a bit of more than ordinary attention coming its way as some of the teams have to contend with stiff competition this season. Fans continue to be glued and on alert for big games, player performances, and updates on standings. NCAA basketball has never been disappointing, as teams in different conferences take on each other with their focus being one thingᅳsupremacy and a chance of making it to the March Madness Championships.
Soccer
From the English Premier League (EPL) to Major League Soccer (MLS), La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and others, leagues will feature keen fixtures on what could be touted as a season-making affair for many sides. Also worthy of headlines are international competitions and cups which have dotted the recent schedule and have drawn attention from global soccer fans.
NASCAR
In addition to the International events, the NASCAR Cup Series was already rolling at full throttle, with heart-pounding Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series races to set up the stage for each point's importance to the Championship chase of the season.
By Ji Li
ECONOMICS
Can India become the new China?
Peeyush Mittal, a portfolio manager at Matthews Asia, has witnessed a transformation in India's infrastructure firsthand, particularly when a new expressway reduced his travel time from Delhi to Jaipur from six hours to three. This improvement is emblematic of India's broader growth prospects, attracting global investors' attention. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure began in 2014, India has been on a development spree, aiming to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025. In contrast to China, which is facing economic challenges and investor wariness, India's stock market has reached record highs, with the country's market value expected to double to $10 trillion by 2030. Global investors, looking for alternatives to China, are increasingly considering India, benefiting from its young population, manufacturing boom, and infrastructure investments. The International Monetary Fund projects India's economy to grow at 6.5% next year, outpacing China. Companies are diversifying their supply chains towards India, with significant investments from giants like Apple and Tesla. However, concerns about India's stock market valuations and its capacity to absorb the capital exiting China persist. Despite these challenges, domestic investment strength and geopolitical stability position India as a formidable growth engine on the global stage, unlikely to recede even if China addresses its current issues.
Construction in Hiranandani Gardens Powai, Maharashtra, India (Image Credit : Zoshua Colah)
By Vihaan Poddar
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
NASA Expands Space Farming for Astronaut Health and Well-being
NASA's efforts in space farming are gaining traction at the Kennedy Space Center, where scientist Matt Romeyn spearheads the Crop Food Production Research Area. This initiative is crucial for long-duration space missions, where resupply is impractical. Traditional vitamins degrade over time in space, posing a risk to astronaut health similar to historical vitamin deficiencies experienced by sailors. To counter this, NASA's Vegetable Production System (Veggie) allows astronauts to grow fresh produce such as lettuce, cabbage and zinnias directly on the International Space Station. These plants not only provide essential nutrients but also enhance psychological well-being by bringing a touch of Earth's natural beauty into the stark space environment. With plans to expand to more diverse crops, NASA aims to improve astronauts' diets and potentially offer protection against space radiation.
Texas to Host Groundbreaking $1.3 Billion Carbon Capture Plant
Set to become operational by 2025, the STRATOS Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in West Texas, developed by Occidental Petroleum Corp, is an ambitious endeavor aimed at mitigating climate change. With an investment of $1.3 billion, including a significant contribution from BlackRock, the facility will remove 500,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. This capacity is five times more than all existing DAC facilities combined. STRATOS represents a major step in scaling DAC technology, which extracts CO2 directly from the air for use in products like concrete or for underground storage. As the plant progresses towards completion, it has already secured carbon credit purchase agreements with major corporations like Amazon and TD Bank, highlighting its potential financial viability and critical role in achieving net-zero emissions globally.
Occidental Direct Air Capture Plant
Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells Set New Efficiency Record
In November 2023, the solar technology landscape witnessed a significant breakthrough as perovskite tandem solar cells set a new world efficiency record, surpassing the previous mark established just five months earlier. These innovative cells combine traditional silicon with perovskite, a material known for its unique crystal structure, allowing them to absorb a broader spectrum of solar light. This enhancement enables the cells to convert more sunlight into electricity than standard silicon cells, which dominate 95% of the market. Despite achieving an efficiency of over 33% in the lab, challenges remain in deploying these cells commercially due to their sensitivity to environmental factors. However, advancements like Oxford PV's recent 28.6% efficiency in a commercial-size cell are promising steps toward broader adoption.
By Sai Sidhanth Manoharan Jayanthi
