The Download: Trouble for a CO2 removing startup, and a US spy adware bid

Running Tide, an aquaculture firm primarily based in Portland, Maine, has said it anticipated to set tens of hundreds of tiny floating kelp farms adrift within the North Atlantic between this summer time and subsequent. The hope is that the fast-growing macroalgae will ultimately sink to the ocean flooring, storing away hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide within the course of.

The firm has raised thousands and thousands in enterprise funding and gained widespread media attention, and it counts huge names just like the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative amongst its clients. But Running Tide struggled to develop kelp alongside rope strains within the open ocean throughout preliminary makes an attempt final yr and has misplaced a string of scientists in latest months, sources with information of the matter inform MIT Technology Review.

At least a number of of the departures have been due, partially, to issues that the corporate’s executives weren’t paying ample consideration to the potential ecological results of its plans. Some workers have been additionally disturbed that Running Tide was discussing extra controversial practices, together with including vitamins to the ocean to stimulate macroalgae development. Read the full story.

—James Temple

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you as we speak’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 A US protection firm is contemplating shopping for Pegasus adware
Potentially placing a spy instrument so highly effective it’s thought-about a weapon in US palms. (FT $)
+ NSO was about to promote hacking instruments to France. Now it’s in disaster. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Cars working autopilot programs have crashed tons of of instances
Raising critical questions over the protection of such programs, and our reliance on them. (WP $)
+ The huge new concept for making self-driving automobiles that may go wherever. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Elon Musk thinks Tesla can be price “mainly zero” with out its self-driving tech. (Insider) 

3 Inside crypto’s ugly tradition struggle
Employees declare that the boss of main crypto change Kraken fostered a toxic work environment. (NYT $)
+ The way forward for lending platform Celsius isn’t trying vivid. (Bloomberg $)
+ Crypto is weathering a bitter storm. Some nonetheless maintain on for pricey life. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Rural America’s lengthy look forward to quick web exhibits no signal of abating
Despite the federal government sinking billions of {dollars} into upgrades. (WSJ $)

5 China’s radio telescope captured a mysterious sign
Which, whereas fascinating, is unlikely to be aliens. (The Conversation)
+ Here’s how factories in house might work. (Quartz)

6 Ukraine’s web is being rerouted to Russia
Thus subjecting its visitors to the nation’s censorial regime. (Wired $)
+ The US needs to understand how its electronics ended up in Russian navy gear. (WP $)

7 The web birthed a brand new means of working for the center courses
However, making huge bucks remains to be the protect of valuable few. (New Yorker $)
+ Why TikTok is undoing all MTV’s exhausting work. (The Atlantic $)

8 How eBay formed the trendy web 
And turned one in every of our very first platforms within the course of. (The Guardian)

9 Why your child’s title isn’t as distinctive as you assume it’s
We’re all extra influenced by our cultural environment than we notice. (Motherboard)

10 The memefication of Catholicism is in full swing
That doesn’t imply extra persons are attending church, although. (Vox)

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