The Download: Saudi Arabia’s $1 billion plan to sluggish getting old, and world power turmoil

Anyone who has more cash than they know what to do with ultimately tries to remedy getting old. Google founder Larry Page has tried it. Jeff Bezos has tried it. Tech billionaires Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel have tried it. Now the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has round as a lot cash as all of them put collectively, goes to strive it.

The Saudi royal household has began a not-for-profit group referred to as the Hevolution Foundation that plans to spend as much as $1 billion a 12 months of its oil wealth to analyze the biology of getting old and discover methods to increase the variety of years folks reside in good well being.

The huge sum, which dwarfs American getting old analysis spending, may make the Gulf state the biggest single sponsor of researchers making an attempt to grasp the underlying causes of getting old—and the way it could be slowed down with medicine. But US analysis organizations contemplating whether or not to take Saudi Arabia’s cash will probably be pressured to take care of the specter of its human rights file. Read the total story.

—Antonio Regalado

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 Global power markets are altering dramatically
The twin issues of local weather change and the warfare in Ukraine are forcing governments to turn into much more energetic. (Foreign Policy $)
+ Biden is considerably stepping up measures to help photo voltaic panel manufacturing. (Reuters $)

2 Axon has paused plans to make a taser-equipped drone
After 9 members of its ethics board resigned over its proposed plan to put in the drones in faculties to stop future mass shootings. (WP $)

3 How the CIA was hacked
And why it missed the plain purple flags of its most possible candidate. (New Yorker $)

4 Why robots are edging out people in South Korean factories
Scared of breaching a brand new employee security legislation, firms are decreasing their human workforces. (Rest of World)
+ A brand new era of AI-powered robots is taking on warehouses. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Bitcoin’s founding rules aren’t standing the check of time
The delusion of a decentralized community is basically simply that—a delusion. (NYT $)
+ White hat hackers are thwarting crypto criminals by stealing their targets first. (Motherboard)
+ Law enforcement crime models are getting higher at seizing stolen crypto hauls, too. (NBC)

6 Dating apps are overrun with youngsters
Many customers are too younger—but the platforms are failing to stop them becoming a member of. (The Atlantic $)
+ Forget courting apps: Here’s how the web’s latest matchmakers show you how to discover love. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Non-addictive apps and video games are taking off
Which seems to be a brand new, more healthy route for Silicon Valley. (Bloomberg $)

8 Why life after persistent ache is so complicated
Once you’re now not experiencing it, defining your identification is hard. (Slate $)
+ Cannabis element THC could also be higher than CBD at easing persistent ache. (Insider)
+ There’s work underway to ease ache with out opioids. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Tech whistleblowers are principally girls
Which is symbolic of the tech business’s wider points with gender equality. (Fast Company)
+ She risked all the pieces to reveal Facebook. Now she’s telling her story. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Millennials are boring 😴
It’s not simply because they’ll’t afford to do something enjoyable. (New Statesman $)