This is right now&#8217s edition of The Obtain, our weekday newsletter that presents a every day dose of what&#8217s going on in the environment of technology.

This startup wants to kick-start a molecular electronics revival

In 2000, a lot of hoped molecular electronics (applying one molecules to make circuits and parts) would leapfrog silicon-centered circuitry to permit personal computer chips to retain getting denser and a lot more effective.

That eyesight was brief-lived. Five years later, flash had cornered the memory industry, silicon continued to dominate chip technological know-how, and the effectively-funded molecular electronics field practically collapsed. 

Now, the San Diego-centered startup Roswell Biotechnologies hopes to give molecular electronics a second life. Instead of having purpose at computing circuitry, Roswell wishes to integrate one molecules into electronic biosensor circuits, an solution it hopes will shortly offer a affordable and practical way to detect viruses, select up on environmental poisons, and evaluate the effects of pharmaceuticals in real time. Read the full tale.

—Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

The will have to-reads

I have combed the internet to locate you today’s most pleasurable/essential/terrifying/intriguing stories about technological know-how.

1 Fb financed a secretive smear campaign versus TikTok
This reveals just how rattled Meta truly is. (WP $)
Fb appears to be to be incapable of studying from its lots of blunders. (Platformer $)
There is no 911 in the metaverse. (The Information $)

2 Apple and Meta were tricked by hackers masquerading as regulation enforcement
One of the perpetrators is thought to be the teenage Lapsus$ mastermind. (Bloomberg $)
+ Nvidia is nevertheless refusing to cave to professional-crypto hackers holding it ransom. (Slate $)

3 Blaming tech for psychological health difficulties misses the bigger photograph
Humans get depressed even when we really don’t have phones in our arms. (Wired $)
+ Please, support me quit doomscrolling. (Wired $)
People today are swapping consuming for microdosing. (Vox)

4 Additional than fifty percent of People in america may well have in no way experienced covid
Scientists are progressively eager to research the ‘never covid’ cohort for immunity clues. (Bloomberg $)
+ Covid.gov has launched. Much better late than under no circumstances? (NPR)

5 El Salvador is courting crypto “whales” for new bitcoin-backed bonds
After most massive international traders shunned them. (FT $)

6 Russia’s answer to Instagram is… not excellent
It may search like Instagram, but Instagram it ain’t. (The Guardian)
+ Russian influencers aren’t confident they’ll be in a position to make income on it, both. (Insider $)
+ Meanwhile, Instagram is continue to pushing hesitant creators to make Reels. (Vox)
+ …And they are generally ripped off from TikTok in any case. (Vox)

7 A researcher who laid the foundations for supercomputers has gained the Turing Award
Dr Jack Dongarra’s code paved the way for elaborate algorithms. (NYT $)

8 Why is all people performing so unusual appropriate now?
Spoiler: it’s not just simply because of the pandemic. (The Atlantic $)

9 What’s it is like likely down the strangest Wikipedia rabbit holes
Why did the hen cross Yunnan Provincial Street 214? It’s time to discover out. (NYT $)
How a Wikipedia joke about the identify of the Pringles mascot turned point. (The Guardian)

10 Worms are getting over 🪱
And they are incredibly harmful. (Nat Geo)
There are hundreds of mammal species but to be identified. (The Guardian)

Quotation of the working day

&#8220I simply cannot shoot anything at all, but I can combat with a keyboard and mouse.&#8221 

—Ukrainian hacker Danylo tells CNN why he’s been likely soon after a Russian ransomware gang.

We can continue to have good things

A location for comfort and ease, entertaining and distraction in these odd times. (Bought any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet &#8217em at me.)

+ The way these flocks of sheep move is oddly comforting.
+ When Megan Thee Stallion meets Metallica.
+ British comic The Beano’s rationalization of NFTs is…really accurate.
+ I respect dumbphones, even if muggers never.
+ A rundown of Bruce Willis’ very best performances—not all of them are cops.
+ Verify out the new Household of the Dragon images ahead of its August 21 pilot.
+ Inevitably, Elden Ring players are turning their people into Shrek.