LifeEndangered skates and kingfishers were brought back from the brink this year and scientists found a way to protect frogs from deadly infections 19 December 2024 A Guam kingfisher chickThomas Manglona KUAMAmid a torrent of gloomy news about the decline of nature, there have been a handful of inspiring success stories from the world of wildlife this year, including positive developments for frogs, tigers and pangolins.Conservation managers should cherish these moments, says Jayson Semmens at the University of Tasmania, Australia, who led a spectacular but precarious programme to bring Maugean skatesback from the brink. Take the time to celebrate the small wins along the way and acknowledge the incredibly special role you play, he says.

Sugar cane growth can be increased using genetic tweaksPrzemyslaw Koch/Getty ImagesThe growth of maize, sugarcane and sorghum has been greatly boosted by modifying the plants to take advantage of higher carbon dioxide levels now found in the air.This was done by simply increasing the activity of two genes, says Coralie Salesse-Smith at the University of Illinois. The finding should lead to the creation of new varieties whose yields go up as CO2levels continue to rise.For most of the time that photosynthetic cells

Business applications powered by AI are revolutionizing customer experiences, accelerating the speed of business, and driving employee productivity. In fact, according to research firm Frost & Sullivans 2024 Global State of AI report, 89% of organizations believe AI and machine learning will help them grow revenue, boost operational efficiency, and improve customer experience. Take for example, Vodafone. The telecommunications company is using a suite ofAzure AI services, such as Azure OpenAI Service,to deliver real-time, hyper-personalized experiences across all of its customer touchpoints, including its digital chatbot TOBi. By leveraging AI to increase customer satisfaction, Naga Surendran, senior director of product marketing for Azure Application Services at Microsoft, says Vodafone has managed to resolve 70% of its first-stage inquiries through AI-powered digital channels. It has also boosted the productivity of support agents by providing them with access to AI capabilities that mirror those of Microsoft Copilot, an AI-powered productivity tool. The result is a 20-point increase in net promotor score, he says. These benefits are whats driving AI infusion into every business process and application. Yet realizing measurable business value from AI-powered applications requires a new game plan. Legacy application architectures simply arent capable of meeting the high demands of AI-enhanced applications. Rather, the time is now for organizations to modernize their infrastructure, processes, and application architectures using cloud native technologies to stay competitive. The time is now for modernization Todays organizations exist in an era of geopolitical shifts, growing competition, supply chain disruptions, and evolving consumer preferences. AI applications can help by supporting innovation, but only if they have the flexibility to scale when needed. Fortunately, by modernizing applications, organizations can achieve the agile development, scalability, and fast compute performance needed to support rapid innovation and accelerate the delivery of AI applications. David Harmon, director of software development for AMD says companies, really want to make sure that they can migrate their current [environment] and take advantage of all the hardware changes as much as possible. The result is not only a reduction in the overall development lifecycle of new applications but a speedy response to changing world circumstances. Beyond building and deploying intelligent apps quickly, modernizing applications, data, and infrastructure can significantly improve customer experience. Consider, for example, Coles, an Australian supermarket thatinvested in modernization andis using data and AI to deliver dynamic e-commerce experiences to its customers both online and in-store. With Azure DevOps, Coles has shifted from monthly to weekly deployments of applications while, at the same time, reducing build times by hours. Whats more, by aggregating views of customers across multiple channels, Coles has been able to deliver more personalized customer experiences. In fact, according to a 2024 CMSWire Insights report, there is a significant rise in the use of AI across the digital customer experience toolset, with 55% of organizations now using it to some degree, and more beginning their journey. But even the most carefully designed applications are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. If given the opportunity, bad actors can extract sensitive information from machine learning models or maliciously infuse AI systems with corrupt data. AI applications are now interacting with your core organizational data, says Surendran. Having the right guard rails is important to make sure the data is secure and built on a platform that enables you to do that. The good news is modern cloud based architectures can deliver robust security, data governance, and AI guardrails like content safety to protect AI applications from security threats and ensure compliance with industry standards. The answer to AI innovation New challenges, from demanding customers to ill-intentioned hackers, call for a new approach to modernizing applications. You have to have the right underlying application architecture to be able to keep up with the market and bring applications faster to market, says Surendran. Not having that foundation can slow you down. Enter cloud native architecture. As organizations increasingly adopt AI to accelerate innovation and stay competitive, there is a growing urgency to rethink how applications are built and deployed in the cloud. By adopting cloud native architectures, Linux, and open source software, organizations can better facilitate AI adoption and create a flexible platform purpose built for AI and optimized for the cloud. Harmon explains that open source software creates options, And the overall open source ecosystem just thrives on that. It allows new technologies to come into play. Application modernization also ensures optimal performance, scale, and security for AI applications. Thats because modernization goes beyond just lifting and shifting application workloads to cloud virtual machines. Rather, a cloud native architecture is inherently designed to provide developers with the following features: The flexibility to scale to meet evolving needs Better access to the data needed to drive intelligent apps Access to the right tools and services to build and deploy intelligent applications easily Security embedded into an application to protect sensitive data Together, these cloud capabilities ensure organizations derive the greatest value from their AI applications. At the end of the day, everything is about performance and security, says Harmon. Cloud is no exception. Whats more, Surendran notes that when you leverage a cloud platform for modernization, organizations can gain access to AI models faster and get to market faster with building AI-powered applications. These are the factors driving the modernization journey. Best practices in play For all the benefits of application modernization, there are steps organizations must take to ensure both technological and operational success. They are: Train employees for speed. As modern infrastructure accelerates the development and deployment of AI-powered applications, developers must be prepared to work faster and smarter than ever. For this reason, Surendran warns, Employees must be skilled in modern application development practices to support the digital business needs. This includes developing expertise in working with loosely coupled microservices to build scalable and flexible application and AI integration. Start with an assessment. Large enterprises are likely to have hundreds of applications, if not thousands, says Surendran. As a result, organizations must take the time to evaluate their application landscape before embarking on a modernization journey. Starting with an assessment is super important, continues Surendran. Understanding, taking inventory of the different applications, which team is using what, and what this application is driving from a business process perspective is critical. Focus on quick wins. Modernization is a huge, long-term transformation in how companies build, deliver, and support applications. Most businesses are still learning and developing the right strategy to support innovation. For this reason, Surendran recommends focusing on quick wins while also working on a larger application estate transformation. You have to show a return on investment for your organization and business leaders, he says. For example, modernize some apps quickly with re-platforming and then infuse them with AI capabilities. Partner up. Modernization can be daunting, says Surendran. Selecting the right strategy, process, and platform to support innovation is only the first step. Organizations must also bring on the right set of partners to help them go through change management and the execution of this complex project. Address all layers of security. Organizations must be unrelenting when it comes to protecting their data. According to Surendran, this means adopting a multi-layer approach to security that includes: security by design, in which products and services are developed from the get-go with security in mind; security by default, in which protections exist at every layer and interaction where data exists; and security by ongoing operations, which means using the right tools and dashboards to govern applications throughout their lifecycle. A look to the future Most organizations are already aware of the need for application modernization. But with the arrival of AI comes the startling revelation that modernization efforts must be done right, and that AI applications must be built and deployed for greater business impact. Adopting a cloud native architecture can help by serving as a platform for enhanced performance, scalability, security, and ongoing innovation. As soon as you modernize your infrastructure with a cloud platform, you have access to these rapid innovations in AI models, says Surendran. Its about being able to continuously innovate with AI. Read more about how toaccelerate app and data estate readiness for AI innovationwithMicrosoft AzureandAMD. ExploreLinux on Azure. This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Reviews editorial staff.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Digital twins of human organs are here. Theyre set to transform medical treatment. Steven Niederer, a biomedical engineer at the Alan Turing Institute and Imperial College London, has a cardboard box filled with 3D-printed hearts. Each of them is modeled on the real heart of a person with heart failure, but Niederer is more interested in creating detailed replicas of peoples hearts using computers. These digital twins are the same size and shape as the real thing. They work in the same way. But they exist only virtually. Scientists can do virtual surgery on these virtual hearts, figuring out the best course of action for a patients condition.After decades of research, models like these are now entering clinical trials and starting to be used for patient care. The eventual goal is to create digital versions of our bodiescomputer copies that could help researchers and doctors figure out our risk of developing various diseases and determine which treatments might work best.But the budding technology will need to be developed very carefully. Read the full story to learn why.Jessica Hamzelou This story is from the forthcoming magazine edition of MIT Technology Review, set to go live on January 6its all about the exciting breakthroughs happening in the world right now. If you dont already, subscribe to receive future copies. This is where the data to build AI comes from AI is all about data. Reams and reams of data are needed to train algorithms to do what we want, and what goes into the AI models determines what comes out. But heres the problem: AI developers and researchers dont really know much about the sources of the data they are using. The Data Provenance Initiative, a group of over 50 researchers from both academia and industry, wanted to fix that. They wanted to know, very simply: Where does the data to build AI come from? Their findings, shared exclusively with MIT Technology Review, show a worrying trend: AI's data practices risk concentrating power overwhelmingly in the hands of a few dominant technology companies. Read the full story.Melissa Heikkil Three pieces of good news on climate change in 2024 The vibes in the climate world this year have largely been less than great. Global greenhouse-gas emissions hit a new high, and this year is also on track to be the warmest on record. Global climate talks fell flat, and disasters from wildfires to hurricanes are being made worse by climate change. But among all that (very real) negative news, there was some good, too: We saw progress cutting back on the most polluting fossil fuels, cheaper and better technologies for combating climate change, and a continuous global effort to address the problem. So as we near the end of 2024, lets take a moment to look back on some of the bright spots. Casey Crownhart This story is from The Spark, our weekly climate and energy newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The US Supreme Court will hear TikToks appeal against its ban Its agreed to hear the companys arguments on January 10. (FT $)+ A ruling could follow shortly afterwards. (WP $)+ Heres how a couple of the most likely scenarios could play out. (The Information $)2 Amazons telehealth clinic is being sued Philip Tong died shortly after a virtual appointment last year. His family wants answers. (WP $)+ The legal case accuses the health provider of negligently failing to care for Tong. (LA Times $)3 The Boeing Starliner astronauts are still stuck in space Their return to Earth has been pushed back yet again, this time to March 2025. (WP $)+ Theyve been living on the ISS since June. (The Guardian)4 Dangerous disordered eating content is rife on XThe platforms content moderation has become so lax, harmful communities are thriving unchecked. (The Atlantic $)5 People are shining lasers at planes flying over New York Amid the local drone panic, pilots are struggling with the unwelcome intrusions. (404 Media)+ Dont be surprised if other similar drone panics crop up in the future. (Vox)6 How Google Street View helped to solve a missing-person caseAfter its cars captured a man hunched over a large white bag in a car trunk. (NYT $) + Google Maps is still the biggest, but these startups are fast gaining traction. (Fast Company $)7 Why you shouldnt remove fluoride from your drinking waterUnless you desperately want to jeopardize your dental health. (WSJ $) + Its not the first time concerns around fluoride have surfaced. (NYT $) 8 The old internet is slowly disappearingWhat does that mean for our collective cultural understanding? (The Verge) + How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)9 Europeans just love balcony solar panelsTheyre simple to install and can help to keep electricity bills down. (The Guardian) + How to store energy for leaner times. (Knowable Magazine)+ Advanced solar panels still need to pass the test of time. (MIT Technology Review)10 You can now call ChatGPT on the phone Theres nowhere left to hide. (Bloomberg $)Quote of the day I dont think that work is suitable for human beings. James Irungu, a former Facebook content moderator, reflects on the horrific material he encountered in the job, the Guardian reports. The big story Future space food could be made from astronaut breath May 2023 The future of space food could be as simpleand weirdas a protein shake made with astronaut breath or a burger made from fungus. For decades, astronauts have relied mostly on pre-packaged food during their forays off our planet. With missions beyond Earth orbit in sight, a NASA-led competition is hoping to change all that and usher in a new era of sustainable space food. To solve the problem of feeding astronauts on long-duration missions, NASA asked companies to propose novel ways to develop sustainable foods for future missions. Around 200 rose to the challengecreating nutritious (and outlandish) culinary creations in the process. Read the full story. Jonathan O'Callaghan We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.) + These optical illusion bird sculptures are a sight to be seen. + Dont blame me if you end up wanting to eat this Bche de Nol in one sitting.+ Casio watches are 50 years oldand cooler than ever.+ Do you fly naked? (No, not like that..)

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The vibes in the climate world this year have largely been less than great. Global greenhouse-gas emissions hit a new high, reaching 37.4 billion metric tons in 2024. This year is also on track to be the warmest on record, with temperatures through September hitting 1.54 C (2.77 F) above preindustrial levels. Global climate talks fell flat, and disasters from wildfires to hurricanes are being made worse by climate change. But among all that (very real) negative news, there was some good, too: We saw progress cutting back on the most polluting fossil fuels, cheaper and better technologies for combating climate change, and a continuous global effort to address the problem. As we near the end of 2024, lets take a moment to look back on some of the bright spots. Were kicking coal to the curb One of my favorite climate moments from this year happened in the UK. The country has historically relied heavily on coal as an electricity sourceas of 1990, coal met about 65% of its electricity demand. But on September 30, 2024, the last coal plant in the nation shut down. Renewables are stepping in to fill the gap. Wind farms in the UK are on track to produce more electricity this year than coal and gas plants together. The moment was a symbolic one, and it also reflects the very real progress thats happening around the world in inching away from this polluting fossil fuel. In the US, coal made up around 50% of the electricity supply four decades ago. In 2023, that share was roughly 16%. We should see coal use plateau and potentially begin to fall by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency. Progress needs to happen faster, though, and it needs to happen in countries like China, where energy demand is increasing. Theres also growing concern about what increasing energy demand from data centers, including those used to power AI, will mean for efforts to shut off old coal plants. Batteries just keep getting cheaper Lithium-ion battery packs are cheaper than ever in 2024, with prices dropping 20% this year to $115 per kilowatt-hour, according to data from BloombergNEF. Thats the biggest drop since 2017. Batteries are a central technology for addressing climate change. They power the electric vehicles were relying on to help clean up the transportation sector and play an increasingly important role for the grid, since they can store energy from inconsistently available renewables like wind and solar. Since EVs are still more expensive upfront than their gas-powered counterparts in most of the world, cheaper batteries are great news for efforts to get more people to take the leap to electric. And its hard to overstate how quickly battery prices have plummeted. Batteries were twice as expensive in 2017 as they are today. Just 10 years ago, prices were six times what they are in 2024. To be fair, theres been mixed news in the EV world this yeara slowdown in demand growth for EVs is actually one of the factors helping battery prices hit record lows. EV sales are still growing around the world, but at a slower pace than they were in 2023. China is the biggest EV market in the world by far, making up three-quarters of global registrations in 2024 as of October. Climate tech is still busy and bustling Looking back at the energy and climate stories we published this year, I cant help but feel at least a little bit optimistic about whats coming next. Some groups are looking to the natural world to address the climate crisis; this year, I covered a company working to grow microbes in massive bioreactors to help supplement our food sources, as well as researchers who are looking to plants to help mine the metals we need to fight climate change. Others hope to tweak biologymy colleague James Temple spoke with Jennifer Doudna about the potential for CRISPR, the gene-editing technology she pioneered. Companies are deploying air-conditioning systems that can act like batteries, storing up energy for when its needed. The US Department of Energy is investing in projects that aim to concentrate heat from the sun and use it to power the grid or industrial processes. I spoke to a startup looking to make hydropower technology thats safer for fish, and another building magnets using cheap, widely available materials. And in October we published our 2024 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch, which featured everything from a startup using AI to detect wildfires to a company giving supplements to cattle to help cut emissions from their burps. Climate change represents a massive challenge for the world, and were entering an especially uncertain time. Well be covering it all, the good and the bad. Thanks for being here this year, and Im looking forward to bringing you all the climate tech news you need in 2025. Now read the rest of The Spark Related reading If you need a dash of innovation and positivity in your life, might I recommend taking a gander at our list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch? Whats more inspiring than young people working on the worlds most important problems? Our 2024 class of 35 Innovators Under 35 is sure to spread some cheer. If youre needing even more innovation, why not look back at our 10 Breakthrough Technologies? Exascale computers certainly help me put things in perspective. And get excited, because our 2025 list is coming very, very soon. NICO ORTEGA Another thing This year was filled with some exciting moments in technology, but there were also some failures. Here are a few of the worst technology flops of 2024. Check it out to see why voluntary carbon markets made the list and learn all about AI slop. And one more Youve almost certainly heard that energy demand from AI is huge, and only expected to explode in the coming years. A new preprint study aimed to quantify just how bad things are, and the researchers found that data centers accounted for over 4% of electricity consumption in the US between September 2023 and August 2024. And the carbon intensity of the power thats used is nearly 50% higher than the national average. Get all the details in the latest story from my colleague James ODonnell. Keeping up with climate Geothermal energy provides about 1% of global electricity today, but If things go well, the tech could meet up to 15% of global power demand growth through 2050. (Axios) Renting an EV over the holidays? This is a great guide for first-time EV drivers, including helpful tips about how to handle charging. (Bloomberg) Commonwealth Fusion Systems chose Virginia as the site for its first commercial fusion power plant. The company says the 400-megawatt plant will come online in the early 2030s. (Heatmap) I recently visited Commonwealths first demonstration site in Massachusetts. Its basically still a hole in the ground. (MIT Technology Review)The US Department of Energys Loan Programs Office just committed $15 billion to a California utility. Its the largest-ever commitment from the office. (New York Times) The US EPA will grant California the right to ban gas-powered cars by 2035. The agency has to give the state a waiver to set its own rules. (Washington Post) We can expect a legal battle, though. The incoming Trump administration is recommending major changes to cut off support for EVs and charging. (Reuters)China dominates the world of lithium-ion batteries. Some startups in the US and Europe argue that rather than playing catch-up, the rest of the world should focus on alternative chemistries like lithium-sulfur and sodium-ion batteries. (Canary Media)

Google's CEO said it had cut managers, directors, and VPs by 10% as part of its efficiency drive.The company has been boosting efficiency by reducing layers and reorganizing teams.Google has been facing down threats from OpenAI and other AI rivals.Google had cut the number of top management roles by 10% in its push for efficiency, CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an all-hands meeting on Wednesday.Pichai said that Google had made changes over the past couple of years to simplify the company and be more efficient, according to two people who heard the remarks, who asked to remain anonymous because they're not authorized to speak to the press.Pichai said this had included a 10% reduction in managers, directors, and vice presidents, one source said.A Google spokesperson said that some of the roles in that 10% figure were transitioned to individual contributor roles and that some were role eliminations.The company has been on an efficiency drive for more than two years. In September 2022, Pichai said he wanted Google to be 20% more efficient, and the following January, the company had ahistoric round of layoffsthat saw 12,000 roles eliminated.The efficiency push has coincided with AI rivals such as OpenAI unleashing new products that threaten Google's search business.Google has responded by injecting generative AI features into its core businesses and launching a flurry of new AI features, such as a new AI video generator beating OpenAI's in early testing and a new set of Gemini models, including a "reasoning" model that shows its thought process.In Wednesday's all-hands meeting, Pichai also clarified the meaning of the word "Googleyness," telling staff that it needed updating for a modern Google.Are you a current or former Google employee with something to share? You can reach the reporter Hugh Langley via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-628-228-1836) or email ().

In an all-hands, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the word 'Googleyness' had become too broad.Pichai clarified what the word means for the company.Now it's about being "Mission First" and being "Bold and Responsible.""Googleyness" has long been a vague word for the search giant. Once used to determine if a candidate is a good fit forhiring, it has evolved in definition over the years.Google CEO Sundar Pichai just attempted to clarify what the word means for Googlers now.In a company all-hands meeting on Wednesday, Pichai told staff the definition of "Googleyness" had become too broad and that he felt obliged to clarify it, according to two employees who heard the remarks, who asked to remain anonymous because they're not authorized to speak to the press.Pichai defined "Googleyness" as the following, per one of those sources:"Mission First""Make Helpful Things""Be Bold & Responsible""Stay Scrappy""Hustle & Have Fun""Team Google"A Google spokesperson declined to comment.The term "Googleyness" has always been amorphous. In his 2015 book Work Rules,Google's former head of people operations, Laszlo Block,listed certain attributes that he considered "Googleyness," such as "intellectual humility," "enjoying fun," and"comfort with ambiguity."The company previously changed its hiring guidelines to "avoid confusing Googleyness with culture fit,"The Informationreported in 2019. The change came after the company had been criticized for its lack of diversity in its workplace.Are you a current or former Google employee with something to share? You can reach the reporter Hugh Langley via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-628-228-1836) or email ().

Timothe Chalamet plays Bob Dylan in the movie "A Complete Unknown."He was so immersed in the role that he even grew his fingernails long like Dylan."He had some full-on Nosferatu going on," director James Mangold told BI of how Chalamet looked by the end of filming.If you look close enough while watching "A Complete Unknown," in which Timothe Chalamet completely immerses himself in playing Bob Dylan, you'll notice what many online have pointed out Chalamet's nails are quite long.Some even observed Chalamet's lengthy nails when photos from the set were released online. ATikTok videohighlights them, and journalist Hunter Harris dedicated an entire post on her Substack back in June to Chalamet's "aprs nail tips."So, are those fake nails, or did Chalamet grow his out for the role? Timothe Chalamet sporting long fingernails while holding Elle Fanning on the set of "A Complete Unknown." Gotham/GC Images/Getty "Yeah, he was growing them," "A Complete Unknown" director James Mangold told Business Insider. "If you look earlier in the movie, there are some scenes where they aren't as long, but by the end, he had some full-on Nosferatu going on."There are theories onlineabout why Dylan grew out his nails from the nails helping him fingerpick while playing his guitar to simply having bad hygiene. We couldn't find Dylan on the record to explain. Business Insider reached out to the 83-year-old to find out, but he didn't respond to our very important query on this matter.For Chalamet, however, it's another example of how deep he went into the role for the biopic, which is out Christmas Day. A NovemberRolling Stone cover storychronicled how the actor submerged himself into the character while filming, including keeping to himself on set, always speaking in Dylan's voice, and singing his songs like "The Times They Are A-Changin.'"'A Complete Unknown' director said he understands why Chalamet did Method acting on set Bob Dylan, with long fingernails, performed in 1978. Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Mangold scoffed at the "Method" acting narrative, saying that Chalamet speaking like Dylan even when cameras weren't rolling is a trick actors often do when playing a character with a unique voice."Timmy's not the only person whose ever done that, that's true for most of the actors in my movies doing dialects," he said. "They don't just do it and fall out of it the second the scene ends.""You're also trying to make it more and more internalized. You're trying to make it something you don't have to think about," Mangold continued. "So if you're turning it on and off, you're kind of making yourself hyper-aware of it.""A Complete Unknown," which also stars Scoot McNairy, Edward Norton, and Elle Fanning, will be released in theaters on December 25.

Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which the Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it would hear, is not a difficult case.The question in Kerr is whether a federal law, which requires state Medicaid programs to guarantee that any individual eligible for medical assistance may obtain that care from any institution, agency, community pharmacy, or person, qualified to perform the service or services required, does in fact allow Medicaid patients to choose any doctor qualified to perform the services they seek.After reading this statutory language, youre probably wondering why this legal dispute triggered a lawsuit in the first place the law, after all, is perfectly clear that any Medicaid patient is allowed to choose any person qualified to provide them with care. But there are two reasons, one legal and one political, that explain why Kerr is contentious enough to make it to the Supreme Court.The first reason is that the Supreme Courts rules governing when someone can sue to enforce a provision of federal Medicaid law are somewhat complicated, although not nearly complicated enough to justify denying Medicaid patients their right to choose a health provider. The second, more salient, reason is that this case involves Planned Parenthood, and so a handful of outlier judges have allowed anti-abortion politics to trump a clearly written federal law.South Carolina is one of several states that attempted to exclude Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program, effectively preventing Medicaid patients from seeking care at the venerable reproductive health care institution. In 2018, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order prohibiting abortion clinics from being paid to provide care to Medicaid patients. (Although the Supreme Court permitted states to ban abortion in 2022, South Carolina still allows some abortions up to the sixth week of pregnancy.)Shortly after McMaster issued this order, both Planned Parenthoods South Carolina affiliate and an individual Planned Parenthood patient sued, pointing to the federal law giving Medicaid patients a right to choose their health provider. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the federal appeals court that oversees North Carolina, has repeatedly ruled that these plaintiffs are correct the federal law does exactly what its plain text says that it does.Most federal appeals courts ruled similarly when other states announced rules similar to McMasters. But two outlier circuits, the Fifth and the Eighth, did not. Notably, both the Fifth and the Eighth Circuits decisions were handed down before the Supreme Court decided Health and Hospital Corporation v. Talevski (2023), a significant decision clarifying the rights of Medicaid patients to bring federal lawsuits, which cuts against the Fifth and Eighth Circuits reasoning.In any event, its hard to imagine that such a straightforward legal dispute would produce such a circuit split if it didnt involve the contentious question of abortion. Its also possible that the Supreme Court took the Kerr case simply to reaffirm its decision in Talevski and reverse the two courts that created this split.The whole point of having one Supreme Court at the top of the federal judiciary is to maintain uniformity in federal law an act of Congress should mean the same thing in South Carolina as it does in Texas so the justices often step in to resolve legal questions that divide federal appeals courts.Still, this case does involve abortion. Republicans have a 6-3 supermajority on the Supreme Court. And five members of that majority have a history of reading the law in absurd ways to diminish abortion rights. So theres at least some risk that the Court may lash out at Medicaid patients right to choose their own health provider.What is the specific legal issue at the heart of Kerr?Arguably the most important federal civil rights law is a provision known as Section 1983, which permits state officials to be sued in federal court if they deprive someone of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws. Without this law, people whose constitutional or federal statutory rights are violated would often have no recourse, because they would be unable to bring a lawsuit seeking to vindicate those rights.Notably, however, Section 1983 does not permit anyone to file a lawsuit challenging any violation of any federal statute whatsoever. As the Supreme Court said in Blessing v. Freestone (1997), a plaintiff must assert the violation of a federal right, not merely a violation of federal law. And the Court has developed a framework governing which federal laws create individual rights that can be enforced through private lawsuits.Yet, while this framework sometimes creates uncertainty about which federal laws can trigger such suits, the issue in Kerr is straightforward. As the Court recently reaffirmed in Talevski, the key question is whether a federal law is phrased in terms of the persons benefited, and whether it contains rights-creating, individual-centric language with an unmistakable focus on the benefited class.Thus, for example, a hypothetical federal statute that provides that no state may deny someone who owns golf clubs the ability to play golf could be enforced by federal lawsuits, because this statutes language focuses on the people who benefit from it (people who own golf clubs). A statute that says that states shall not impede enjoyment of the game of golf, by contrast, would not permit individual lawsuits because this statutory language does not even mention which individuals are supposed to benefit from the law.With this framework in mind, consider the statutory language at the heart of the Kerr case:A State plan for medical assistance must provide that any individual eligible for medical assistance (including drugs) may obtain such assistance from any institution, agency, community pharmacy, or person, qualified to perform the service or services required (including an organization which provides such services, or arranges for their availability, on a prepayment basis), who undertakes to provide him such services.This language is full of the kind of individual-centric language with an unmistakable focus on the benefited class that the Court spoke of in Talevski. It provides a right to any individual eligible for medical benefits. It states that these individuals may obtain medical care from the provider of their choice. And it concludes with a pronoun (him), which refers back to the individuals who benefit from the law.All of which is a long way of saying that, if the Court follows existing law, including the rule it recently announced in Talevski, then it will rule in favor of the plaintiffs in Kerr. But it is unlikely the case would have made it to the Supreme Court in the first place or that any appeals court would have read this particular provision of Medicaid law to deny similar plaintiffs their right to sue if this case did not involve a politically contentious issue like abortion.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Just like you cant control the bus schedule, you cant control your pay schedule which leaves you stuck on someone elses clock, even though youve already worked hard for that money. But have you ever wondered why do we get paid every two weeks? We teamed up with rapper Vince Staples and Chime to get to the bottom of this bi-weekly mystery, and why our outdated system isnt keeping up with the needs of todays workers.The good news? MyPay from Chime can help. MyPay lets you get up to $500* of your pay before payday, giving you the freedom to jump on last-minute deals, handle unexpected expenses, and gain more control over your finances, without waiting on someone elses schedule.Join Vince as he embarks on a journey of epic proportions through the history of pay cycles, and discover how MyPay offers a new route to getting money when you need it.Visit chime.com/mypay to find out how you can take control of your pay today.MyPay line of credit provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A. MyPay services provided by Chime Capital, LLC (NMLS 2316451).*To be eligible for MyPay, you must receive qualifying direct deposits to your Chime Checking Account as set forth in the MyPay Agreement. A qualifying direct deposit is a deposit from an employer, payroll provider, gig economy payer, government benefits payer, or other permitted source of income by Automated Clearing House (ACH) or Original Credit Transaction (OCT). Your MyPay Credit Limit and Maximum Available Advance may change at any time. MyPay is a line of credit and available limits are based on estimated income and risk-based criteria. Eligible members may be offered a $20 - $500 Credit Limit per pay period. Your Credit Limit and Maximum Available Advance will be displayed to you within the Chime app. MyPay is currently only available to eligible Chime members in certain states. Other restrictions may apply. See Bancorp MyPay Agreement or Stride MyPay Agreement for details.