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. Googles new Project Astra could be generative AIs killer app Google DeepMind has announced an impressive grab bag of new products and prototypes that may just let it seize back its lead in the race to turn generative artificial intelligence into a mass-market concern. Top billing goes to Gemini 2.0the latest iteration of Google DeepMinds family of multimodal large language models, now redesigned around the ability to control agentsand a new version of Project Astra, the experimental everything app that the company teased at Google I/O in May. The margins between top-end models like Gemini 2.0 and those from rival labs like OpenAI and Anthropic are now slim. These days, advances in large language models are less about how good they are and more about what you can do with them. And thats where agents come in. MIT Technology Review got to try out Astra in a closed-door live demo last week. It gave us a hint at whats to come. Find out more in the full story. Will Douglas Heaven China banned exports of a few rare minerals to the US. Things could get messier. Casey Crownhart Ive thought more about gallium and germanium over the last week than I ever have before (and probably more than anyone ever should). China banned the export of those materials to the US last week and placed restrictions on others. The move is just the latest drama in escalating trade tensions between the two countries. While the new export bans could have significant economic consequences, this might be only the beginning. China is a powerhouse, and not just in those niche materialsits also a juggernaut in clean energy, and particularly in battery supply chains. So what comes next could have significant consequences for EVs and climate action more broadly. Read the full story.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 Its looking pretty likely 2024 will be the hottest year on recordBut average temperatures are just one way of assessing our warming world. (New Scientist $) + The first few months of 2025 are likely to be hotter than average, too. (Reuters)+ The US is about to make a sharp turn on climate policy. (MIT Technology Review)2 Meta has donated $1 million to Trumps inaugural fund In an effort to strengthen their previously fractious relationship. (WSJ $)+ Mark Zuckerberg isnt the only tech figure seeking the President-elects ear. (Insider $) 3 How China secretly repatriates Uyghurs Even the United Nations is seemingly powerless to stop it. (WP $)+ Uyghurs outside China are traumatized. Now theyre starting to talk about it. (MIT Technology Review)4 How Big Tech decides when to scrub a users digital footprint Murder suspect Luigi Mangiones Instagram has been taken downbut his Goodreads hasnt. (NYT $)+ Why its dangerous to treat public online accounts as the full story. (NY Mag $)5 Russia-backed hackers targeted Ukraines military using criminal toolsWhich makes it even harder to work out who did it. (TechCrunch) 6 What Cruises exit means for the rest of the robotaxi industryAutomakers are becoming frustrated waiting for the technology to mature. (The Verge) + Cruise will focus on developing fully autonomous personal vehicles instead. (NYT $)7 Researching risky pathogens is extremely high stakes The potential for abuse has some researchers worried we shouldnt undertake it at all. (Undark Magazine)+ Meet the scientist at the center of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Technology Review)8 Altermagnetism could be computings next big thingIt would lead to faster, more reliable electronic devices. (FT $) 9 Why some people need so little sleep Gene mutations appear to hold at least some of the answers. (Knowable Magazine)+ Babies spend most of their time asleep. New technologies are beginning to reveal why. (MIT Technology Review)10 Inside the creeping normalization of AI movies The worlds largest TV manufacturer wants to make films for people too lazy to change the channel. (404 Media)+ Unsurprisingly, itll push targeted ads, too. (Ars Technica)+ How AI-generated video is changing film. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day "They've made him a martyr for all the troubles people have had with their own insurance companies." Felipe Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, explains why murder suspect Luigi Mangione is being lionized online to Reuters. The big story Why AI could eat quantum computings lunch November 2024 Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that theyll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics. But while the field struggles with the realities of tricky quantum hardware, another challenger is making headway in some of these most promising use cases. AI is now being applied to fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials science in a way that suggests quantum computings purported home turf might not be so safe after all. Read the full story. Edd Gent 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.) + Working life getting you down? These pictures of bygone office malaise will make you feel a whole lot better (or worsethanks Will!) + Gen Z are getting really into documenting their lives via digital cameras, apparently. + If you believe that Alan MacMasters invented the first electric bread toaster, Im sorry to inform you that youve fallen for an elaborate online hoax.+ The case for a better Turing test for AI-generated art.