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. AI is changing how we study bird migration In a warming world, migratory birds face many existential threats. Scientists rely on a combination of methods to track the timing and location of their migrations, but each has shortcomings. And theres another problem: Most birds migrate at night, when its more difficult to identify them visually and while most birders are in bed. For over a century, acoustic monitoring has hovered tantalizingly out of reach as a method that would solve ornithologists woes. Now, finally, machine-learning tools are unlocking a treasure trove of acoustic data for ecologists. Read the full story.Christian Elliot 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 a copy. A woman in the US is the third person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney Towana Looney, a 53-year-old woman from Alabama, has become the third living person to receive a kidney transplant from a gene-edited pig. Looney, who donated one of her kidneys to her mother back in 1999, developed kidney failure several years later following a pregnancy complication that caused high blood pressure. She started dialysis treatment in December of 2016 and was put on a waiting list for a kidney transplant soon after. But it was difficult to find a match. So Looneys doctors recommended the experimental pig organ as an alternative. After eight years on the waiting list, Looney was authorized to receive the kidney. Read the full story. Jessica Hamzelou Roundtables: The Worst Technology Failures of 2024 Each year, MIT Technology Review publishes a list of the worst technologies of the past 12 months. Antonio Regalado, our senior editor for biomedicine, sat down to discuss 2024s worst failures with our executive editor Niall Firth in a subscriber-exclusive online Roundtable event yesterday. Watch their conversation about what made the cut here, and to make sure you dont miss out in the future, subscribe!MIT Technology Review Narrated: Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraines drone defense Despite it being over 100 years old, radio technology is still critical in almost all aspects of modern warfareincluding in the drones that have come to dominate the Russia-Ukraine war. Serhii Flash Beskrestnov, who has been obsessed with radios since childhood, has become an unlikely hero of the conflict, sharing advice and intel. His work may determine the future of Ukraine, and wars far beyond it. This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which were publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as its released.The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Conspiracy theories are still circulating about those mysterious drones What are they? And where have they come from? (NY Mag $)+ Authorities are attempting to quell public hysteria, but theories abound. (WP $)+ Realistically, theyre probably just standard drones out for a night-time flight. (AP News)2 AI poses a major threat to the power grid Thats according to the US industry watchdog, which is feeling the pressure. (FT $)+ AIs emissions are about to skyrocket even further. (MIT Technology Review)3 SpaceX and Elon Musk are under investigation US federal agencies are probing their repeated failures to comply with reporting rules. (NYT $)4 Nvidia has unveiled a tiny, affordable AI supercomputer Which is handy for roboticists looking to bypass connecting to remote data centers. (Gizmodo)+ While its not the companys most powerful device, its pretty speedy. (WSJ $)+ Microsoft is gobbling up more of Nvidias chips than anyone else. (FT $)+ Blacklisted Chinese AI chip firms gained access to cutting-edge UK tech. (The Guardian) 5 Bitcoins value is rocketing even higherThe industry continues to boom in the wake of Trumps election victory. (Bloomberg $) + So much so, luxury brands are weighing up accepting crypto payments. (Reuters)6 Hepatitis B is an extremely treatable diseaseSo why are so many people still dying from it? (New Yorker $) + Were starting to understand the mysterious surge of hepatitis in children. (MIT Technology Review)7 Earthbrieflyhad an extra second moon And scientists believe it originated from the actual moon we know and love. (New Scientist $) 8 The future of deep-sea miningA set of rules governing how we should do it is highly contentiousand up for debate.(Hakai Magazine) + These deep-sea potatoes could be the future of mining for renewable energy. (MIT Technology Review)9 Resist the temptation to outsource your Christmas shopping to a bot You never know what youll end up with. (Insider $)+ Its probably quicker to browse the web yourself. (WP $)10 Our snacks could soon be designed by AI Confectionary giant Mondelez is using the tech to tweak recipes and test new ones. (WSJ $)+ Forget cookiesthis creamy vegan cheese was made with AI. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day It takes a lot for an uber-wealthy, creative-type CEO, many of whom lean left, to suck it up and deal with Trump. But what choice do they have? A Washington lobbyist explains to the Financial Times why the steady stream of tech executives paying their respects to US President-elect Donald Trump shows no sign of slowing. The big story What does GPT-3 know about me? August 2022 One of the biggest stories in tech is the rise of large language models that produce text that reads like a human might have written it. These models power comes from being trained on troves of publicly available human-created text hoovered up from the internet. If youve posted anything even remotely personal in English on the internet, chances are your data might be part of some of the worlds most popular LLMs. Melissa Heikkil, MIT Technology Reviews AI reporter, wondered what data these models might have on herand how it could be misused. So she put OpenAIs GPT-3 to the test. Read about what she found.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.) + 2024 was a seriously weird year, as evidenced by this completely bonkers list.+ Who knew Seal was such a grunge head?+ These Charli xcx Christmas mashups will haunt my dreams forever, and not in a good way.+ Next summer I feel the need to level up my sandcastle game.