The Download: the internet’s best weather app, and why people freeze their brains

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

How a couple of ski bums built the internet’s best weather app 

The best snow-forecasting app for skiers isn’t a federally-funded service or a big-name brand. It’s OpenSnow, a startup that uses government data, its own AI models, and decades of alpine-life experience to deliver the best predictions out there. 

The app has proved especially vital this winter, one of the weirdest on record. It’s even made microcelebrities of its forecasters, who sift through reams of data to write “Daily Snow” reports for locations around the world.  

We headed to the Tahoe mountains to hear how two broke ski bums became modern-day snow gods. Read the full story. 

—Rachel Levin 

Here’s why some people choose cryonics to store their bodies and brains after death 

—Jessica Hamzelou 

This week I reported on unusual research focused on the frozen brain of L. Stephen Coles. 

Coles, a researcher who studied aging, was interested in cryonics—the long-term storage of human bodies and brains in the hope that they might one day be brought back to life. It’s a hope shared by many. 

Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to people who run cryonics facilities, study cryopreservation, or just want to be cryogenically stored. All of them acknowledge that there’s a vanishingly small chance of being brought back to life. So why do they do it? 

Read the full story to find out. 

This article is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday. 

What’s next for space exploration?  

Whether it’s the race to find life on Mars, the campaign to outsmart killer asteroids, or the quest to make the moon a permanent home to astronauts, scientists’ efforts in space can tell us more about where humanity is headed.

To learn more about the progress and possibilities ahead, our features editor Amanda Silverman sat down with Robin George Andrews, an award-winning science journalist and author, on Wednesday. If you missed their conversation, fear not—you can catch up and watch the video here. You’ll need to be a subscriber to access it, but the good news is subscriptions are discounted right now. Bag yours if you haven’t already! 

The must-reads 

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 

1 The Pentagon’s ban on Anthropic has been halted 
A judge has paused its designation as a supply chain risk. (CBS News)  
+ She said the government was trying to “chill public debate.” (BBC) 
+ Sam Altman claimed he tried to “save” Anthropic in the clash. (Axios) 

2 Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against an ad boycott on X 
A judge admonished the “fishing expedition.” (Ars Technica) 
+ Ad revenue fell by more than half as advertisers fled X after Musk took over. (BBC) 

3 OpenAI has put plans for an erotic chatbot on hold “indefinitely” 
Staff and investors had raised concerns. (The Information $) 
+ The company is making a sharp strategic pivot. (FT $) 
+ AI companions are the final stage of digital addiction. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 A helium shortage has started impacting tech supply chains 
The problem stems from the Middle East conflict. (Reuters) 
+ The era of cheap helium is over. (MIT Technology Review) 

5 Trump’s new science advisers: 12 tech chiefs and just one academic 
They include at least nine billionaires. (Nature) 
+ David Sacks is stepping down as Trump’s crypto and AI czar. (TechCrunch) 

6 Anthropic is mulling an IPO as soon as October 
It’s racing OpenAI to hold an initial public offering. (Bloomberg $) 

7 Wikipedia has banned all AI-generated content  
LLM-related issues had overwhelmed editors. (404 Media) 
+ Here’s what we’re getting wrong about AI’s truth crisis. (MIT Technology Review) 

8 OpenAI’s ad pilot generated $100 million in under 2 months 
More than 600 advertisers are working on the trial. (CNBC) 
+ Ads will arrive on ChatGPT free ‌and Go in the coming weeks. (Reuters) 
 
 9 An Irish village is giving kids a phone-free upbringing 
The ban works because almost everyone’s bought in. (NYT $) 

10 Chatting with sycophantic AI makes you less kind 
New research found it encourages “uncouth behavior.” (Nature) 

Quote of the day 

“I don’t know if it’s ‘murder,’ but it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic.” 

—Judge Rita Lin rules against the Pentagon’s ban on Anthropic, The Verge reports. 

One More Thing 

This futuristic space habitat is designed to self-assemble in orbit  

More and more people are traveling beyond Earth, but the International Space Station can only hold 11 of them at a time.  

Aurelia Institute, an architecture R&D lab based in Cambridge, MA, is building a solution: a habitat that launches in compact stacks of flat tiles—and self-assembles in orbit.  

The concept may sound far-fetched, but it’s already won support from NASA. Read the full story. 

—Sarah Ward 

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.) 

+ These optical illusions are absolute brain-melters. 
+ The web design museum lovingly visualizes the evolution of the internet. 
+ Zara Picken’s modernist illustrations are a new window into the mid-20th century. 
+ Explore our planet’s connections through the digital Knowledge Garden.