Technology

Conservators scan Ukraine’s wooden churches to help preserve them

Sacred Spaces

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, people have been evacuating and safeguarding Ukrainian works of art and museum pieces. Now, a team of conservators and students are also creating permanent, 3D records of buildings and objects that can’t be moved in case they are damaged or destroyed.

Why a megacity in India is reviving the humble water well

Environment

Seafood cultivated in a lab could help mitigate the next pandemic

Science & Technology

This club in the Netherlands offers a much-needed break from technology

Internet

How AI is helping to recreate childhood memories

EU threatens to shut down popular app that pays users to watch videos

Arts, Culture & Media

The European Commission is calling the new TikTok Lite app “toxic as cigarettes.” It’s a spin-off from the makers of the original TikTok, that pays people to watch videos. The EC says it was launched without regard for risks of addiction, or safeguards against children using it. Now they’re threatening to suspend it.

Illustration by Megan J. Goff

Inside the i-Soon papers and China’s secret world of hackers-for-hire

Hacking

Newly leaked files from a private Chinese hackers-for-hire company provide a fresh look into China’s “cyber industrial complex” — and it appears to be bigger and more mature than observers had previously imagined. Dina Temple-Raston, host and managing editor of the Recorded Future News podcast “Click Here,” has the story.

A view of the process on a montior as lab staff use a microscope stand and articulated hand controls to extract cells from 1-7 day old embryos that are then checked for viability at the Aspire Houston Fertility Institute in vitro fertilization lab in Hous

Why an international court struck down Costa Rica’s IVF ban

Reproductive rights

The World’s host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Lynn Morgan, a medical anthropologist focused on Latin America, about Costa Rica’s legal battles and religious debates about allowing access to IVF.

Black blue and gray illustration of people coming out of phones

Spyware found on phones in Jordan

Hacking

According to a recent report, dozens of journalists, human rights workers and political activists in Jordan have been targeted with Pegasus spyware over the past few years. It’s one of the most widespread uses of spyware on civil society. Dina Temple-Raston, host and managing editor of the Recorded Future News podcast “Click Here,” has the story.

Illustration by Megan J. Goff

Threat-hunter says Iran is stepping up the sophistication of its cyberattacks

Cybersecurity

In the months since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Iran has increased its cyber-hacking operations, according to Gil Messing, the chief of staff at Tel Aviv-based Check Point Software. The “Click Here” podcast talks to Messing about the latest.