Spy agencies brief people in power. We brief you. Each week we’ll bring you one story that matters, plus a few that don’t!

Your Brief for September 22, 2024: Climate engineering, The Silk Road Bust, comparing color perception and more!

News

The Lasker Awards

Established in 1945, the Lasker Awards aim to accelerate funding for medical research, and many of its laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. The 2024 Lasker winners were announced earlier this week, taking home a $250K reward. Among the recipients is Svetlana Mojsov, a pioneering endocrinologist, recognized for her contributions to discovering the GLP-1 hormone’s effectiveness in treating diabetes and obesity; an innovation that laid the groundwork for popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. Also celebrated were Quarraisha and Salim Abdool Karim, who received the public service award for their decades-long contributions to HIV/AIDS research. Their efforts have included testing a promising twice-yearly antiviral drug injection, providing new hope for managing the epidemic.

Science

Climate Engineering

Could climate engineering be a key to cooling the planet?

In a bold new initiative, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has pledged £57 million (about $75 million) to fund research into ideas for artificially cooling the Earth. This large-scale investment will explore concepts within solar geoengineering, a field focused on reducing global temperatures by deflecting some of the sun’s radiation back into space. ARIA, a publicly funded but largely independent agency, is currently soliciting proposals from researchers worldwide, with recipients expected to be announced next year. One of the concepts involves injecting aerosols, like sulfur dioxide, into the stratosphere, while another proposes shooting sea salt aerosols into low-lying marine clouds to enhance sunlight reflection. Could these experiments pave the way for a future where we actively manage the Earth's climate?

True Spies

The Silk Road Bust

Who is the anonymous Dread Pirate Roberts?

The Silk Road was one of the most notorious black markets on the internet. Run by the infamous anonymous Dread Pirate Roberts, the online marketplace allowed its users to trade cryptocurrency for illegal drugs, items, and services. But, buried beneath layers of digital proxies, The Silk Road was almost impenetrable to law enforcement… Almost!

Cyber-security agent Chris Tarbell, working in New York with a small team for the FBI, took on the task of taking down the site. It was the largest online market for narcotics, which meant if taken down, the impact would be far-reaching. They launched Operation Onion Peeler to investigate hacking crimes on 26 websites running on Tor, an anonymous browser known as the Dark Web, on which The Silk Road existed. Like Amazon or eBay, users of The Silk Road could leave reviews or enjoy cheaper shipping if they buy in bulk; a virtual bazaar of criminality! Chris’s official job was to stop hackers, one of the illegal services for sale on the site. Perhaps most surprising to Chris, the website was run by just one individual. Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR) - the mysterious creator who adopted this fictional swashbuckler as an alter ego.

From his office in New York, Chris and his colleagues worked to pull on the few threads they had. And while Silk Road might not have been on the “regular” internet, fortunately for the team, the people who used it were. To their surprise, several Reddit users claimed that certain parts of the site weren't properly hidden on Tor. If true this meant Silk Road might be leaking an internet address, a potential crack in the site's armor!

Join Chris Tarbell in this week’s podcast selection ‘The Silk Road Bust’ and discover how a combination of cyber-savvy and old-school detective work brought down the biggest name on the Dark Web.

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Nature

Fossils At School

Could your local school be a gateway to the past?

Researchers have unearthed a treasure trove of marine fossils beneath a school in south Los Angeles. Among the discoveries at San Pedro High School are remnants of a saber-toothed salmon, featuring extendable fangs, and a megalodon, a massive prehistoric shark that once roamed the oceans! The finds also include an 8.7-million-year-old bone bed from the Miocene era, a 120,000-year-old shell bed from the Pleistocene era, and vertebrae and rib bones of an extinct dolphin species. The discoveries were made over two years, from June 2022 to July 2024. Researchers are currently analyzing the chemical and mineral compositions of the fossils to gain more insight into the prehistoric world they originated from.

Image Credit: Wayne Bischoff / Envicom Corp.

Quirky

Comparing Color Perception

Is it blue or green?

An online color test comparing color perception has become an internet sensation, highlighting how we perceive color differently. The test presents visitors with color variations, asking them to decide whether they see blue or green. With each response, the tone shifts slightly, either bluer or greener based on your perspective. After a series of quick choices, you are presented with your data, showing how your perception of tones compares to other test takers!

The idea behind the site originated from a household disagreement between Canadian couple Marissé Masís-Solano, an ophthalmologist, and Patrick Mineault, a visual neuroscientist. The couple couldn’t agree on whether a blanket in their home was green or blue, sparking the creation of this fun experiment. Want to see how your eyes measure up? Check out the test here.

Image Credit: ismy.blue

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Art

Poets And Lovers

Visiting London?

If so, you might want to check out The Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery, it's a celebration of the artist’s most iconic works, including Sunflowers, The Olive Trees, and The Bedroom. Delve into Van Gogh's cherished “Poet’s Garden” or escape into the peaceful landscapes of Saint-Rémy, where the painter found inspiration. The show marks the National Gallery's 200th anniversary and captures the period Van Gogh spent in Arles, a city in the South of France, and later in the Saint-Rémy asylum, just months before he died in 1890. From 14 September 2024 to 19 January 2025, visitors can immerse themselves in the last two years of his life, a period of some of his most passionate creations!

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