Why teachers in Denmark are using apps to audit their students’ moods

Welcome back to What’s Next in Tech. In this edition, find out why Danish schools are turning to apps to monitor students’ moods despite inconclusive evidence about the technology’s ability to solve social problems. Then, learn about the nonprofits and academic groups that are working to help climate-vulnerable regions take part in the high-stakes global debate over solar geoengineering. Plus, discover how scientists want to harness microbes to treat disease.

This Earth Week, explore the complexities of the world with an MIT Technology Review subscription. Learn how to navigate the path to sustainability with our expert technology & climate policy insights. Subscribe now and save up to 18%.

Companies say that mood-auditing apps can help improve students’ well-being, but some experts worry it could have the opposite effect.

No one knows why, but in just a few decades, the number of Danish children and youth with depression has more than sextupled.?

To help address the problem, some schools are adopting platforms that frequently survey schoolchildren on a variety of wellbeing indicators and use algorithms to suggest particular issues for the class to focus on.

A number of people say mood-monitoring tech has great potential. But some experts are skeptical. They say there is little evidence it can solve social problems, and that fostering a habit of self-surveillance from an early age could make kids feel even worse. Read the story.

Solar geoengineering could alter the entire planet. These groups want every nation to have a say.

Picture two theoretical futures: one in which nations counteract climate change by reflecting sunlight back into space, and another where the world continues heating up. There are big differences between the two, but a lot of smaller, more subtle changes too.?

Take malaria, for example. By 2070, the overall risk of malaria transmission ends up roughly the same in the two worlds. But in the hypothetical geoengineered version of Earth, the threat of the disease has moved on the map, from East to West Africa.?

These scenarios underscore the complex trade-offs that could accompany solar geoengineering. They raise difficult questions about who gets to determine how to use tools that alter the entire climate system in ways that may benefit many, but also create new dangers for some. Read the story.

Bacteria can be engineered to fight cancer in mice. Human trials are coming.

The news: There are trillions of microbes living in and on our bodies—and we might be able to modify them to help us treat diseases. Scientists have altered the genomes of some of these bacteria, essentially engineering microbes that can prevent or treat cancer.

How they did it: The team chose a microbe that’s commonly found on human skin and modified it by inserting a new gene that codes for a protein that sits on the surface of some cancer cells. They applied it to heads of mice injected with skin cancer cells and observed how the progression of the cancer was significantly slowed in mice that had been given the engineered microbe, compared to those who received a regular microbe.

What’s next: Although the team have to find a good candidate microbe they’re confident could trigger the same immune response in people, human trials are in the cards within the next few years. Read the story.

Sign up to receive The Download, our daily newsletter, in your inbox every weekday morning.

Get ahead with our most-discussed stories:

1. The hottest new climate technology is bricks — Heat batteries could help cut emissions by providing new routes to use solar and wind power.
2. AI is dreaming up drugs that no one has ever seen. Now we've got to see if they work. — AI automation throughout the drug development pipeline is opening up the possibility of faster, cheaper pharmaceuticals.
3. Banning Chat GPT will do more harm than good — In this opinion piece, a high school senior argues that ChatGPT can help reshape education for the better.

Images: Nicole Rifkin; Degrees Initiative; Nano Creative / Science Source / Science Photo Library