132 - Leprosy Elimination, Opportunities in AI Research, and Lowering Lead Exposure!
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In the News
🦠 Thanks to persistent public health efforts, Jordan became the first country in the world to eliminate leprosy.
🍰 A woman with type 1 diabetes who received a transplant of her own reprogrammed stem cells started producing her own insulin, reversing the effects of the disease.
🧬 Similarly, a new gene therapy for sickle cell disease has cured a 12-year-old patient of the illness.
🧨 Geoffrey Hinton, ML pioneer and AI doomer, wins the Nobel prize.
♹ Plastics are impossible to escape.
Opportunities
Applications for the 8th annual Impact Fellowship are open! The first wave of applicants will be reviewed soon, so don’t delay! The earlier you apply, the greater your chances of being accepted. And if you know someone who would be a good fit for the program, forward them this email or send them this link: www.impactlabs.io/fellowship
Ambitious Impact (AIM) is hiring! They help founders do the most good they can by offering mentorship and financial support in service of running highly effective charities. They’re seeking a comms lead, a program and ops manager, and a philanthropy advisor lead. Check them out and apply by late October.
Palisade Research is hiring! They study the offensive capabilities of AI to better prepare for a future where these systems become increasingly powerful. They are looking for a content lead, a policy lead, and an ops lead, as well as an EA to the executive director, who is a close friend and supporter of Impact Labs.
Good Food Institute (GFI) is hiring! They’re helping the plant-based revolution happen sooner by conducting research into the bottlenecks and barriers for plant-based foods and bioproducts. They are on the lookout for a creative coordinator who will help them with their comms.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is hiring! Okay, not hiring per se, but it’s an internship opportunity! They work on safeguarding our future from risks like nuclear war, bioterrorism, and others. The application for their spring 2025 internship is now open.
What We’re Watching
A huge $90B development project across the African continent is underway.
For the first time in decades, overdose deaths in the US are falling.
Lead exposure kills more people every year than malaria and HIV combined - this new report talks about how we can end it. Read the commitment from Open Philanthropy too for more stats.
Automating the automation automators has real consequences for workers abroad.
Quotes We Love
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
- Rumi
That’s all for now! See you in your inbox in another two weeks! ❤️