The Download: Bluesky’s rapid rise, and harmful fertility stereotypes

I won’t spoil the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (although I should warn that it is not for the squeamish). But a key premise of the film involves harmful attitudes toward female aging. 

“Hey, did you know that a woman’s fertility starts to decrease by the age of 25?” a powerful male character asks early in the film. “At 50, it just stops,” he later adds. He never explains what stops, exactly, but to the viewer the message is pretty clear: If you’re a woman, your worth is tied to your fertility. Once your fertile window is over, so are you. 

The insidious idea that women’s bodies are, above all else, vessels for growing children has plenty of negative consequences for us all. But it also sets back scientific research and health policy. Read Jess’s story to learn how. 

This story is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter.  Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

The must-reads

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

1 Trump plans to loosen US rules for self-driving cars 
No prizes for guessing who might be behind that idea. (Bloomberg $)
+ Elon Musk is ramping up his legal fight against OpenAI and Microsoft. (WSJ $)
+ Trump has appointed the FCC’s Brendan Carr to lead the agency. (NPR)
+ Robotaxis are here. It’s time to decide what to do about them. (MIT Technology Review)

2 How Bluesky is handling its explosive growth
It has just 20 employees, and they’re working round the clock to deal with bugs, outages and moderation issues. (NYT $)
+ Just joined Bluesky? Here’s how to use it. (The Verge)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)