Here's what you missed today at Code Conference

How does a carmaker survive in a world where fewer and fewer people buy cars? Will we build factories in space in order to "save Earth"? And what can be done about a widespread disease like Zika?

Kicking off this year's Code Conference, Ford CEO Mark Fields, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Susan Desmond-Hellmann dove deep into all of these questions and more. Here's a rundown of what happened:

• Jeff Bezos said Amazon is taking voice-assisted tech devices really seriously, which is why more than 1,000 people are working on Amazon Alexa and Echo.
• Bezos also explained how Amazon decides to kill projects, why it doesn't sell Apple TV or Google Chromecast devices and that he really, really isn't out to kill UPS. He also noted that Amazon Prime competes with Netflix, but that most consumers will probably pick both services.
• Bezos waded into the Peter Thiel-Gawker fight, arguing that public figures (like Thiel) should "develop a thick skin."
• His opinions on the threat a President Donald Trump would pose to the press, like the Bezos-owned Washington Post? He's not scared.
• And one more thing: Bezos thinks that in a few hundred years, our factories will be making stuff in space.
• Mark Fields concedes that the future of cars will be determined increasingly by self-driving technology and software. But for Ford, the conversations with rivals Google and Uber quickly "get funky." He says there's not quite a "cultural fit."
• Susan Desmond-Hellmann says that the Gates Foundation is experimenting with a novel technique to eliminate the Zika virus: Giving mosquitoes STDs.
• Nest CEO Tony Fadell is working on a side project that you might not expect. In a Facebook Live chat with The Verge's Lauren Goode, Fadell talked about his involvement in Actev Motors, which makes electric go-karts for children.

Follow our coverage here on Recode, on the @recode Twitter, on Snapchat at recode-snaps and on our Facebook page.

Our signature events sell out quickly. Sign up for our mailing list.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via