MIT Technology Review

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Three things to know about the future of electricity The International Energy Agency recently released the latest version of the World Energy Outlook, the annual report that takes stock of the current state...

One of the dominant storylines I've been following through 2025 is electricity-where and how demand is going up, how much it costs, and how this all intersects with that topic everyone is talking about: AI. Last week, the International Energy Agency released the latest version of the World Energy Outlook, the annual report that takes...

Manufacturing is getting a major system upgrade. As AI amplifies existing technologies-like digital twins, the cloud, edge computing, and the industrial internet of things (IIoT)-it is enabling factory operations teams to shift from reactive, isolated problem-solving to proactive, systemwide optimization. Digital twins-physically accurate virtual representations of a piece of equipment, a production line, a process,...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Quantum physicists have shrunk and de-censored" DeepSeek R1 The news: A group of quantum physicists at Spanish firm Multiverse Computing claims to have created a version of the powerful reasoning AI model DeepSeek...

A group of quantum physicists claims to have created a version of the powerful reasoning AI model DeepSeek R1 that strips out the censorship built into the original by its Chinese creators. The scientists at Multiverse Computing, a Spanish firm specializing in quantum-inspired AI techniques, created DeepSeek R1 Slim, a model that is 55% smaller...

The Ryder Cup is an almost-century-old tournament pitting Europe against the United States in an elite showcase of golf skill and strategy. At the 2025 event, nearly a quarter of a million spectators gathered to watch three days of fierce competition on the fairways. From a technology and logistics perspective, pulling off an event of...

Training an AI model to predict equipment failures is an engineering achievement. But it's not until prediction meets action-the moment that model successfully flags a malfunctioning machine-that true business transformation occurs. One technical milestone lives in a proof-of-concept deck; the other meaningfully contributes to the bottom line. Craig Partridge, senior director worldwide of Digital Next...

Google today unveiled Gemini 3, a major upgrade to its flagship multimodal model. The firm says the new model is better at reasoning, has more fluid multimodal capabilities (the ability to work across voice, text or images), and will work like an agent. The previous model, Gemini 2.5, supports multimodal input. Users can feed it...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The State of AI: How war will be changed forever -Helen Warrell & James O'Donnell It is July 2027, and China is on the brink of invading Taiwan. Autonomous drones with AI targeting...

Welcome back to The State of AI, a new collaboration between the Financial Times and MIT Technology Review. Every Monday, writers from both publications debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. In this conversation, Helen Warrell, FT investigations reporter and former defense and security editor, and James O'Donnell, MIT Technology Review's...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. What is the chance your plane will be hit by space debris? The risk of flights being hit by space junk is still small, but it's growing. About three pieces of old space...

MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what's coming next. You can read more from the series here. In mid-October, a mysterious object cracked the windshield of a packed Boeing 737 cruising at 36,000 feet above Utah, forcing the pilots into an emergency landing....

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. OpenAI's new LLM exposes the secrets of how AI really works The news: ChatGPT maker OpenAI has built an experimental large language model that is far easier to understand than typical models. Why...

Earlier this week, the UK's science minister announced an ambitious plan: to phase out animal testing. Testing potential skin irritants on animals will be stopped by the end of next year, according toa strategy released on Tuesday. By 2027, researchers are expected to end" tests of the strength of Botox on mice. And drug tests...

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has built an experimental large language model that is far easier to understand than typical models. That's a big deal, because today's LLMs are black boxes: Nobody fully understands how they do what they do. Building a model that is more transparent sheds light on how LLMs work in general, helping researchers...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. AI is changing how we quantify pain Researchers around the world are racing to turn pain-medicine's most subjective vital sign-into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure. The...

Last week, we hosted EmTech MIT, MIT Technology Review's annual flagship conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Over the course of three days of main-stage sessions, I learned about innovations in AI, biotech, and robotics. But as you might imagine, some of this climate reporter's favorite moments came in the climate sessions. I was listening especially closely...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. What it's like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert) -Mike Rothschild is a journalist and an expert on the growth and impact of conspiracy...

For years, many chief information officers (CIOs) looked at VMware-to-cloud migrations with a wary pragmatism. Manually mapping dependencies and rewriting legacy apps mid-flight was not an enticing, low-lift proposition for enterprise IT teams. But the calculus for such decisions has changed dramatically in a short period of time. Following recent VMware licensing changes, organizations are...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures Climate change is subjecting vulnerable people to temperatures that push their limits. In 2023, about 47,000 heat-related deaths are believed to...

Welcome back toThe State of AI, a new collaboration between the Financial Times and MIT Technology Review. Every Monday, writers from both publications debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution and how it is reshaping global power. This week, Casey Crownhart, senior reporter for energy at MIT Technology Review and Pilita Clark, FT's columnist,...

AI and quantum technologies are dramatically reconfiguring how cybersecurity functions, redefining the speed and scale with which digital defenders and their adversaries can operate. The weaponization of AI tools for cyberattacks is already proving a worthy opponent to current defenses. From reconnaissance to ransomware, cybercriminals can automate attacks faster than ever before with AI. This...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why it's so hard to bust the weather control conspiracy theory It was October 2024, and Hurricane Helene had just devastated the US Southeast. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia found an abstract...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The first new subsea habitat in 40 years is about to launch Vanguard feels and smells like a new RV. It has long, gray banquettes that convert into bunks, a microwave cleverly hidden...

Vanguard feels and smells like a new RV. It has long, gray banquettes that convert into bunks, a microwave cleverly hidden under a counter, a functional steel sink with a French press and crockery above. A weird little toilet hides behind a curtain. But some clues hint that you can't just fire up Vanguard's engine...

This week, we heard that Tom Brady had his dog cloned. The former quarterback revealed that his Junie is actually a clone of Lua, a pit bull mix that died in 2023. Brady's announcement follows those of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Barbra Streisand, who also famously cloned their pet dogs. But some believe there...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How conspiracy theories infiltrated the doctor's office As anyone who has googled their symptoms and convinced themselves that they've got a brain tumor will attest, the internet makes it very easy to self-(mis)diagnose...

Picture it: I'm minding my business at a party, parked by the snack table (of course). A friend of a friend wanders up, and we strike up a conversation. It quickly turns to work, and upon learning that I'm a climate technology reporter, my new acquaintance says something like: Should I be using AI? I've...

The US- and UK-based company Quantinuum today unveiled Helios, its third-generation quantum computer, which includes expanded computing power and error correction capability. Like all other existing quantum computers, Helios is not powerful enough to execute the industry's dream money-making algorithms, such as those that would be useful for materials discovery or financial modeling. But Quantinuum's...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why the for-profit race into solar geoengineering is bad for science and public trust -David Keith is the professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and Daniele Visioni is an assistant...

This year, we've seen a real-time experiment playing out across the technology industry, one in which AI's software engineering capabilities have been put to the test against human technologists. And although 2025 may have started with AI looking strong, the transition from vibe coding to what's being termed context engineering shows that while the work...

Last week, an American-Israeli company that claims it's developed proprietary technology to cool the planet announced it had raised $60 million, by far the largest known venture capital round to date for a solar geoengineering startup. The company, Stardust, says the funding will enable it to develop a system that could be deployed by the...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time -Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor Are you feeling it? I hear it's close: two years, five years-maybe next year! And I...

The State of AI is a collaboration between the Financial Times & MIT Technology Review examining the ways in which AI is reshaping global power. Every Monday for the next six weeks, writers from both publications will debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. In this conversation, the FT's tech columnist...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Here's the latest company planning for gene-edited babies The news: A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he's secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited...

Demand for copper is surging, as is pollution from its dirty production processes. The founders of one startup, Still Bright, think they have a better, cleaner way to generate the copper the world needs. The company uses water-based reactions, based on battery chemistry technology, to purify copper in a process that could be less polluting...

A West Coast biotech entrepreneur says he's secured $30 million to form a public-benefit company to study how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest known investment into the taboo technology. The new company, called Preventive, is being formed to research so-called heritable genome editing," in which the DNA of embryos would be...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why do so many people think the Fruit of the Loom logo had a cornucopia? Quick question: Does the Fruit of the Loom logo feature a cornucopia? Many of us have been wearing...

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the season of the sniffles. As the weather turns, we're all spending more time indoors. The kids have been back at school for a couple of months. And cold germs are everywhere. My youngest started school this year, and along with artwork and seedlings, she has...

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Introducing: the new conspiracy age Everything is a conspiracy theory now. Conspiracists are all over the White House, turning fringe ideas into dangerous policy. America's institutions are crumbling under the weight of deep...

Bill Gates doesn't shy away or pretend modesty when it comes to his stature in the climate world today. Well, who's the biggest funder of climate innovation companies?" he asked a handful of journalists at a media roundtable event last week. If there's someone else, I've never met them." The former Microsoft CEO has spent...

As anyone who has googled their symptoms and convinced themselves that they've got a brain tumor will attest, the internet makes it very easy to self-(mis)diagnose your health problems. And although social media and other digital forums can be a lifeline for some people looking for a diagnosis or community, when that information is wrong,...

It was October 2024, and Hurricane Helene had just devastated the US Southeast. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia found an abstract target on which to pin the blame: Yes they can control the weather," she posted on X. It's ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can't be done." There was no word...

It's become a truism that facts alone don't change people's minds. Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than when it comes to conspiracy theories: Many people believe that you can't talk conspiracists out of their beliefs. But that's not necessarily true. It turns out that many conspiracy believers do respond to evidence and arguments-information that...

On a gloomy Saturday morning this past May, a few months after entire blocks of Altadena, California, were destroyed by wildfires, several dozen survivors met at a local church to vent their built-up frustration, anger, blame, and anguish. As I sat there listening to one horror story after another, I almost felt sorry for the...

There is a shirt currently listed on eBay for $2,128.79. It was not designed by Versace or Dior, nor spun from the world's finest silk. In fact, a tag proudly declares, 100% cotton made in Myanmar"-but it's a second tag, just below that one, that makes this blue button-down so expensive. I looked at it...

MIT Technology Review's How To series helps you get things done. Someone I know became a conspiracy theorist seemingly overnight. It was during the pandemic, and out of nowhere, they suddenly started posting daily on Facebook about the dangers of covid vaccines and masks, warning of an attempt to control us and keep us in...