MIT Technology Review

To be a great company founder, they say you should use your own product. Eat your own dog food. But what if you are running a biotech company developing an experimental fertility treatment? You might be excused. Not Dina Radenkovic, CEO of Gameto, a New York startup engineering stem cells to craft a lightweight" version...

David Chalmers was not expecting the invitation he received in September of last year. As a leading authority on consciousness, Chalmers regularly circles the world delivering talks at universities and academic meetings to rapt audiences of philosophers-the sort of people who might spend hours debating whether the world outside their own heads is real and...

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. Scientists just drafted an incredibly detailed map of the human brain Scientists have unveiled the most compete atlas of the human brain ever created. The work, part of the National Institutes of Health...

It takes Gabor Domokos about an hour to pick his way up into the hills that rise over Budapest. He stops along the way to look for lizards and rescue a beetle that had gotten stuck on its back. If he were to keep going, he'd soon reach a tower with a panoramic view of...

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review's weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first,sign up here. When scientists first looked at brain tissue under a microscope, they saw an impenetrable and jumbled mess. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the father of modern neuroscience,...

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. Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again. The problem of plastic waste hides in plain sight, a ubiquitous part of our lives we rarely question. But a closer examination of the...

Sweeping legislation in the US, including the Inflation Reduction Act, is infusing hundreds of billions of dollars into new climate and energy technologies, funding research, development, and implementation. But as the money begins to flow, there are open questions regarding who will benefit most, and who might bear the brunt of unexpected consequences. Shalanda Baker,...

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review's weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. During one of the final sessions at our ClimateTech event last week, I got to hear about how AI could help develop battery materials for future electric sports cars. This came during...

On a Saturday last summer, I kayaked up a Connecticut river from the coast, buoyed by the rising tide, to pick up trash with a group of locals. Blue herons and white egrets hunted in the shallows. Ospreys soared overhead hauling freshly caught fish. The wind combed the water into fields of ripples, refracting 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 gene editing could help curb the spread of bird flu The news: Gene editing could help prevent chickens from catching and spreading bird flu, new research suggests. How they did it: Researchers...

This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review's newsletter about technology in China.Sign upto receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Living through the epic rainfall that flooded New York City a few weeks ago was nothing if not a reminder of just how urgently we need to tackle the climate crisis. Fortunately,...

Gene editing could help prevent chickens from catching and spreading bird flu, according to a proof-of-concept study. Researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of 10 chickens to resist the bird flu virus and then exposed all of them to a low dose of it. Only one of the 10 chickens caught...

After a procession of overhyped technologies like Web3, the metaverse, and blockchain, executives are bracing for the tidal wave of generative AI, a shift some consider to be on par with the advent of the internet or the desktop computer. But with power comes responsibility, and generative AI offers as much risk as reward. 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. The humble oyster could hold the key to restoring coastal waters. Developers hate it. Carol Friend has taken on a difficult job. She is one of the 10 people in Delaware currently trying...

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I hate going to the gym. Last year I hired a personal trainer for six months in the hope she would brainwash me into adopting healthy exercise habits longer-term. It was...

In the summers of the early 1970s, in the days before developers launched bidding wars over waterfront real estate, before the Delaware beaches drew long lines of tourists and traffic, the children living on Lewes Beach would perch in the windows overlooking the shore and scream out when the water started to roil, shimmer, and...

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. Welcome to the AI gym staffed by virtual trainers Like any good gym, Lumin Fitness prides itself on the quality of its trainers. Chloe, an energetic young coach, promises to help you crush...

This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review's weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. You may not be shocked to hear thatgovernments are using generative AI to manipulate conversations and automatically censor what's online.But now we have a better...

Like any good gym, Lumin Fitness prides itself on the quality of its trainers. Chloe, an energetic young coach, promises to help you crush your fitness goals. The disciplined Rex, who has the air of a drill sergeant, encourages his clients to strive for excellence, but he is quick to warn that there won't be...

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), often dubbed the Climate Bill," was signed into law more than a year ago in the US and catalyzed more than $390 billion of investment in the clean energy sector. But what specific changes has it brought about, and what obstacles remain? Leah Stokes, an environmental policy professor at UC...

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 first-ever space junk fine is such a big deal We've just taken a major step toward cleaning up space junk. Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US...

Hello again from The Checkup! This week the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine honored two scientists whose research into messenger RNA (mRNA) technology paved the way for much-lauded covid-19 vaccines. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman figured out how to tweak mRNA to prevent it from setting off an inflammatory reaction. Their discovery, first published...

We've just taken a major step toward cleaning up space junk. On Monday, October 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US issued its first fine for space debris, ordering the US TV provider Dish to pay $150,000 for failing to move one of its satellites into a safe orbit. It is definitely a...

Autonomous shopping carts that follow grocery store customers and robots that pick ripe cucumbers faster than humans may grab headlines, but the most compelling applications of AI and ML technology are behind the scenes. Increasingly, organizations are finding substantial efficiency gains by applying AI- and ML-powered tools to back-office procedures such as document processing, data...

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 15 ClimateTech Companies to Watch It's easy to feel overwhelmed and terrified in the face of an ever-worsening climate crisis. But the glimmer of good news is that, for the most part,...

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review's weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Awards season is due for a refresh. While you wait to hear who got the nod for the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Emmys, check out MIT Technology Review's 15 Climate Tech Companies...

Business data provides an often untapped well of organizational value. Customer interaction data, supply chain data, operational data, human resource data, financial data, market research data, back-office data-these oft-hidden data sources hold immense potential for operational insights and value creation," says Sidharth Mukherjee, chief digital officer of Teleperformance, a global digital business services company. Making...

Explorethe 2023 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Form Energy is building iron-based batteries that could store renewable energy on the grid for long stretches, saving up for times when electricity sources such as wind and solar aren't available. Using iron, one of the most common metals on the planet, could help the...

Explorethe 2023 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Sublime Systems has invented a new way to make cement. The startup's approach employs electrochemistry to dramatically cut emissions, both by tweaking the chemical reactions involved and by eliminating the need for high temperatures. Intro Sublime Systems is reinventing how we make cement-a material that's...

Explorethe 2023 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. By designing a better battery, BYD has pulled ahead in the global electric vehicle race. Its affordable and versatile cars are making EVs far more accessible, and could ultimately help countries including China to dramatically reduce emissions from transportation. Intro BYD has come a long...

Explorethe 2023 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Fervo Energy is commercializing a geothermal technology that could significantly expand the regions that could tap into the steady, carbon-free energy source, by creating or widening cracks under the surface to allow water to more easily circulate underground. These enhanced geothermal plants could become an...

Explorethe 2023 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Offshore wind power has tremendous potential to help the world meet its climate goals. Former fossil-fuel company Orsted is leading the charge to unlock that potential by building massive offshore wind farms in Europe and installing some of the first turbines in US waters. Intro...

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. Underground thermal energy networks are becoming crucial to the US's energy future The news: Thirteen US states are now implementing underground thermal energy networks to reduce buildings' carbon emissions as part of a...

This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review's newsletter about technology in China.Sign upto receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. It was probably the highest-stakes mobile game match that's ever been played. On the evening of September 26, 10 men from China and Malaysia sat on a stage in Hangzhou, China, each...

Thirteen US states are now implementing underground thermal energy networks to reduce buildings' carbon emissions as part of a nationwide push to adopt cleaner energy sources. Thermal energy networks use pipe loops that connect multiple buildings and provide heating and cooling through water-source heat pumps. Geothermal heat is commonly used in these networks, but it...

Artificial intelligence has turbocharged state efforts to crack down on internet freedoms over the past year. Governments and political actors around the world, in both democracies and autocracies, are using AI to generate texts, images, and video to manipulate public opinion in their favor and to automatically censor critical online content. In a new report...

Advances in imaging technologies are giving physicians unprecedented insights into disease states, but fragmented and siloed information technology systems make it difficult to provide the personalized, coordinated care that patients expect. In the field of medical imaging, health care providers began replacing radiographic films with digital images stored in a picture and archiving communication system...

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 Big Tech's bet on AI assistants is so risky Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up with the killer app for the...

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up withthe killer app for the technology. First it was online search, withmixed results. Now...

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. Child online safety laws will actually hurt kids, critics say This summer, the Senate moved two bills dealing with online privacy for children and teens out of committee. We've also seen many states...

This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review's weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. This summer, the Senate movedtwo billsdealing with online privacy for children and teens out of committee. Both have been floating around Congress in various forms...

Technology Radar is a snapshot of the current technology landscape produced by Thoughtworks twice a year; it's based on technologies we've been using as an organization and communicates our perspective on them. There is always a long list of candidates to be featured for us to work through and discuss, but with each edition that...

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. Elon Musk wants more bandwidth between people and machines. Do we need it? Last week, Elon Musk made the bold assertion that sticking electrodes in people's heads is going to lead to a...

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. On September 19, US Food and Drug Administration advisors met to discuss how to move research on artificial wombs from animals into humans. These medical devices are...

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review's weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. Last week, a post by Elon Musk on X (formerly known as Twitter) caught my eye. The entrepreneur claimed that sticking electrodes in people's heads...

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 dream of fusion power isn't going away There's a joke about fusion power that always comes up when people start talking about the technology. It goes like this: Fusion is the...

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review's weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. There's a joke about fusion power that always comes up when people start talking about the technology. It goes like this: Fusion is the energy of the future ... and it always...