MIT Technology Review

This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. The CRISPR gene-editing tool has been making headlines for the last 10 years, since scientists showed it could be used to easily alter the genome of a living organism. The technology could…

In a record trip for low-carbon aviation, a startup has completed a test flight of a 19-seat aircraft powered in part by hydrogen fuel cells. It’s the largest plane that ZeroAvia, a leader in developing hydrogen-electric systems for planes, has tested in the air to date. The flight took off from Cotswold Airport in the…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Gene editing for the masses is coming We know the basics of healthy living by now. A balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress reduction can help us avoid heart disease—the world’s biggest killer.…

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. When strangers find out that I’m a climate technology reporter, they often have a lot of questions for me, or concerns to share. Some have heard that birds fly into wind turbines. Or…

Millions of fish are farmed in the US every year, but many of them die from infections. In theory, genetically engineering fish with genes that protect them from disease could reduce waste and help limit the environmental impact of fish farming. A team of scientists have attempted to do just that—by inserting an alligator gene…

CRISPR for high cholesterol is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Explore the rest of the list here. We know the basics of healthy living by now. A balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress reduction can help us avoid heart disease—the world’s biggest killer. But what if you could take a vaccine,…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why my bittersweet relationship with Shein had to end—Zeyi Yang, China reporter I’ve been missing the online shopping experience in China since I moved to the US four years ago. I grew up…

China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. I’m a lot like everyone else these days, doing a bit of self-reflection at the beginning of the year. I’m a tech reporter, but I also use tech platforms for my personal life. And throughout…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How old batteries will help power tomorrow’s EVs To Redwood Materials, the rows of cardboard boxes in the parking lot of its new battery recycling site just outside Reno, Nevada, represent both 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. Microsoft is reportedly eyeing a $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the startup that created the viral chatbot ChatGPT, and is planning to integrate it into Office products and Bing search. The tech giant has…

Battery recycling is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Explore the rest of the list here. As Tesla’s former chief technology officer, JB Straubel has been a major player in bringing electric vehicles to the world. He’s often credited with inventing key pieces of Tesla’s battery technology and establishing the company’s charging…

Battery recycling is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Explore the rest of the list here. To Redwood Materials, the rows of cardboard boxes in its gravel parking lot represent both the past and the future of electric vehicles. The makeshift storage space stretches for over 10 acres at Redwood’s new…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Brazilians are turning to Instagram to identify far-right rioters In the hours after far-right insurrectionists trashed government buildings in Brazil’s capital on Sunday January 8, a new account popped up on Instagram. Called…

In the hours after far-right insurrectionists trashed government buildings in Brazil’s capital on Sunday, a new account popped up on Instagram. Called Contragolpe Brasil—a clever play on words that means both “Against the coup Brazil” and “Counterblow Brazil”—it quickly started posting photos of alleged riot participants. The idea was to crowdsource information that could identify…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why Congo’s most famous national park is betting big on crypto In eastern Congo, a guard carrying a heavy AK-47 is a rare authority figure in a largely lawless region—a ranger who usually…

This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. This week, a sore throat and bunged-up nose led me to break out my dusty old box of covid tests. I haven’t had to use one in a while—immunity where I live,…

The AK-47 is heavy with extra clips strapped together, jungle style, but the man holding it doesn’t flinch as he patrols the heavily forested mountain. Here in eastern Congo, where the Soviet throwback weapon costs just $40 on the black market, militias use its dawa, or magic, to take land, timber, ivory, and the rare…

Explore which items are a part of 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023. Every year, our reporters and editors put together a list of the 10 technologies that we think matter most right now. This the 22nd year we’ve published this list, and you can explore the brand new 2023 list here. The task of selecting technologies…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Inside the metaverse meetups that let people share on death, grief, and pain Days after learning that her husband, Ted, had only months to live, Claire Matte found herself telling strangers about it…

It’s been an exciting week here at MIT Technology Review, because on Monday we released our 2023 list of the 10 Breakthrough Technologies! This is always one of my favorite times of the year, when we get to take a hard look at technologies that will matter in the upcoming year and beyond. And this…

Days after learning that her husband, Ted, had only months to live, Claire Matte found herself telling strangers about it in VR. The 62-year-old retiree had bought a virtual-reality headset in 2021 as a social getaway. Ted had late-stage cancer, and the intense responsibility of caring for him had shrunk her daily reality. With the…

To reach Kazakhstan’s largest bitcoin mine, you need to travel deep into the country’s rust belt, to the city of Ekibastuz. In the far northeast of the country, equidistant between the capital city of Astana and the country’s border with Siberia, it’s a drab sprawl of down-at-heel shops and cramped Soviet-era apartment buildings, known locally…

Consideration of how to deploy technology responsibly has become critical as tech and data have become more entrenched in modern society and business operations. Our research makes clear that responsible technology use has become a subject of great interest across industries. In fact, nearly three-quarters of survey respondents either strongly agree (30%) or somewhat agree…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The entrepreneur dreaming of a factory of unlimited organs Martine Rothblatt was a successful satellite entrepreneur when her daughter Jenesis was diagnosed with a fatal lung disease. So Rothblatt started a biotechnology company,…

China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Lots going on this week. First, MIT Technology Review announced yesterday our picks for this year’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies. If you’ve been watching China, several items on the list should ring a bell, like the…

Organs on demand is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Explore the rest of the list here. I met the entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt for the first time at a meeting at West Point in 2015 that was dedicated to exploring how technology might expand the supply of organs for transplant. At…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook When Greg unboxed a new robot vacuum cleaner in December 2019, he thought he knew what he was getting into. As a…

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. How was your break? I spent mine back home in snowy Finland, extremely offline. Bliss! I hope you’re well-rested, because this year is going to be even wilder than 2022 for AI. Last…

When Greg unboxed a new Roomba robot vacuum cleaner in December 2019, he thought he knew what he was getting into. He would allow the preproduction test version of iRobot’s Roomba J series device to roam around his house, let it collect all sorts of data to help improve its artificial intelligence, and provide feedback…

A small biotech company claims it has used a technology called reprogramming to rejuvenate old mice and extend their lives, a result suggesting that one day older people could have their biological clocks turned back with an injection—literally becoming younger. The life-extension claim in rodents, made by Rejuvenate Bio, a San Diego biotech company, appears…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Introducing this year’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies Each year, MIT Technology Review’s reporters and editors pick 10 Breakthrough Technologies, all of which have the promise to fundamentally change the way we live and work.…

Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello may have met as graduate students in architecture at Columbia University, but it quickly became clear that “architecture” would prove an inadequate term to describe their eclectic body of work. As the pair started working together in 2002, they became increasingly aware that “sometimes the forces that enable architecture,…

It was December 14, 1972, the final day on the moon for the last Apollo mission. The Challenger lander was dusted in a fine coating of gray lunar dirt, called regolith, both inside and out. Geologist Jack Schmitt was packing the sample containers, securing 243 pounds of rocks to bring home. After passing Schmitt the…

For the past 22 years, we’ve been publishing an annual list of the 10 biggest breakthrough technologies. In 2018, we defined a breakthrough as “a technology, or perhaps even a collection of technologies, that will have a profound effect on our lives.” That’s pretty broad! But it gets at the heart of what we try to…

Every year, we pick the 10 technologies that matter the most right now. We look for advances that will have a big impact on our lives and break down why they matter.

Electric vehicles are transforming the auto industry. While sales have slowly ticked up for years, they’re now soaring. The emissions-free cars and trucks will likely account for 13% of all new auto sales globally in 2022, up from 4% just two years earlier, according to the International Energy Agency. They’re on track to make up…

High-value metals recovered from old laptops, corroded power drills, and electric vehicles could power tomorrow’s cars, thanks to recycling advances that make it possible to turn old batteries into new ones. Demand for lithium-ion batteries is skyrocketing as electric vehicles become more common. Greater use of electric vehicles is good news for the climate. But…

Scientists have long sought better tools to study teeth and bones from ancient humans. In the past, they’ve had to scour many ancient remains to find a sample preserved well enough to analyze. Now cheaper techniques and new methods that make damaged DNA legible to commercial sequencers are powering a boom in ancient DNA…

Ever wonder how your smartphone connects to your Bluetooth speaker, given they were made by different companies? Well, Bluetooth is an open standard, meaning its design specifications, such as the required frequency and its data encoding protocols, are publicly available. Software and hardware based on open standards—Ethernet, Wi-Fi, PDF—have become household names. Now an open…

Access to abortion care has narrowed dramatically in the US. But there’s been one big shift in the other direction: the ability to access care without leaving home. In 2021, during the pandemic, the US Food and Drug Administration temporarily allowed health-care providers to mail patients two pills—mifepristone and misoprostol—that, when taken together, can induce…

For two months last year, a 57-year-old man named David Bennett lived with a pig heart beating inside his chest. Surgeons at the University of Maryland had put it there to see: Could a gene-edited pig’s heart keep a person alive? Far more people need an organ transplant to live than can get one. There…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next for quantum computing For years, quantum’s news cycle was dominated by headlines about record-setting systems. But this year, researchers are getting off the hype train and knuckling down to life in…

This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. We’ve got more than one biological clock. Beyond the one that marches onwards as we age, the circadian clock that sits in our brains keeps our bodies in rhythm. This clock helps…

This story is a part of MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series, where we look across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future In 2023, progress in quantum computing will be defined less by big hardware announcements than by researchers consolidating years of hard work, getting chips to talk to…

Companies have contended with a deluge of data for years. And while most have not yet found a good way of managing it all, the challenges—diverse data sources, types, and structures and new environments and platforms—have grown ever more complex. At the same time, deriving value from data has become a business imperative, making the…