MIT Technology Review

From 7 a.m. until well past dusk, seven days a week, N. Sudhakar sits behind the counter of his hole-in-the wall grocery store in the south Indian city of Bangalore. Packed floor to ceiling with everything from 20-kilogram sacks of rice to one-rupee ($.01) shampoo sachets, this one-stop shop supplies most of the daily needs…

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 people using humor to troll their spam texts The other night, I received a mysterious WhatsApp message. “Dr. Kevin?” it began, the question mark suggesting the sender felt bad for interrupting my…

The other night, I received a mysterious WhatsApp message. “Dr. Kevin?” it began, the question mark suggesting the sender felt bad for interrupting my evening. “My puppy is very slow and won’t eat dog food. Can you make an appointment for me?” I was mystified. My name is not Kevin, I am not a veterinarian,…

China is fine-tuning its censorship machine, this time proposing changes in how to regulate the billions of online comments posted in the country every day. On June 17, the internet regulator Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published a draft update on the responsibilities of platforms and content creators in managing online comments. One line stands…

Homophobic misinformation circulating about monkeypox on social media is hampering efforts to curb the disease’s spread, research conducted on behalf of MIT Technology Review has found. There have been 2,093 confirmed cases of the virus reported worldwide as of June 17. So far cases have mainly been identified among men who have sex with men,…

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. Running Tide is facing scientist departures and growing concerns over seaweed sinking for carbon removal Running Tide, an aquaculture company based in Portland, Maine, has said it expected to set tens of thousands…

Running Tide, an aquaculture company based in Portland, Maine, has said it expected to set tens of thousands of tiny floating kelp farms adrift in the North Atlantic between this summer and next. The hope is that the fast-growing macroalgae will eventually sink to the ocean floor, storing away thousands of tons of carbon dioxide…

In the mid-2000s, toads were meeting a gruesome end near Ede, an old, leafy town in the middle of the Netherlands. Local residents came to the rescue. For a few weeks each spring, the town erected a set of temporary fences along a kilometer or so of road, in an area where the animals crossed…

When a matter of seconds or even milliseconds makes the difference between a positive or negative customer experience, you can’t afford to leave the performance of business critical software and artificial intelligence up to chance. Join a discussion on how some of the biggest names in the business accelerate the most challenging workloads on their…

Leaders and managers agree that effective management of external contributors, such as freelancers, contract workers, and app developers, is critical to their organization’s success, but not all believe their organization is sufficiently prepared to manage a workforce that will rely more on external workers. The question now is: How can organizations orchestrate this extended workforce?…

The current 5G evolution in network connectivity is expected to drive unprecedented demands for bandwidth, reliability, and security. However, a network of this magnitude and robustness doesn’t pop up overnight and enterprises and consumers are just beginning to realize the myriad use cases a 5G network can support. For example, consider the increased number of…

The skills and capabilities needed to undergo digital transformation are in high demand as every company jockeys to gain a competitive advantage. To address the skills gap, some companies are prioritizing upskilling and reskilling. But to be effective, learning and development itself must undergo a transformation. According to Daniela Proust, global vice president and head…

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. Where to get abortion pills and how to use them If the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right, parts of the…

If the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right, parts of the country will be ready to plunge into a reproductive-rights dark age in which doctors are forbidden from providing any abortions, in some states even in cases of rape, incest, or a fetus…

Plants are the original carbon capture factories—and a new research program aims to make them better ones by using gene editing. The Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), a research group in Berkeley, California, founded by CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna, has announced a new program to use the revolutionary gene-editing tool on plants to boost their aptitude…

When David Howes thinks of his home city of Montreal, he thinks of the harmonious tones of carillon bells and the smell of bagels being cooked over wood fires. But when he stopped in at his local tourism office to ask where they recommend that visitors go to smell, taste, and listen to the city,…

Organizations struggle to find a rhythm in the new hybrid world. The shift from enabling hybrid work to optimizing it to deliver exceptional employee experiences is well underway. Join this session, designed for CIOs and supporting teams, for steps to improve the hybrid work experience for employees through an equitable, collaborative, and inclusive strategy. Recent…

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. Marseille’s battle against the surveillance state Across the world, video cameras have become an accepted feature of urban life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them, and London and New…

Heading toward Marseille’s central train station, Eda Nano points out what looks like a streetlamp on the Rue des Abeilles. Its long stand curves upward to a white dome shading a dark bulb. But this sleek piece of urban furniture is not a lamp. It’s a video camera, with a 360-degree view of the narrow street. …

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 China’s biggest online influencers fell from their thrones No one had foreseen just how fast three of China’s most powerful influencers would fall. On June 3, Austin Li, a 30-year-old live-streamer with…

No one had foreseen just how fast three of China’s most powerful influencers would fall. On June 3, Austin Li, a 30-year-old livestreamer with over 60 million followers on the Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Taobao, abruptly cut off a stream after a tank-shaped ice cream dessert appeared on the screen. While he later posted that it…

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. Chinese hackers exploited years-old software flaws to break into telecom giants The news: Hackers employed by the Chinese government have broken into numerous major telecommunications firms around the world in a cyber-espionage campaign…

Cutting carbon emissions from planes is going to be difficult—but not impossible. With enough funding, policy support, and alternative fuel, aviation can make enough progress to help the world reach global climate targets by 2050, according to a new report. Today, aviation makes up about 3% of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. Some airlines and industry groups…

Hackers employed by the Chinese government have broken into numerous major telecommunications firms around the world in a cyber-espionage campaign that has lasted at least two years, according to a new advisory from American security agencies. The hackers allegedly breached their targets by exploiting old and well-known critical vulnerabilities in popular networking hardware. Once they…

Cryptocurrency is fast gaining mainstream acceptance as consumers look for innovative ways to diversify their savings, protect against inflation, and save on transaction fees. Big-name brands are taking note: PayPal, Starbucks, AT&T, AMC Theatres, Microsoft, and Whole Foods are among a growing battalion of organizations that now accept payment in cryptocurrencies. In fact, nearly 16,000…

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. Meet the LGBTQ activists fighting to be themselves online in Malaysia Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman has been a public figure in Malaysia for well over a decade. Classically beautiful, she has built a following…

Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman has been a public figure in Malaysia for well over a decade. Classically beautiful, with long, dark hair and Marilyn Monroe-esque curves, she has built a following of hundreds of thousands on Instagram with a curated feed of immaculately arranged pictures, sales plugs, and inspirational quotes. Born in Selangor, an affluent state…

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. Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging Anyone who has more money than they know what to do with eventually tries to cure aging. Google founder…

Anyone who has more money than they know what to do with eventually tries to cure aging. Google founder Larry Page has tried it. Jeff Bezos has tried it. Tech billionaires Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel have tried it. Now the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has about as much money as all of them…

Third-party cookies might be going the way of the dinosaur, but organizations will still need data about their customers’ online behaviors to deliver the personalized experiences they expect. This means a shift in data strategy to focus on multiple types of first-party data, collected with customer consent. First-party data is data that customers agree to…

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. This startup wants to pack more energy into electric vehicle batteries Fully charged: Electric vehicles are becoming more popular, but they’re still constrained by how far they’re able to travel on a single…

While electric vehicles are rising in popularity, they are still limited in range—a Tesla Model 3 can go for about 350 miles before it needs to be recharged—and concerns about safety have plagued the lithium-ion batteries that dominate the market. In a quest to build batteries for electric vehicles that can take us farther safely,…

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. A new storage technique could vastly expand the number of livers available for transplant A patient who received a donated liver that had been stored for three days in a new type of…

A patient who received a donated liver that had been stored for three days in a new type of machine that mimics the human body is healthy one year on from surgery, according to a study in Nature Biotechnology. The technology could significantly increase the number of livers suitable for transplant, the authors claim, both…

The Supreme Court is shortly expected to issue its decision on a challenge to Roe v. Wade that will—if a leaked draft version of the opinion holds—end federal protection for abortion access across the US. If that happens, it will have far-reaching consequences for millions of people. One of those is that it could significantly…

On May 18, thousands of software developers in China woke up to find that their open-source code hosted on Gitee, a state-backed Chinese competitor to the international code repository platform GitHub, had been locked and hidden from public view. Later that day, Gitee released a statement explaining that the locked code was being manually reviewed,…

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 big new idea for making self-driving cars that can go anywhere Four years ago, Alex Kendall sat in a car on a small road in the British countryside and took his hands…

Four years ago, Alex Kendall sat in a car on a small road in the British countryside and took his hands off the wheel. The car, equipped with a few cheap cameras and a massive neural network, veered to the side. When it did, Kendall grabbed the wheel for a few seconds to correct it.…

A robotic shoulder that stretches, presses, and twists lab-grown human tendon tissue could pave the way for more successful tissue grafts. Though the field of tissue engineering is still mostly experimental, skin cells, cartilage, and even a windpipe grown from samples of human cells have been implanted in patients so far. But growing usable human…