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. The Trump administration may cut funding for two major direct-air capture plants The US Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon-sucking factories that were originally set...

The US Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon-sucking factories that were originally set to receive more than $1 billion in government grants, according to a department-issued list of projects obtained by MIT Technology Review and circulating among federal agencies. One of the projects is the South Texas...

Kids have always played with and talked to stuffed animals. But now their toys can talk back, thanks to a wave of companies that are fitting children's playthings with chatbots and voice assistants. It's a trend that has particularly taken off in China: A recent report by the Shenzhen Toy Industry Association and JD.com predicts...

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. This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah's Great Salt Lake looks like something out of...

Last week OpenAI released Sora, a TikTok-style app that presents an endless feed of exclusively AI-generated videos, each up to 10 seconds long. The app allows you to create a cameo" of yourself-a hyperrealistic avatar that mimics your appearance and voice-and insert other peoples' cameos into your own videos (depending on what permissions they set)....

BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah - On a bright afternoon in August, the shore on the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world. The desert sun is blinding as it reflects off the white salt that gathers and crunches underfoot like...

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: 10 climate tech companies to watch Every year, the MIT Technology Review newsroom produces a list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. It's an exercise that...

HiNa Battery Technology is a trailblazer in developing and mass-producing batteries using sodium, a widely available element that can be extracted from sea salt. The startup's products-already powering small vehicles and energy storage plants in China-provide a valuable alternative to lithium-based batteries, made with materials mined and processed in just a few countries. Over the...

MIT Technology Review's reporters and editors faced a dilemma as we began to mull nominees for this year's list of Climate Tech Companies to Watch. How do you pick companies poised to succeed in a moment of such deep uncertainty, at a time when the new Trump administration is downplaying the dangers of climate change,...

Climate change will make it increasingly difficult to grow crops across many parts of the world. Pairwise is leveraging CRISPR gene editing to develop plants that can better withstand adverse conditions. Pairwise uses cutting-edge gene editing to produce crops that can withstand increasingly harsh climate conditions, helping to feed a growing population even as the...

Cement is one of the most used materials on the planet, and the industry emits billions of tons of greenhouse gasses annually. Cemvision wants to use waste materials and alternative fuels to help reduce climate pollution from cement production. Today, making cement requires crushing limestone and heating it to super high temperatures, usually by burning...

As Europe gradually phases out heavy-duty diesel trucks, Traton is gearing up production of its electric models. The company is also helping to install hundreds of public chargers to aid the growth of electric freight transport across Europe. Every day, trucks carry many millions of tons of cargo down roads and highways around the world....

More than 70% of the 200 million registered vehicles in India are two-wheelers. Ather Energy builds e-scooters for the rising middle class that could help commuters ditch highly-polluting, gas-guzzling models. While sales of Tesla or BYD cars drove electric vehicle adoption elsewhere in the world, two-wheelers have led the green energy transition in India. As...

Rare earth magnets are essential for clean energy, but only a tiny fraction of the metals inside them are ever recycled. Cyclic Materials aims to change that by opening one of the largest rare earth magnet recycling operations outside of China next year. By collecting a wide range of devices and recycling multiple metals, the...

People over Papers, a crowd-sourcing project that maps sightings of immigration agents, was taken offline yesterday by Padlet, the collaborative bulletin board platform on which it was built. It's just the latest ICE-tracking initiative to be pulled by tech platforms in the past few days. A Padlet customer service representative told Celeste, one of 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. Microsoft says AI can create zero day" threats in biology A team at Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to discover a zero day" vulnerability in the biosecurity systems used to prevent the...

A team at Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to discover a zero day" vulnerability in the biosecurity systems used to prevent the misuse of DNA. These screening systems are designed to stop people from purchasing genetic sequences that could be used to create deadly toxins or pathogens. But now researchers led by Microsoft's chief...

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. EV tax credits are dead in the US. Now what? Federal EV tax credits in the US officially came to an end yesterday. Those credits, expanded and extended in the 2022 Inflation Reduction...

On Wednesday, federal EV tax credits in the US officially came to an end. Those credits, expanded and extended in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, gave drivers up to $7,500 in credits toward the purchase of a new electric vehicle. They've been a major force in cutting the up-front costs of EVs, pushing more people...

In late 2023, a long-trusted virtualization staple became the biggest open question on the enterprise IT roadmap. Amid concerns of VMware licensing changes and steeper support costs, analysts noticed an exodus mentality. Forrester predicted that one in five large VMware customers would begin moving away from the platform in 2024. A subsequent Gartner community poll...

Every year, MIT Technology Review recognizes dozens of young researchers on our Innovators Under 35 list. We checked back in with recent honorees to seehow they're faring amid sweeping changesto science and technology policy within the US. Learn about the complex realities of what life has been like for those aiming to build their labs...

Talk of AI is inescapable. It's often the main topic of discussion at board and executive meetings, at corporate retreats, and in the media. A record 58% of S&P 500 companies mentioned AI in their second-quarter earnings calls, according to Goldman Sachs. But it's difficult to walk the talk. Just 5% of generative AI pilots...

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 is huge in India. Its models are steeped in caste bias. Caste bias is rampant in OpenAI's products, including ChatGPT, according to an MIT Technology Review investigation. Though CEO Sam Altman boasted...

When Dhiraj Singha began applying for postdoctoral sociology fellowships in Bengaluru, India, in March, he wanted to make sure the English in his application was pitch-perfect. So he turned to ChatGPT. He was surprised to see that in addition to smoothing out his language, it changed his identity-swapping out his surname for Sharma," which is...

In Seattle, a meteorologist analyzes dynamic atmospheric models to predict the next major storm system. In Stuttgart, an automotive engineer examines crash-test simulationsfor vehicle safetycertification. And in Singapore, a financial analystsimulates portfolio stress teststo hedge against globaleconomic shocks. Each of these professionals-and the consumers, commuters, and investors who depend on their insights- relies on a...

For all the excitement around GPUs-the workhorses of today's AI revolution-the central processing unit (CPU) remains the backbone of high-performance computing (HPC). CPUs still handle 80% to 90% of HPC workloads globally, powering everything from climate modeling to semiconductor design. Far from being eclipsed, they're evolving in ways that make them more competitive, flexible, 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 can see Earth's permafrost thawing from space Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, sewage has leached into the earth. The ground can feel squishy, sodden. This small...

On Thursday, I published a story about the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to track shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock's drone efforts, described the ideal scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting...

Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, a crack has formed in the middle of a house. Sewage has leached into the earth. Soil has eroded around buildings, leaving them perched atop precarious lumps of dirt. There are eternal puddles. And mold. The ground can feel squishy, sodden. This small town...

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. US investigators are using AI to detect child abuse images made by AI Generative AI has enabled the production of child sexual abuse images to skyrocket. Now the leading investigator of child exploitation...

The need to cut emissions and adapt to our warming world is growing more urgent. This year, we've seen temperatures reach record highs, as they have nearly every year for the last decade. Climate-fueled natural disasters are affecting communities around the world, costing billions of dollars. That's why, for the past two years, MIT Technology...

Generative AI has enabled the production of child sexual abuse images to skyrocket. Now the leading investigator of child exploitation in the US is experimenting with using AI to distinguish AI-generated images from material depicting real victims, according to a new government filing. The Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Crimes Center, which investigates child exploitation...

Shoplifters in the US could soon be chased down by drones The news: Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company has announced. Potential customers include businesses trying to curb shoplifting. How it works: If the security team at a store sees shoplifters leave,...

Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company announced today, with potential customers including businesses intent on curbing shoplifting. Companies in the US can now place Flock's drone docking stations on their premises. If the company has a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration...

When Kenneth Wehr started managing the Greenlandic-language version of Wikipedia four years ago, his first act was to delete almost everything. It had to go, he thought, if it had any chance of surviving. Wehr, who's 26, isn't from Greenland-he grew up in Germany-but he had become obsessed with the island, an autonomous Danish territory,...

Conversations around birth control usually focus on women, but Kevin Eisenfrats, one of the MIT Technology Review 2025 Innovators Under 35, is working to change that. His company, Contraline, is working towardtesting new birth control options for men. Speakers: Kevin Eisenfrats, co-founder and CEO of Contraline, andAmy Nordrum, executive editor, MIT Technology Review Recorded on...

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. It's surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot The news: The first large-scale computational analysis of the Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, which is dedicated to discussing AI relationships, found that...

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. At a press conference on Monday, President Trump announced that his administration was taking action to address the meteoric rise in autism." He suggested that childhood...

Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn't always easy. That's why we've created the AI Hype Index-a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Millions of us use chatbots every day, even though we don't really know how they work or how using them affects us. In...

It's a tale as old as time. Looking for help with her art project, she strikes up a conversation with her assistant. One thing leads to another, and suddenly she has a boyfriend she's introducing to her friends and family. The twist? Her new companion is an AI chatbot. The first large-scale computational analysis of...

Every year, MIT Technology Review selects one individual whose work we admire to recognize as Innovator of the Year. For 2025, we chose Sneha Goenka, who designed the computations behindthe world's fastest whole-genome sequencing method. Thanks to her work, physicians can now sequence a patient's genome and diagnose a genetic condition in less than eight...

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 models are using material from retracted scientific papers The news:Some AI chatbots rely on flawed research from retracted scientific papers to answer questions, according to recent studies. In one such study, researchers...

Some AI chatbots rely on flawed research from retracted scientific papers to answer questions, according to recent studies. The findings, confirmed by MIT Technology Review, raise questions about how reliable AI tools are at evaluating scientific research and could complicate efforts by countries and industries seeking to invest in AI tools for scientists. AI search...

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. This medical startup uses LLMs to run appointments and make diagnoses Patients at a small number of clinics in Southern California run by the medical startup Akido Labs are spending relatively little time,...

Eni, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, just agreed to buy $1 billion in electricity from a power plant being built by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The deal is the latest to illustrate just how much investment Commonwealth and other fusion companies are courting as they attempt to take fusion power from the...

Imagine this: You've been feeling unwell, so you call up your doctor's office to make an appointment. To your surprise, they schedule you in for the next day. At the appointment, you aren't rushed through describing your health concerns; instead, you have a full half hour to share your symptoms and worries and the exhaustive...

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. A pivotal meeting on vaccine guidance is underway-and former CDC leaders are alarmed This week has been an eventful one for America's public health agency. Two former leaders of the US Centers for...

Update Friday 6am ET: The advisory CDC panel recommended that children under the age of 4 do not receive the combined MMRV vaccine (for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) but instead receive two separate shots. This week has been an eventful one for America's public health agency. Two former leaders of the US Centers for...