MIT Technology Review

We have a long way to go if we want virtual assistants to understand us.

Sense’s $299 gadget identifies individual devices in the home and exactly how much electricity they are using.

Elon Musk has made a bold bet that the car industry can move faster than anybody believed possible.

Stalled projects and underperforming plants have hampered China’s desalination plans.

Perovskite crystals could be engineered to far outperform silicon.

Digitization promises lower annual emissions but could increase them over plants’ lifetimes.

The available evidence suggests that face matching systems don’t work equally well for different races.

Want to make a smart coffee mug that signals “hot”? A customized printer can make the flexible circuits and supercapacitors you’ll need.

Extraterrestrial ventures are no longer limited to deep-pocketed tycoons.

Extraterrestrial ventures are no longer limited to deep-pocketed tycoons.

Same-day grocery delivery is a notoriously difficult business, but Instacart believes it’s found a way to make money.

As oil declines, huge wind farms are providing electricity to Northern Europe.

Questions about accuracy and transparency plague the bureau’s five-year-old face matching system.

Elon Musk is making bold claims about creating a new energy company, but the key ingredient to make it work remains elusive.

Our editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.

The consumer genetic-testing startup has amassed one of the world’s largest databases of DNA. Now it is sifting through it for clues to new drugs.

The world’s leading chip maker missed a huge opportunity in mobile devices. Now the rise of artificial intelligence gives the company another chance to prove itself.

An old-school manufacturer is building smart factories to remain globally competitive.

The startup’s cheaper way to make lithium-ion batteries could make it cost-effective to store energy from renewable sources.

Companies taking advantage of amazing new digital technologies dominate our list of 50 Smartest Companies. But despite impressive advances in artificial intelligence and automation, the economy remains in a troubling slowdown.

Funding for British research and innovation is only one reason.

Google’s augmented-reality platform, Tango, is being taken up by retailers who want to help you visualize what purchases would look like in your home.

We can now efficiently split water to make hydrogen, but a practical way to make fuels via artificial photosynthesis remains an elusive goal.

Jean Liu explains how her ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is besting Uber in China and why data is its biggest asset.

Even amid the venture capital boom of the past few years, entrepreneurs are finding it harder to build big, enduring companies. What does this mean for the future of innovation?

The executive chairman of Cisco has become a Silicon Valley statesman, whether he’s promoting the expansion of digital networks or calling for limits on government surveillance.

Schemes for giving everyone a guaranteed income are gaining momentum in Silicon Valley and throughout Western Europe. It’s a great idea, until you look closely.

Spark Therapeutics is turning gene-therapy experiments into real drugs.

Now that virtual reality has arrived (again), it’s here to stay—even if it’s not clear exactly how we will end up using it.

Political candidates opposed to free trade say Apple should make phones in the United States. Let’s see what that would look like.

Mobile innovation in China is flourishing, bringing new conveniences to daily life. Is that happening despite or because of the country’s strict controls on online expression?

Apple’s Tim Cook says he doesn’t want his company to be able to read customer data—but he probably can’t make that happen.

A pilot plant north of Vancouver is testing a process to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, hoping to prove it is economically viable.

The former chief digital officer of New York, Rachel Haot, explains why government and entrepreneurs need to work together.

Three of the four biggest sums raised on Kickstarter are for the smart-watch pioneer’s products. Why do people like it so much?

A new report from the International Energy Agency includes projections for reductions in energy use and carbon dioxide emissions that could be wildly optimistic.

While helping us get things done, virtual assistants will also give tech companies valuable new insights into our lives.

New advances in biotechnology could keep your flowers in bloom longer.

New approaches to generating crop varieties are making it hard for policymakers to know what to regulate.

Printing genomes on demand could mean custom-built organisms, difficult ethical questions, and profits for a handful of companies.

Printing genomes on demand could mean custom-built organisms, difficult ethical questions, and profits for a handful of companies.

Even as Germany adds lots of wind and solar power to the electric grid, the country’s carbon emissions are rising. Will the rest of the world learn from its lesson?

In Vietnam climate change has scrambled the seasonal monsoons, leaving farmers struggling.

Most have yet to incorporate climate change into their business plans, but a few are finding a way.

A startup in California has raised $500 million to chase the elusive dream of fusion power. Is this crazy, or is the company on to something?

By reinventing the neural network, the company hopes to help computers make the leap from processing words and symbols to comprehending the real world.

For the Dutch masters of water management, climate change is a boon.

If robots can learn to respect human social norms, they will become much better at navigating busy spaces like airports, malls, or city sidewalks.

The Supreme Court shut down his last venture, Aereo, after it riled TV broadcasters. Now Chet Kanojia wants to overturn how broadband is delivered.

Shrinking transistors have powered 50 years of advances in computing—but now other ways must be found to make computers more capable.