Solar geoengineering could start soon if it starts small
For half a century, climate researchers have considered the possibility of injecting small particles into the stratosphere to counteract some aspects of climate change. The idea is that by reflecting a small fraction of sunlight back to space, these particles could partially offset the energy imbalance caused by accumulating carbon dioxide, thereby reducing warming as…
The Download: how babies can teach AI, and new mRNA vaccines
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 baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language Human babies are far better at learning than even the very best large language models. To be able to…
The next generation of mRNA vaccines is on its way
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. Welcome back to The Checkup! Today I want to talk about … mRNA vaccines. I can hear the collective groan from here, but wait—hear me out!…
This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language
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Human babies are far better at learning than even the very best large language models. To be able to write in passable English, ChatGPT had to be trained on massive data sets that contain millions or even a trillion words. Children, on the other hand, have access to only a tiny fraction of that data,…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/01/1087527/baby-ai-language-camera/
The Download: recycling’s role, and tidying robots
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 recycling alone can’t power climate tech The potential to use old, discarded products to make something new sounds a little bit like magic. This is why, in some cases at least, recycling…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/01/1087497/the-download-recyclings-role-and-tidying-robots/
Why recycling alone can’t power climate tech
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This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The potential to use old, discarded products to make something new sounds a little bit like magic. I absolutely understand the draw, and in some cases, recycling is going to be a…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/01/1087488/why-recycling-alone-cant-power-climate-tech/
This robot can tidy a room without any help
Robots are good at certain tasks. They’re great at picking up and moving objects, for example, and they’re even getting better at cooking. But while robots may easily complete tasks like these in a laboratory, getting them to work in an unfamiliar environment where there’s little data available is a real challenge. Now, a new…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/01/1087445/this-robot-can-tidy-a-room-without-any-help/
The Download: shipping China’s EVs, and new greener magnets
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 the world’s biggest EV maker is getting into shipping Earlier this month, a massive ship picked up over 5,000 electric cars from two ports in northern and southern China. Five days later,…
Why BYD is breaking into shipping
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. For people who have been watching BYD for a long time, it won’t be surprising that the company has just ventured into a new field. The Chinese electric-vehicle maker has been particularly…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/31/1087429/why-byd-breaking-into-shipping/
How new magnets could accelerate climate action
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The motor in your vacuum cleaner and the one in your electric vehicle likely have at least one thing in common: they both rely on powerful permanent magnets to function. And the materials for those magnets could soon be in short supply. Permanent magnets can maintain a magnetic field on their own without an electric…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/31/1087413/magnets-climate-action/
Why the world’s biggest EV maker is getting into shipping
Earlier this month, a massive ship picked up over 5,000 electric cars from two ports in northern and southern China. Five days later, it passed through Singapore, and it is now headed for India. However, its final destination is in Europe, where most of the cars will be sold. The ship’s name is BYD Explorer…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/30/1087393/byd-shipping-electric-cars-china/
The Download: how to combat deepfake porn, and Neuralink’s first implant
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. Three ways we can fight deepfake porn Last week, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift, one of the world’s biggest pop stars, went viral online. Millions of people viewed nonconsensual deepfake porn of…
Dear Taylor Swift, we’re sorry about those explicit deepfakes
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Hi, Taylor. I can only imagine how you must be feeling after sexually explicit deepfake videos of you went viral on X. Disgusted. Distressed, perhaps. Humiliated, even. I’m really sorry this is…
Three ways we can fight deepfake porn
Last week, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift, one of the world’s biggest pop stars, went viral online. Millions of people viewed nonconsensual deepfake porn of Swift on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. X has since taken the drastic step of blocking all searches for Taylor Swift to try to get…
Actionable insights enable smarter business buying
For decades, procurement was seen as a back-office function focused on cost-cutting and supplier management. But that view is changing as supply chain disruptions and fluctuating consumer behavior ripple across the economy. Savvy leaders now understand procurement’s potential to deliver unprecedented levels of efficiency, insights, and strategic capability across the business. However, tapping into procurement’s…
The Download: AI job panic, and concussion-preventing mouthguards
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. People are worried that AI will take everyone’s jobs. We’ve been here before. It was 1938, and the pain of the Great Depression was still very real. Unemployment in the US was around…
People are worried that AI will take everyone’s jobs. We’ve been here before.
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MIT Technology Review is celebrating our 125th anniversary with an online series that draws lessons for the future from our past coverage of technology. It was 1938, and the pain of the Great Depression was still very real. Unemployment in the US was around 20%. Everyone was worried about jobs. In 1930, the prominent British…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/27/1087041/technological-unemployment-elon-musk-jobs-ai/
The Download: testing wastewater for measles, and the cost of nature
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 wastewater could offer an early warning system for measles Measles is back with a vengeance. In the UK, where only 85% of school-age children have received two doses of the MMR vaccine,…
How wastewater could offer an early warning system for measles
Measles is back with a vengeance. In the UK, where only 85% of school-age children have received two doses of the MMR vaccine, as many as 300 people have contracted the disease since October. And in the US, an outbreak has infected nine people in Philadelphia since last month. One case has been reported in…
The Download: US mining tax credits, and Ring’s police data U-turn
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 one mine could unlock billions in EV subsidies On a pine farm north of the tiny town of Tamarack, Minnesota, Talon Metals has uncovered one of America’s densest nickel deposits—and now it…