A polyester-dissolving process could make modern clothing recyclable
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Less than 1% of clothing is recycled, and most of the rest ends up dumped in a landfill or burned. A team of researchers hopes to change that with a new process that breaks down mixed-fiber clothing into reusable, recyclable parts without any sorting or separation in advance. “We need a better way to recycle…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/03/1094668/polyester-clothing-recycling/
The Download: listening robots, and Google’s AI emissions
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 way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful Most AI-powered robots today use cameras to understand their surroundings and learn new tasks, but it’s becoming easier to train…
A way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful
Most AI-powered robots today use cameras to understand their surroundings and learn new tasks, but it’s becoming easier to train robots with sound too, helping them adapt to tasks and environments where visibility is limited. Though sight is important, for some of our daily tasks, sound is actually more helpful, like listening to onions sizzling…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/03/1094644/robots-learn-by-listening/
The Download: mind-controlled prosthetics, and the price of AI training data
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 can move this bionic leg just by thinking about it What’s new: When someone loses part of a leg, a prosthetic can make it easier to get around. But most prosthetics are…
AI companies are finally being forced to cough up for training data
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The generative AI boom is built on scale. The more training data, the more powerful the model. But there’s a problem. AI companies have pillaged the internet for training data, and…
People can move this bionic leg just by thinking about it
When someone loses part of a leg, a prosthetic can make it easier to get around. But most prosthetics are static, cumbersome, and hard to move. A new neural interface connects a bionic limb to nerve endings in the thigh, allowing the limb to be controlled by the brain. The new device, which is described…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/01/1094459/bionic-leg-neural-prosthetic/
The Download: fish-safe hydropower, and fixing space debris
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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 fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower…
How fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid
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Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower is helping clean up our electrical grid, it’s not always a positive force for fish. Dams that create reservoirs on rivers can change habitats. And for some species, especially those that migrate long…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/01/1094435/fish-safe-hydropower/
The Download: AI video games’ research potential, and US government website redesigns
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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 AI video games can help reveal the mysteries of the human mind Video gaming companies are applying large language models to generate new game characters with detailed backstories—characters that could engage with…
How AI video games can help reveal the mysteries of the human mind
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. This week I’ve been thinking about thought. It was all brought on by reading my colleague Niall Firth’s recent cover story about the use of artificial intelligence in…
The Download: the future of music AI, and climate tech funding
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. Training AI music models is about to get very expensive AI music is suddenly in a make-or-break moment. On June 24, Suno and Udio, two startups that let you generate complete songs from…
These climate tech companies just got $60 million
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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. Some people track sports scores or their favorite artists’ tour set lists. Meanwhile, I’m just waiting to hear which climate tech startups are getting big funding awards from government agencies. It’s basically…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/27/1094340/climate-tech-funding/
Training AI music models is about to get very expensive
AI music is suddenly in a make-or-break moment. On June 24, Suno and Udio, two leading AI music startups that make tools to generate complete songs from a prompt in seconds, were sued by major record labels alleging widespread copyright infringement. Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group claim the companies made use…
The Download: Introducing the Play issue
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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. Supershoes are reshaping distance running Since 2016, when Nike introduced the Vaporfly, a paradigm-shifting shoe that helped athletes run more efficiently (and therefore faster), the elite running world has muddled through a period…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1094321/the-download-introducing-play-issue/
Why China’s dominance in commercial drones has become a global security matter
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. Whether you’ve flown a drone before or not, you’ve probably heard of DJI, or at least seen its logo. With more than a 90% share of the global consumer market, this Shenzhen-based…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1094249/china-commercial-drone-dji-security/
Job title of the future: Space debris engineer
Stijn Lemmens has a cleanup job like few others. A senior space debris mitigation analyst at the European Space Agency (ESA), Lemmens works on counteracting space pollution by collaborating with spacecraft designers and the wider industry to create missions less likely to clutter the orbital environment. Although significant attention has been devoted to launching spacecraft…
Puzzle Corner history
When Allan Gottlieb ’67 began editing the Puzzle Corner column in 1966, he was a junior at MIT, majoring in math. Little did he know then that he was undertaking a project that would last for nearly six decades. If you missed our previous celebrations of Allan, read our 2015 profile, “Puzzle Corner’s Keeper,” and…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1094310/puzzle-corner-history/
Stress test
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Elizabeth Sajdel-Sulkowska was just three months old when Nazi soldiers set fire to her family’s home in the midst of the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944, as the Polish resistance attempted to seize control of the city from the Germans. When that revolt ultimately failed, the city was razed, and there was no time to…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/25/1093072/stress-test-2/
Driving sustainable water management
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From semiconductor manufacturing to mining, water is an essential commodity for industry. It is also a precious and constrained resource. According to the UN, more than 2.3 billion people faced water stress in 2022. Drought has cost the United States $249 billion in economic losses since 1980. Climate change is expected to worsen water problems…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/25/1094068/driving-sustainable-water-management/
The Download: paradigm-shifting supershoes, and AI-powered NPCs
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. Supershoes are reshaping distance running Since 2016, when Nike introduced the Vaporfly, a paradigm-shifting shoe that helped athletes run more efficiently (and therefore faster), the elite running world has muddled through a period…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/25/1094222/the-download-supershoes-ai-npcs/