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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. Why it’s so hard to use AI to diagnose cancer Finding and diagnosing cancer is all about spotting patterns. Radiologists use x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging to illuminate tumors, and pathologists examine tissue…

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Peering into the body to find and diagnose cancer is all about spotting patterns. Radiologists use x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging to illuminate tumors, and pathologists examine tissue from kidneys, livers,…

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 second wave of AI coding is here Ask people building generative AI what generative AI is good for right now—what they’re really fired up about—and many will tell you: coding. Everyone from…

Ask people building generative AI what generative AI is good for right now—what they’re really fired up about—and many will tell you: coding.  “That’s something that’s been very exciting for developers,” Jared Kaplan, chief scientist at Anthropic, told MIT Technology Review this month: “It’s really understanding what’s wrong with code, debugging it.” Copilot, a tool…

When you think of AI’s contributions to science, you probably think of AlphaFold, the Google DeepMind protein-folding program that earned its creator a Nobel Prize last year. Now OpenAI says it’s getting into the science game too—with a model for engineering proteins. The company says it has developed a language model that dreams up proteins…

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. We need to protect the protocol that runs Bluesky —Eli Pariser & Deepti Doshi Last week, when Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta would be ending third-party fact-checking, it was a shocking pivot, but not…

Last week, when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be ending third-party fact-checking, it was a shocking pivot, but not exactly surprising. It’s just the latest example of a billionaire flip-flop affecting our social lives on the internet.  After January 6, 2021, Zuckerberg bragged to Congress about Facebook’s “industry-leading fact-checking program” and banned Donald Trump…

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. Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a piece about IVF embryos. The goal of in vitro fertilization is to create babies via a bit of…

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. What to expect from Neuralink in 2025 In November, a young man named Noland Arbaugh announced he’d be livestreaming from his home for three days straight. His broadcast was in some ways typical…

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. Lately, the vibes have been good for nuclear power. Public support is building, and public and private funding have made the technology more economical in key markets. There’s also a swell of…

MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. In November, a young man named Noland Arbaugh announced he’d be livestreaming from his home for three days straight. His broadcast was in some ways typical fare:…

Meta has released a new AI model that can translate speech from 101 different languages. It represents a step toward real-time, simultaneous interpretation, where words are translated as soon as they come out of someone’s mouth.  Typically, translation models for speech use a multistep approach. First they translate speech into text. Then they translate that…

In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital innovation, staying adaptable isn’t just a strategy—it’s a survival skill. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face,” says Luis Niño, digital manager for technology ventures and innovation at Chevron, quoting Mike Tyson. Drawing from a career that spans IT, HR, and infrastructure operations across…

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. China wants to restore the sea with high-tech marine ranches A short ferry ride from the port city of Yantai, on the northeast coast of China, sits Genghai No. 1, a 12,000-metric-ton ring…

Imagine the bustling floors of tomorrow’s manufacturing plant: Robots, well-versed in multiple disciplines through adaptive AI education, work seamlessly and safely alongside human counterparts. These robots can transition effortlessly between tasks—from assembling intricate electronic components to handling complex machinery assembly. Each robot’s unique education enables it to predict maintenance needs, optimize energy consumption, and innovate…

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. What’s next for nuclear power While nuclear reactors have been generating power around the world for over 70 years, the current moment is one of potentially radical transformation for the technology. As electricity…

MIT Technology Review’s What’s Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. While nuclear reactors have been generating power around the world for over 70 years, the current moment is one of potentially radical transformation for the technology. As…

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. In December, our small but mighty AI reporting team was asked by our editors to make a prediction: What’s coming next for AI?  In 2024, AI contributed both to Nobel Prize–winning…

This article first appeared in The Debrief, MIT Technology Review’s weekly newsletter from our editor in chief Mat Honan. To receive it in your inbox every Friday,  sign up here. On Tuesday last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a blog post and video titled “More Speech and Fewer Mistakes.”  Zuckerberg—whose previous self-acknowledged mistakes include the Cambridge Analytica…

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. Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos Millions of embryos created through IVF sit frozen in time, stored in cryopreservation tanks around the world. The number is only growing thanks to…

Lisa Holligan already had two children when she decided to try for another baby. Her first two pregnancies had come easily. But for some unknown reason, the third didn’t. Holligan and her husband experienced miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage. Like many other people struggling to conceive, Holligan turned to in vitro fertilization, or IVF. The…

Agents are the hottest thing in tech right now. Top firms from Google DeepMind to OpenAI to Anthropic are racing to augment large language models with the ability to carry out tasks by themselves. Known as agentic AI in industry jargon, such systems have fast become the new target of Silicon Valley buzz. Everyone from…

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 the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic This week marks a strange anniversary—it’s five years since most of us first heard about a virus causing a mysterious “pneumonia.” A…

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 marks a strange anniversary—it’s five years since most of us first heard about a virus causing a mysterious “pneumonia.” A virus that we later learned could…