December 20, 2024

The Download: shaking up neural networks, and the rise of weight-loss drugs

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 next generation of neural networks could live in hardware Networks programmed directly into computer chip hardware can identify images faster, and use much less energy, than the traditional neural networks that underpin…

Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US

December 20, 2024
US doctors write billions of prescriptions each year. During 2024, though, one type of drug stood out—“wonder drugs” known as GLP-1 agonists. As of September, one of every 20 prescriptions written for adults was for one of these drugs, according to the health data company Truveta. The drugs, which include Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Victoza, are…

Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story

December 20, 2024
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. Later today, around 10 minutes after this email lands in your inbox, I’ll be holding my four-year-old daughter tight as she receives her booster dose of the MMR…

The next generation of neural networks could live in hardware

December 20, 2024
Networks programmed directly into computer chip hardware can identify images faster, and use much less energy, than the traditional neural networks that underpin most modern AI systems. That’s according to work presented at a leading machine learning conference in Vancouver last week. Neural networks, from GPT-4 to Stable Diffusion, are built by wiring together perceptrons,…

Why Scaling My Business Took a Mindset Shift — And Not More Hours

December 19, 2024
The pivotal transition entrepreneurs face as they scale their businesses: moving from being hands-on operators to empowering a strong leadership team. It emphasizes the importance of trust, delegation and building a capable executive team to achieve sustainable growth.