February 11, 2025

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

We often take the internet for granted. It’s an ocean of information at our fingertips—and it simply works. But this system relies on swarms of “crawlers”—bots that roam the web, visit millions of websites every day, and report what they see. This is how Google powers its search engines, how Amazon sets competitive prices, and…

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The Download: direct-air-capture plants, and measuring body fat

October 11, 2024
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. These are the best ways to measure your body fat —Jessica Hamzelou We all know that being overweight is not great for your health—it’s linked to metabolic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular problems.…

Job title of the future: Digital forest ranger

October 11, 2024
When Martin Roth began his career as a forest ranger in the 1980s, his job was to care for the forest in a way that would ensure continuity for decades, even centuries. Now, with climate change, it’s more about planning for an uncertain future. “It’s turned into disaster management,” says Roth, for whom the 3,000…

These are the best ways to measure your body fat

October 11, 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. This week, an office conversation turned to body weight. We all know that being overweight is not great for your health—it’s linked to metabolic diseases like diabetes and…