October 17, 2024

AI could help people find common ground during deliberations

Reaching a consensus in a democracy is difficult because people hold such different ideological, political, and social views.  Perhaps an AI tool could help. Researchers from Google DeepMind trained a system of large language models (LLMs) to operate as a “caucus mediator,” generating summaries that outline a group’s areas of agreement on complex but important…

Technology

The Download: Roblox’s generative AI, and tech for humanity

September 9, 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. Roblox is launching a generative AI that builds 3D environments in a snap What’s new: Roblox has announced plans to roll out a generative AI tool that will let creators make whole 3D…

For Subscribers: Celebrate 125 years of MIT Technology Review

September 6, 2024
Celebrate 125 years of MIT Technology Review! This is a special year for MIT Technology Review, and we could not have reached this milestone without the support of our readers. With the release of our 125th anniversary issue, we are extending our gratitude of your loyalty by offering subscribers a chance to win a complimentary…

The Download: mining metals with plants, and our dystopian future

September 6, 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. How plants could mine metals from the soil Nickel may not grow on trees—but there’s a chance it could someday be mined using plants. Many plants naturally soak up metal and concentrate it…

How plants could mine metals from the soil

September 6, 2024
Nickel may not grow on trees—but there’s a chance it could someday be mined using plants. Many plant species naturally soak up metal and concentrate it in their tissues, and new funding will support research on how to use that trait for plant-based mining, or phytomining.  Seven phytomining projects just received $9.9 million in funding…

Integrating security from code to cloud

September 5, 2024
The Human Genome Project, SpaceX’s rocket technology, and Tesla’s Autopilot system may seem worlds apart in form and function, but they all share a common characteristic: the use of open-source software (OSS) to drive innovation. Offering publicly accessible code that can be viewed, modified, and distributed freely, OSS expedites developer productivity and creates a collaborative…

The Download: greenhouse gases, and how AI could affect inequality

September 5, 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. A brief guide to the greenhouse gases driving climate change Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is used in high-voltage equipment on the grid. It’s also, somewhat inconveniently, a monster greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases are those…

A brief guide to the greenhouse gases driving climate change

September 5, 2024
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. For the last week or so, I’ve been obsessed with a gas that I’d never given much thought to before. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is used in high-voltage equipment on the grid. It’s…

The Download: climate tipping point alarms, and AI’s vision of the 3028 Olympics

September 4, 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. The UK is building an alarm system for climate tipping points The news: The UK’s new moonshot research agency just launched an £81 million ($106 million) program to develop early warning systems to…

The UK is building an alarm system for climate tipping points

September 4, 2024
The UK’s new moonshot research agency just launched an £81 million ($106 million) program to develop early warning systems to sound the alarm if Earth gets perilously close to crossing climate tipping points. A climate tipping point is a threshold beyond which certain ecosystems or planetary processes begin to shift from one stable state to…