China tightens export controls on rare earth minerals once again
As the race to make ever faster semiconductors intensifies, China has once again notched up export controls on rare earth minerals as well as related mining and refining technology.
The Download: China’s dying EV batteries, and why AI doomers are doubling down
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 figured out how to sell EVs. Now it has to bury their batteries. In the past decade, China has seen an EV boom, thanks in part to government support. Buying an electric…
Technology
The Download: mysteries of the immunome, and how to choose a climate tech pioneer
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 healthy am I? My immunome knows the score. Made up of 1.8 trillion cells and trillions more proteins, metabolites, mRNA, and other biomolecules, every person’s immunome is different, and it is constantly…
3 takeaways about climate tech right now
On Monday, we published our 2025 edition of Climate Tech Companies to Watch. This marks the third time we’ve put the list together, and it’s become one of my favorite projects to work on every year. In the journalism world, it’s easy to get caught up in the latest news, whether it’s a fundraising round,…
How healthy am I? My immunome knows the score.
The story is a collaboration between MIT Technology Review and Aventine, a non-profit research foundation that creates and supports content about how technology and science are changing the way we live. It’s not often you get a text about the robustness of your immune system, but that’s what popped up on my phone last spring.…
Ganiga will showcase its waste-sorting robots at TechCrunch Disrupt
Ganiga’s fleet of waste-sorting technology is meant to help companies track and reduce the waste they produce.
The Download: carbon removal factories’ funding cuts, and AI toys
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 Trump administration may cut funding for two major direct-air capture plants The US Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon-sucking factories that were originally set…
The US is set to cancel funding for two major direct-air capture plants
The Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon sucking factories that were originally set to receive more than $1 billion in government grants, according to a department issued list of projects obtained by MIT Technology Review and circulating among federal agencies. The projects include the South Texas Direct…
The Download: extracting lithium, and what we still don’t know about Sora
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. This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake looks like something out of…
The three big unanswered questions about Sora
Last week OpenAI released Sora, a TikTok-style app that presents an endless feed of exclusively AI-generated videos, each up to 10 seconds long. The app allows you to create a “cameo” of yourself—a hyperrealistic avatar that mimics your appearance and voice—and insert other peoples’ cameos into your own videos (depending on what permissions they set). …
This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake
BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah – On a bright afternoon in August, the shore on the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world. The desert sun is blinding as it reflects off the white salt that gathers and crunches underfoot like…