July 8, 2025

Why the US and Europe could lose the race for fusion energy

Fusion energy holds the potential to shift a geopolitical landscape that is currently configured around fossil fuels. Harnessing fusion will deliver the energy resilience, security, and abundance needed for all modern industrial and service sectors. But these benefits will be controlled by the nation that leads in both developing the complex supply chains required and…

Technology

The Download: talking driverless cars, and updated covid vaccines

September 15, 2023
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 driverless car company is using chatbots to make its vehicles smarter The news: Self-driving car startup Wayve can now interrogate its vehicles, asking them questions about their driving decisions—and getting answers back…

AI can help screen for cancer—but there’s a catch

September 15, 2023
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. I just had a birthday, and you know what that means—I’m newly eligible for a screening colonoscopy. (#milestones!). I’ve been thinking about cancer screening a lot recently, because…

This driverless car company is using chatbots to make its vehicles smarter

September 14, 2023
Self-driving car startup Wayve can now interrogate its vehicles, asking them questions about their driving decisions—and getting answers back. The idea is to use the same tech behind ChatGPT to help train driverless cars. The company combined its existing self-driving software with a large language model, creating a hybrid model it calls LINGO-1. LINGO-1 synchs…

AI just beat a human test for creativity. What does that even mean?

September 14, 2023
AI is getting better at passing tests designed to measure human creativity. In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports today, AI chatbots achieved higher average scores than humans in the Alternate Uses Task, a test commonly used to assess this ability.  This study will add fuel to an ongoing debate among AI researchers about…

Integrating sustainability into business strategy

September 14, 2023
Multiple factors are driving organizations to prioritize sustainability. Regulations are requiring organizations to meet emissions disclosure requirements. Investors are increasingly incorporating sustainability into decision-making processes. Consumers are demanding environmentally and ethically sustainable products. Employees, particularly millennials and Generation Z, want to work for organizations whose morals and ethics reflect their own. According to the Deloitte…

The Download: climate heroes, and a new way to track diseases

September 14, 2023
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. Meet the climate innovators of tomorrow A lot of bright minds are working on solutions to climate change. You can find some of them in the latest edition of our annual 35 Innovators…

Meet the climate innovators of tomorrow

September 14, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. A lot of bright minds are working on solutions to climate change. You can find some of them in the latest edition of our annual 35 Innovators Under 35 list.  We’ve highlighted…

Meet the 2023 Innovators Under 35

September 13, 2023
MIT Technology Review’s 2023 list of 35 Innovators Under 35 is now live. This annual list recognizes young entrepreneurs, researchers, and scientists working in some of the most promising areas of technology today. Explore the list and meet this year’s class of innovators, who are working across fields including artificial intelligence, climate and energy, biotechnology,…

Investing in holistic innovation

September 13, 2023
For many organizations, innovation is focused on a few strategically prioritized initiatives and often is incremental by design. Change and the surprises it brings can be a grudgingly accepted necessity. Savvy companies, however, acknowledge that innovation must also be part of a firm’s strategy and deployed through every department. The value of most companies in…