Technology

Southeast Asia seeks its place in space

December 12, 2025
It’s a scorching October day in Bangkok and I’m wandering through the exhibits at the Thai Space Expo, held in one of the city’s busiest shopping malls, when I do a double take. Amid the flashy space suits and model rockets on display, there’s a plain-looking package of Thai basil chicken. I’m told the same…

Expanded carrier screening: Is it worth it?

December 12, 2025
This week I’ve been thinking about babies. Healthy ones. Perfect ones. As you may have read last week, my colleague Antonio Regalado came face to face with a marketing campaign in the New York subway asking people to “have your best baby.” The company behind that campaign, Nucleus Genomics, says it offers customers a way to…

The Download: solar geoengineering’s future, and OpenAI is being sued

December 11, 2025
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. Solar geoengineering startups are getting serious Solar geoengineering aims to manipulate the climate by bouncing sunlight back into space. In theory, it could ease global warming. But as interest in the idea grows,…

Solar geoengineering startups are getting serious

December 11, 2025
Solar geoengineering aims to manipulate the climate by bouncing sunlight back into space. In theory, it could ease global warming. But as interest in the idea grows, so do concerns about potential consequences. A startup called Stardust Solutions recently raised a $60 million funding round, the largest known to date for a geoengineering startup. My…

Exclusive eBook: Aging Clocks & Understanding Why We Age

December 10, 2025
In this exclusive subscriber-only eBook, you’ll learn about a new method that scientists have uncovered to look at the ways our bodies are aging. by  Jessica Hamzelou October 14, 2025 Table of Contents: Related Stories: Access all subscriber-only eBooks:

The Download: a controversial proposal to solve climate change, and our future grids

December 10, 2025
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 one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet Stardust Solutions believes that it can solve climate change—for a price.  The Israel-based geoengineering startup has said it expects nations will soon pay it…

Securing VMware workloads in regulated industries

December 10, 2025
At a regional hospital, a cardiac patient’s lab results sit behind layers of encryption, accessible to his surgeon but shielded from those without strictly need-to-know status. Across the street at a credit union, a small business owner anxiously awaits the all-clear for a wire transfer, unaware that fraud detection systems have flagged it for further…

How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet

December 10, 2025
Stardust Solutions believes that it can solve climate change—for a price. The Israel-based geoengineering startup has said it expects  nations will soon pay it more than a billion dollars a year to launch specially equipped aircraft into the stratosphere. Once they’ve reached the necessary altitude, those planes will disperse particles engineered to reflect away enough…

Stand Up for Research, Innovation, and Education

December 9, 2025
Right now, MIT alumni and friends are voicing their support for: America’s scientific and technological leadership Merit-based admissions and affordable education Advances that increase US health, security, and prosperity Our community is standing up for MIT and its mission to serve the nation and the world. And we need you to join us at this…

The Download: a peek at AI’s future

December 9, 2025
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 State of AI: A vision of the world in 2030   There are huge gulfs of opinion when it comes to predicting the near-future impacts of generative AI. In one camp there are…