The Download: a CRISPR patent battle, and the promise of tiny AI

September 26, 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. Two Nobel Prize winners want to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it’s been common for lawyers to try to…

Why Microsoft made a deal to help restart Three Mile Island

September 26, 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. Nuclear power is coming back to Three Mile Island. That nuclear power plant is typically associated with a very specific event. One of its reactors, Unit 2, suffered a partial meltdown in…

Want AI that flags hateful content? Build it.

September 25, 2024
Humane Intelligence, an organization focused on evaluating AI systems, is launching a competition that challenges developers to create a computer vision model that can track hateful image-based propaganda online. In partnership with Nordic counterterrorism group Revontulet, the bounty program opens September 26, is open to anyone who wants to compete, and promises $10,000 in prizes…