October 8, 2025

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…

Trump is pushing leucovorin as a new treatment for autism. What is it?

September 24, 2025
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. At a press conference on Monday, President Trump announced that his administration was taking action to address “the meteoric rise in autism.” He suggested that childhood…

The AI Hype Index: Cracking the chatbot code

September 24, 2025
Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Millions of us use chatbots every day, even though we don’t really know how they work or how using them affects us. In…

How Al Gore used AI to track 660M polluters

September 24, 2025
A new tool from Climate Trace allows people to track the path of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which causes as many as 10 million deaths annually.

It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot

September 24, 2025
It’s a tale as old as time. Looking for help with her art project, she strikes up a conversation with her assistant. One thing leads to another, and suddenly she has a boyfriend she’s introducing to her friends and family. The twist? Her new companion is an AI chatbot.  The first large-scale computational analysis of…