The Download: creating the perfect baby, and carbon removal’s lofty promises

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 race to make the perfect baby is creating an ethical mess

An emerging field of science is seeking to use cell analysis to predict what kind of a person an embryo might eventually become.

Some parents turn to these tests to avoid passing on devastating genetic disorders that run in their families. A much smaller group, driven by dreams of Ivy League diplomas or attractive, well-behaved offspring, are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to optimize for intelligence, appearance, and personality.

But customers of the companies emerging to provide it to the public may not be getting what they’re paying for. Read the full story.

—Julia Black

This story is from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

The problem with Big Tech’s favorite carbon removal tech

Sucking carbon pollution out of the atmosphere is becoming a big business—companies are paying top dollar for technologies that can cancel out their own emissions.

Tech giants like Microsoft are betting big on one technology: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). But there are a few potential problems with BECCS, as my colleague James Temple laid out in a new story. And some of the concerns echo similar problems with other climate technologies we cover, like carbon offsets and alternative jet fuels. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Fervo Energy and its advanced geothermal power plants

Some places on Earth hit the geological jackpot for generating electricity. In those spots, three conditions naturally align: high temperatures, plentiful water, and rock that’s permeable enough for fluids to circulate through.

Enhanced geothermal systems aim to replicate those conditions in far more places—producing a steady supply of renewable energy wherever they’re deployed. Fervo Energy uses fracking techniques to create geothermal reservoirs capable of delivering enough electricity to power massive data centers and hundreds of thousands of homes. Read the full story.

—Celina Zhao

Fervo Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Meta removed a Facebook group that shared ICE agent sightings
It’s the latest tech company to acquiesce to US government pressure. (NYT $)
+ Meta says the group violates its policies against “coordinated harm.” (NBC News)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Loss-making AI startups are still soaring in value
If it looks like a bubble, and sounds like a bubble… (FT $)
+ AI-backed energy firms have also ballooned in value. (WSJ $)
+ Scaling isn’t always the answer, y’know. (Wired $)

3 Facial recognition is failing people with facial differences
Yet it’s being embedded in everything from phone unlocking systems to public services. (Wired $)

4 Tech billionaires are backing a startup that treats tumors with sound waves
It’s being touted as a less-invasive alternative to chemotherapy. (Bloomberg $)

5 Scam texts are a billion-dollar criminal enterprise
And we’re being inundated with more of them than ever before. (WSJ $)
+ The people using humor to troll their spam texts. (MIT Technology Review)

6 South Korea has rolled back an AI textbook program for schools
Turns out it was riddled with inaccuracies and added to teachers’ workloads. (Rest of World)
+ The country is considering allowing Google and Apple to make hi-res maps. (TechCrunch)

7 YouTube is setting its sights on sports
Which makes sense, given that it’s conquered pretty much all the other TV genres. (Hollywood Reporter $)

8 Job hunting in the age of AI is bleak
Even the best candidates are being overlooked. (The Atlantic $)
+ The job market is a mess too. (Slate $)

9 A new channel broadcasts a livestream direct from the ISS
If you’ve ever wanted to be an astronaut, watching this is the next best thing. (The Guardian)

10 The end of support for Windows 10 is an e-waste disaster
Up to 400 million machines could be heading to the scrap heap. (404 Media)
+ The US government has cut funding for a battery-metals recycler. (Bloomberg $)
+ AI will add to the e-waste problem. Here’s what we can do about it. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“We are not the elected moral police of the world.”

—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reacts to the outcry sparked by his company’s decision to relax its rules to let adults hold erotic conversations with ChatGPT, CNBC reports.

One more thing

Inside India’s scramble for AI independence

Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI.

That gap has opened largely because India has chronically underinvested in R&D, institutions, and invention. Meanwhile, since no one native language is spoken by the majority of the population, training language models is far more complicated than it is elsewhere.

So when the open-source foundation model DeepSeek-R1 suddenly outperformed many global peers, it struck a nerve. This launch by a Chinese startup prompted Indian policymakers to confront just how far behind the country was in AI infrastructure—and how urgently it needed to respond. Read the full story.

—Shadma Shaikh

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ This haunting shot of a hyena is this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award winner (thanks Laurel!)
+ Madonna sure has a lot of famous friends.
+  This little giraffe is so sleepy
+ Late ‘80s dance heads, rise up!

The Download: Big Tech’s carbon removals plans, and the next wave of nuclear reactors

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.

Big Tech’s big bet on a controversial carbon removal tactic

Microsoft, JP MorganChase, and a tech company consortium that includes Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and Stripe have all recently struck multimillion-dollar deals to pay paper mill owners to capture at least hundreds of thousands of tons of this greenhouse gas by installing carbon scrubbing equipment in their facilities.

The captured carbon dioxide will then be piped down into saline aquifers more than a mile underground, where it should be sequestered permanently.

Big Tech is suddenly betting big on this form of carbon removal, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. But experts have raised a number of concerns. Read the full story.

—James Temple

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Kairos Power and its next-generation nuclear reactors

Like many new nuclear startups, Kairos promises a path to reliable, 24/7 decarbonized power. Unlike most, it already has prototypes under construction and permits for several reactors.

The company uses molten salt to cool its reactions and transfer heat, rather than the high-pressure water that’s used in existing fission reactors. It hopes its technology will enable commercial reactors that are cost-competitive with natural gas plants and boast safer operation than conventional reactors, even in the event of complete power loss. Read the full story.

—Mark Harris

Kairos Power is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos

Millions of embryos created through IVF sit frozen in time, stored in tanks around the world. The number is only growing thanks to advances in technology, the rising popularity of IVF, and improvements in its success rates.

At a basic level, an embryo is simply a tiny ball of a hundred or so cells. But unlike other types of body tissue, it holds the potential for life. Many argue that this endows embryos with a special moral status, one that requires special protections.

The problem is that no one can really agree on what that status is. While these embryos persist in suspended animation, patients, clinicians, embryologists, and legislators must grapple with the essential question of what we should do with them. What do these embryos mean to us? Who should be responsible for them?

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 ChatGPT will start talking dirty to verified adults 
The chatbot is getting a new erotica function as part of OpenAI’s bid to “safely relax” its restrictions. (The Verge)
+ The company has created its own wellness council to inform its decisions. (Ars Technica)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)

2 A secret surveillance empire tracked thousands of people across the world
The European-led First Wap has operated covertly for more than two decades. (Mother Jones)
+ The group ran at least 10 scam compounds across the country. (Wired $)
+ Inside a romance scam compound—and how people get tricked into being there. (MIT Technology Review)

3 YouTube ran Israel-funded ads claiming there was food in famine-struck Gaza
And allowed them to remain online even after complaints from multiple government authorities. (WP $)
+ Companies have denied they’re involved in rebuilding Gaza. (Wired $)

4 Instagram wants to become a more teen-friendly space
It’s bringing in new age-gating measures inspired by the PG-13 movie rating. (NBC News)
+ The policy will also extend to its chatbots. (NYT $)

5 A massive Cambodia-based pig butchering scheme has been foiled
It’s the biggest forfeiture action the US Department of Justice has ever pursued. (CNBC)

6 Waymo’s driverless taxis are coming to London
From next year, it says pedestrians will be able to hail its robotaxis. (WSJ $)

7 Black patients were failed by a race-based medical calculation
It delayed their access to life-saving kidney transplants. (The Markup)
+ A woman in the US is the third person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney. (MIT Technology Review)

8 AI flood forecasting is helping farmers across the world
Nonprofits are using it to deliver early aid. (Rest of World)

9 A man with paralysis can feel objects through another person’s hand
Thanks to a new brain implant. (New Scientist $)
+ Meet the other companies developing brain-computer interfaces. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Tech internships are alive and well 
Despite all the AI angst. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“You made ChatGPT “pretty restrictive”? Really. Is that why it has been recommending kids harm and kill themselves?”

—Josh Hawley, US Senator for Missouri, reacts to the news OpenAI is planning to loosen its restrictions in a post on X.

One more thing

Why we should thank pigeons for our AI breakthroughs

People looking for precursors to artificial intelligence often point to science fiction by authors like Isaac Asimov or thought experiments like the Turing test. But an equally important, if surprising and less appreciated, forerunner is American psychologist B.F. Skinner’s research with pigeons in the middle of the 20th century.

Skinner believed that association—learning, through trial and error, to link an action with a punishment or reward—was the building block of every behavior, not just in pigeons but in all living organisms, including human beings.

His “behaviorist” theories fell out of favor with psychologists and animal researchers in the 1960s but were taken up by computer scientists who eventually provided the foundation for many of the artificial-intelligence tools from leading firms like Google and OpenAI. Read the full story.

—Ben Crair

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I love the sound of Grateful Fishing TV—starring two fishermen who just love hanging out and frying some fish. Truly wholesome stuff (thanks to Chino Moreno via Perfectly Imperfect for the recommendation!)
+ Rest in power D’Angelo, your timeless tunes will live on.
+ If you’re into stress-watches, this list is full of anxiety-inducing classics.
+ One of the world’s longest dinosaur superhighways has been uncovered in a sleepy part of England.

The Download: aging clocks, and repairing the internet

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 aging clocks can help us understand why we age—and if we can reverse it

Wrinkles and gray hairs aside, it can be difficult to know how well—or poorly—someone’s body is truly aging. A person who develops age-related diseases earlier in life, or has other biological changes associated with aging, might be considered “biologically older” than a similar-age person who doesn’t have those changes. Some 80-year-olds will be weak and frail, while others are fit and active.

Over the past decade, scientists have been uncovering new methods of looking at the hidden ways our bodies are aging. And what they’ve found is changing our understanding of aging itself. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

Can we repair the internet?

From addictive algorithms to exploitative apps, data mining to misinformation, the internet today can be a hazardous place. New books by three influential figures—the intellect behind “net neutrality,” a former Meta executive, and the web’s own inventor—propose radical approaches to fixing it. But are these luminaries the right people for the job? Read the full story.

—Nathan Smith

Both these stories are from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Cyclic Materials and its rare earth recycling tech

Rare earth magnets are essential for clean energy, but only a tiny fraction of the metals inside them are ever recycled. Cyclic Materials aims to change that by opening one of the largest rare earth magnet recycling operations outside of China next year. 

By collecting a wide range of devices and recycling multiple metals, the company seeks to overcome the economic challenges that have long held back such efforts. Read the full story.

—Maddie Stone

Cyclic Materials is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 California’s AI safety bill has been signed into law   
It holds AI companies legally accountable if their chatbots fail to protect users. (TechCrunch)
+ It also requires chatbots to remind young users that they’re not human. (The Verge)
+ Gavin Newsom also green-lit measures for social media warning labels. (The Hill)

2 Satellites are leaking unencrypted data
Including civilian text messages, plus military and law enforcement communications. (Wired $)
+ It’s getting mighty crowded up there too. (Space)

3 Defense startups are reviving manufacturing in quiet US towns
The weapons of the future are being built in Delaware, Michigan and Ohio. (NYT $)
+ Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Europe is worried about becoming an AI “colony”
The bloc is too dependent on US tech, experts fear. (FT $)
+ The US is locked in a bind with China. (Rest of World)

5 Vast chunks of human knowledge are missing from the web 
And AI is poised to make the problem even worse. (Aeon)
+ How AI and Wikipedia have sent vulnerable languages into a doom spiral. (MIT Technology Review)

6 How mega batteries are unlocking an energy revolution
Vast battery units are helping to shore up grids and extend the use of clean power. (FT $)
+ This startup wants to use the Earth as a massive battery. (MIT Technology Review)

7 A new chemical detection technique reveals what’s making wildlife ill
It’s a small step toward a healthier future for all animals—including humans. (Knowable Magazine)
+ We’re inhaling, eating, and drinking toxic chemicals. Now we need to figure out how they’re affecting us. (MIT Technology Review)

8 The world is growing more food crops than ever before
But hunger still hasn’t been eradicated. (Vox)
+ Africa fights rising hunger by looking to foods of the past. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Google is starting to hide sponsored search results
Only after you’ve seen them first. (The Verge)
+ Is Google playing catchup on search with OpenAI? (MIT Technology Review)

10 Indonesia’s film industry is embracing AI
To the detriment of artists and storyboarders. (Rest of World)

Quote of the day

“It is attempting to solve a problem that wasn’t a problem before AI showed up, or before big tech showed up.”

—Greg Loudon, a certified beer judge and brewery sales manager, tells 404 Media why he’s so unimpressed by a prominent competition using AI to judge the quality of beer.

One more thing

The lucky break behind the first CRISPR treatment

The world’s first commercial gene-editing treatment is set to start changing the lives of people with sickle-cell disease. It’s called Casgevy, and it was approved in November 2022 in the UK.

The treatment, which will be sold in the US by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, employs CRISPR, which can be easily programmed by scientists to cut DNA at precise locations they choose.

But where do you aim CRISPR, and how did the researchers know what DNA to change? That’s the lesser-known story of the sickle-cell breakthrough. Read more about it.

—Antonio Regalado

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Why you should consider adopting a “coffee name.”
+ Where does your favorite Star Wars character rank in this ultimate list? (Number one is correct.)
+ Steve McQueen, you will always be cool.
+ The compelling argument for adopting an ethical diet.

The Download: planet hunting, and India’s e-scooters

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.

An Earthling’s guide to planet hunting

The pendant on Rebecca Jensen-Clem’s necklace is composed of 36 silver hexagons entwined in a honeycomb mosaic. At the Keck Observatory, in Hawaii, just as many segments make up a mirror that spans 33 feet, reflecting images of uncharted worlds for her to study.

Jensen-Clem, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, works with the Keck Observatory to try to detect new planets without leaving our own. It’s a pursuit that faces a vast array of obstacles, for example wind, and fluctuations in atmospheric density and temperature. 

At her lab among the redwoods, Jensen-Clem and her students experiment with new technologies and software to help overcome the challenges, and see into space more clearly. Read more about her and her work. 

—Jenna Ahart

This story is from the forthcoming print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about the body. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up now to receive issues as soon as they land.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Ather Energy and its premium e-scooters

While sales of Tesla or BYD cars drove electric vehicle adoption elsewhere in the world, two-wheelers have led the green energy transition in India.

As one of the earliest “pure play” e-scooter makers, Ather Energy has helped drive micromobility EV penetration throughout India and boosted the shift away from carbon-emitting vehicles. Read the full story.

—Nilesh Christopher

Ather Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal health workers
It’s blaming the government shutdown—but labor unions are suing. (Reuters $)
+ The firings will decimate parts of the CDC that work on disease surveillance. (STAT)

2 AI videos of dead celebrities are upsetting their families
OpenAI is coming under mounting pressure to restrict what its video generator Sora 2 can create. (WP $)
+ Sora was downloaded over a million times in less than five days—a rate even faster than ChatGPT. (BBC)

3 The Dutch government has taken control of a Chinese-owned chipmaker
The move comes after Beijing tightened restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, which could hurt Europe’s car industry. (CNBC)

4 Why some developers reject AI coding tools
Even at their best, they introduce bugs into the code base that can be tricky to spot. (The Information $)
+ The second wave of AI coding is here. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Police are begging teens to stop pulling the AI homeless man prank
Kids are using AI to create images of a disheveled person in their home, then sending that to their parents. (The Verge)

6 How Elon Musk’s embrace of Trump continues to hurt Tesla
The result is that his cars are now more expensive and less desirable. (The Atlantic $)
+ China might force Tesla to redesign its door handles. (Wired $)
+ How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars? (MIT Technology Review) 

7 What happened after schools in Australia banned phones?
Both students and staff say the impact has been overwhelmingly positive. (The Guardian)

8 AI is fantastic at detecting small earthquakes 
But the really big prize is seeing if it can help with predicting them, too. (Ars Technica)
+ What we can learn from Japan’s “megaquake” preparations. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Climate change is creating new hybrid species
The “grue jay” is half-blue jay, half-green jay. It’s also a sign of the times we live in. (Nautilus)
+ How a breakthrough gene-editing tool will help the world cope with climate change. (MIT Technology Review)

10 How people gamify Hinge to get the dates they want 
It puts people’s most promising matches behind a paywall—but they’re finding workarounds. (The Cut $)
+ There’s now a term for daters who use AI to boost their appeal : chatfishers. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“It’s as emotionally devastating as it is dangerous to the American public.”

—An employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells STAT about the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to carry out mass layoffs at the agency. 

One more thing

GETTY IMAGES

How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs

In 2021, the Maryland Department of Health and the state police were confronting a crisis: Fatal drug overdoses in the state were at an all-time high, and authorities didn’t know why.

Seeking answers, Maryland officials turned to scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the national metrology institute for the United States, which defines and maintains standards of measurement essential to a wide range of industrial sectors and health and security applications.

There, a research chemist named Ed Sisco and his team had developed methods for detecting trace amounts of drugs, explosives, and other dangerous materials—techniques that could protect law enforcement officials and others who had to collect these samples. And a pilot uncovered new, critical information almost immediately. Read the full story.

—Adam Bluestein

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ This spicy tea is exactly what you need when you’re under the weather. 
+ Just a man, jamming with his cat. 
+ Empathy is not a fixed trait—you can grow it. Here’s how.
+ There’s something very soothing about João Bernardino’s photos of Portugal. 

The Download: our bodies’ memories, and Traton’s electric trucks

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 do our bodies remember?

“Like riding a bike” is shorthand for the remarkable way that our bodies remember how to move. Most of the time when we talk about muscle memory, we’re not talking about the muscles themselves but about the memory of a coordinated movement pattern that lives in the motor neurons, which control our muscles.

Yet in recent years, scientists have discovered that our muscles themselves have a memory for movement and exercise. And the more we move, as with riding a bike or other kinds of exercise, the more those cells begin to make a memory of that exercise. Read the full story.

—Bonnie Tsui

This piece is part of MIT Technology Review Explains: our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here.

This story is also from our forthcoming print issue, which is all about the body. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. Plus, you’ll also receive a free digital report on nuclear power.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Traton and its electric trucks

Every day, trucks carry many millions of tons of cargo down roads and highways around the world. Nearly all run on diesel and make up one of the largest commercial sources of carbon emissions.

Traton, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, is producing zero-emission trucks that could help clean up this sector, while also investing in a Europe-wide advanced charging network so other manufacturers can more easily follow suit. Read the full story.

—Amy Nordrum

Traton is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

This test could reveal the health of your immune system

We know surprisingly little about our immune health. The vast array of cells, proteins, and biomolecules that works to defend us from disease is mind-bogglingly complicated. Immunologists are still getting to grips with how it all works.

Now, a new test is being developed to measure immune health, one that even gives you a score. But that’s a difficult thing to do, for several reasons. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 China is cracking down on imports of Nvidia’s AI chips 
Customs officers are combing shipments looking for the company’s China-specific chips. (FT $)
+ US officials are investigating a firm that’s suspected of helping China sidestep export restrictions. (NYT $)

2 Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ feature is under investigation
After multiple reports of vehicles using it ran red lights. (WP $)
+ The company is slashing its prices to compete with Chinese giant BYD. (Rest of World)
+ Elon Musk will still receive billions, even if he fails to achieve his ambitions goals. (Reuters)

3 A data hoarder has created a searchable database of Epstein files
Making it simple to find mentions of specific people and locations. (404 Media)

4 OpenAI says GPT-5 is its least-biased model yet
Even when proceeding with “challenging, emotionally charged prompts.” (Axios)

5 The developers behind ICE-tracking apps aren’t giving up
They’re fighting Apple’s decision to remove their creations from its app store. (Wired $)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

6 The world’s biodiversity crisis is worsening
More than half of all bird species are in decline. (The Guardian)
+ The short, strange history of gene de-extinction. (MIT Technology Review)

7 YouTube is extending an olive branch to banned creators
It’s overturned a lifetime ban policy to give the people behind previously-banned channels a second chance. (CNBC)
+ But users kicked off for copyright infringement or extremism aren’t eligible. (Bloomberg $)

8 This startup wants to bring self-flying planes to our skies  
Starting with military cargo flights. (WSJ $)

9 Your plumber might be using ChatGPT
They’re increasingly using the chatbot to troubleshoot on the ground. (CNN)

10 Do robots really need hands?
Maybe not, but that’s not standing in the way of researchers trying to recreate them. (Fast Company $)
+ Will we ever trust robots? (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“Social media is a complete dumpster.”

—Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, describes the proliferation of AI slop videos infiltrating digital platforms to the New York Times.

One more thing

Who gets to decide who receives experimental medical treatments?

There has been a trend toward lowering the bar for new medicines, and it is becoming easier for people to access treatments that might not help them—and could even harm them. Anecdotes appear to be overpowering evidence in decisions on drug approval. As a result, we’re ending up with some drugs that don’t work.

We urgently need to question how these decisions are made. Who should have access to experimental therapies? And who should get to decide? Such questions are especially pressing considering how quickly biotechnology is advancing. We’re not just improving on existing classes of treatments—we’re creating entirely new ones. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I love this crowd-sourced compendium of every known Wilhelm scream in all sorts of media.
+ Happy birthday to pocket rocket Bruno Mars, who turned 40 this week.
+ Here’s how to visit an interstellar interloper.
+ Bumi the penguin is having the absolute time of their life with this bubble machine

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 changing.

It’s shaped by everything we have ever been exposed to physically and emotionally, and powerfully influences everything from our vulnerability to viruses and cancer to how well we age to whether we tolerate certain foods better than others.

Yet as critical as the immunome is to each of us, it has remained largely beyond the reach of modern medicine. Now, thanks to a slew of new technologies, understanding this vital and mysterious system is within our grasp, paving the way for powerful new tools and tests to help us better assess, diagnose and treat diseases. Read the full story.

—David Ewing Duncan

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.

3 takeaways about climate tech right now

On Monday, we published our 2025 edition of Climate Tech Companies to Watch. Curating this list gives our team a chance to take a step back and consider the broader picture. What industries are making progress or lagging behind? Which countries or regions are seeing quick changes? Who’s likely to succeed? 

This year is an especially interesting moment in the climate tech world, something we grappled with while choosing companies. Here are three of the biggest takeaways from the process of building this list.

—Casey Crownhart

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Cemvision and its low-emissions cement

Cement is one of the most used materials on the planet, and the industry emits billions of tons of greenhouse gasses annually. Swedish startup Cemvision wants to use waste materials and alternative fuels to help reduce climate pollution from cement production. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

Cemvision is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 OpenAI wasn’t expecting its Sora copyright backlash  
CEO Sam Altman says the company will reverse course and “let rightsholders decide how to proceed.” (The Verge)
+ It appears to be struggling to work out which requests to approve right now. (404 Media)
+ Sam Altman says video IP is a lot trickier than for images. (Insider $)+ What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits? (MIT Technology Review)

2 Apple has removed another ICE app from its store
This one archives video evidence of abuses, rather than tracking officers’ locations. (404 Media)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)

3 How private firms are helping economists work out what’s going on
In the absence of economic data from the US government, experts are getting creative. (WP $)
+ How to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review)

4 China is cracking down on its rare earth exports
It’s keen to protect its leverage over the critical minerals. (FT $)
+ This rare earth metal shows us the future of our planet’s resources. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Microsoft wants to become a chatbot powerhouse in its own right
Which means lessening its dependence on OpenAI. (WSJ $)

6 High schoolers are starting romantic relationships with AI models
It’s a whole new issue for schools and parents to grapple with. (NPR)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Those Prime Day savings are often too good to be true
Buyer beware. (WP $)

8 The future of the AI boom hinges on a small Dutch city
Chipmaker ASML is planning a massive expansion—but is the surrounding area ready to support it? (Bloomberg $)
+ Welcome to robot city. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Ferrari’s first electric car is on the horizon
It’s expected to go on sale next year. (Reuters)
+ It sports four motors and more than 1,000 horsepower. (Ars Technica)

10 Inside the enduring appeal of The Sims
Keeping a house full of angry little materialists alive is still lots of fun. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“The ICE raid is just the cherry on top. How is anybody going to trust us going forward?”

—Betony Jones, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute think tank, tells IEEE Spectrum how an ICE raid on a Hyundai EV factory in Georgia has shaken the industry.

One more thing

The flawed logic of rushing out extreme climate solutions

Early in 2022, entrepreneur Luke Iseman says, he released a pair of sulfur dioxide–filled weather balloons from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, in the hope that they’d burst miles above Earth.

It was a trivial act in itself, effectively a tiny, DIY act of solar geoengineering, the controversial proposal that the world could counteract climate change by releasing particles that reflect more sunlight back into space.

Entrepreneurs like Iseman invoke the stark dangers of climate change to explain why they do what they do—even if they don’t know how effective their interventions are. But experts say that urgency doesn’t create a social license to ignore the underlying dangers or leapfrog the scientific process. Read the full story.

—James Temple

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ What language did residents of the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan speak? We’re finally starting to find out.
+ If you’re unsure whether an animal is safe to pet, this handy guide is a good starting point.
+ The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new ancient Egypt exhibition sounds brilliant.
+ This story digging into the psychology experiment behind Star Wars‘ special effects is completely bonkers.

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 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.

One of the projects is the South Texas Direct Air Capture Hub, a facility that Occidental Petroleum’s 1PointFive subsidiary planned to develop in Kleberg County, Texas. The other is Project Cypress in Louisiana, a collaboration between Battelle, Climeworks, and Heirloom. Read the full story.

—James Temple

AI toys are all the rage in China—and now they’re appearing on shelves in the US too

Kids have always played with and talked to stuffed animals. But now their toys can talk back, thanks to a wave of companies that are fitting children’s playthings with chatbots and voice assistants.
 
It’s a trend that has particularly taken off in China: A recent report by the Shenzhen Toy Industry Association and JD.com predicts that the sector will surpass ¥100 billion ($14 billion) by 2030, growing faster than almost any other branch of consumer AI. But Chinese AI toy companies have their sights set beyond the nation’s borders. Read the full story.

—Caiwei Chen

2025 climate tech companies to watch: Pairwise and its climate-adapted crops

Climate change will make it increasingly difficult to grow crops across many parts of the world. Startup Pairwise is using CRISPR gene editing to develop plants that can better withstand adverse conditions.

The company uses cutting-edge gene editing to produce crops that can withstand increasingly harsh climate conditions, helping to feed a growing population even as the world warms. Last year, it delivered its first food to the US market: a less-bitter–tasting mustard green. It’s now working to produce crops with climate-resilient traits, through partnerships with two of the world’s largest plant biotech companies. Read the full story.

—James Temple

Pairwise is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: How to measure the returns on R&D spending

Given the draconian cuts to US federal funding for science, it’s worth asking some hard-nosed money questions: How much should we be spending on R&D? How much value do we get out of such investments, anyway?

To answer that, in several recent papers, economists have approached this issue in clever new ways.  And, though they ask slightly different questions, their conclusions share a bottom line: R&D is, in fact, one of the better long-term investments that the government can make.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 How OpenAI and Nvidia are fueling the AI bubble 
Experts fear their circular deals could be artificially inflating the market. (Bloomberg $)
+ OpenAI will pay for AMD’s chips using, err, AMD’s own stock. (TechCrunch)
+ The Bank of England is concerned about AI inflating tech stocks. (FT $)
+ What comes next, that’s the big question. (NBC News)

2 Around 15% of the world’s working population is using AI
And countries in Europe are among the most enthusiastic adopters. (FT $)
+ The EU is keen to get even more of its citizens using it, too. (WSJ $)
+ Meanwhile, America’s public opinion towards AI is souring. (WP $)

3 Three quantum mechanics scientists have won the Nobel Prize for Physics
Two of whom were instrumental in building Google’s working quantum machines. (Bloomberg $)
+ Their work shone a light on behaviors of the subatomic realm. (NYT $)
+ Quantum particles behave in notoriously strange ways. (New Scientist $)

4 The CDC has finally signed off on covid vaccine recommendations
Despite the delay, access looks largely similar to last years’. (Ars Technica)
+ The Supreme Court isn’t sold on medical expertise these days. (Vox)

5 What makes TikTok so ‘sticky’ 
Even its hardcore users can be persuaded to keep scrolling for hours. (WP $)

6 ICE bought fake cell towers to spy on nearby phones
It’s used cell-site simulators in the past to track down alleged criminals. (TechCrunch)
+ Meet the volunteers tracking ICE officers in LA. (New Yorker $)

7 Watermark removers for Sora 2 videos are already readily available
No permission? No problem. (404 Media)
+ What about copyright for AI-generated art? (The Information $)
+ And what comes next for AI copyright lawsuits? (MIT Technology Review)

8 How diamonds can help to cool down chips
They’re remarkably good at transferring heat. (NYT $)

9 Amazon Pharmacy is launching electronic prescription kiosks
For drugs including antibiotics, asthma inhalers and treatments for high blood pressure. (Reuters)

10 Should you limit your smartphone use to two hours a day?
Japan thinks so. (The Guardian)
+ How to log off. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“OpenAI is building the future of AI on infrastructure it doesn’t own, power it doesn’t control, and capital it doesn’t have.”

—Andrey Sidorenko, head of research at data firm Mostly AI, critiques what he calls the consolidation of the AI ecosystem in a post on LinkedIn.

One more thing

How AI can help make cities work better

In recent decades, cities have become increasingly adept at amassing all sorts of data. But that data can have limited impact when government officials are unable to communicate, let alone analyze or put to use, all the information they have access to.

This dynamic has always bothered Sarah Williams, a professor of urban planning and technology at MIT. Shortly after joining MIT in 2012, Williams created the Civic Data Design Lab to bridge that divide. Over the years, she and her colleagues have made urban planning data more vivid and accessible through human stories and striking graphics. Read the full story.

—Ben Schneider

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Life lessons from the one and only Ozzy Osbourne—what’s not to like?
+ Did you know that most countries have their own camouflage? Check the patterns out here.
+ These hamsters getting an MRI scan is the cutest thing you’ll see today.
+ Pumpkin chili sounds like a fantastic way to warm up.

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 a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world.

This otherworldly scene is the test site for a company called Lilac Solutions, which is developing a technology it says will shake up the United States’ efforts to pry control over the global supply of lithium, the so-called “white gold” needed for electric vehicles and batteries, away from China.

The startup is in a race to commercialize a new, less environmentally-damaging way to extract lithium from rocks. If everything pans out, it could significantly increase domestic supply at a crucial moment for the nation’s lithium extraction industry. Read the full story.

—Alexander C. Kaufman

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). 

In the days since, it soared to the top spot on Apple’s US App Store. But its explosive growth raises a bunch of questions: can its popularity last? Can OpenAI afford it? And how soon until we start seeing lawsuits over its use of copyrighted content? Here’s what we’ve learned so far.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter about the latest in AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

—James O’Donnell

2025 climate tech companies to watch: HiNa Battery Technology and its effort to commercialize salt cells

Over the next few decades the world will need a lot more batteries to power electric cars and keep grids stable. Today most battery cells are made with lithium, so the mineral is expected to be in hyper demand. But a new technology has come on the scene, potentially disrupting the global battery industry.

For decades, research of sodium-ion cell technology was abandoned due to the huge commercial success of lithium-ion cells. Now, HiNa Battery Technology is working to bring sodium back to the limelight—and to the mass market. Read the full story.

—You Xiaoying

HiNa Battery Technology is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 OpenAI has signed a major chip deal
It will collaborate with AMD in a challenge to Nvidia’s dominance. (WSJ $)
+ The multi-billion dollar deal will play out over five years. (FT $)
+ Just two weeks ago, OpenAI agreed a deal with Nvidia. (CNN)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Google lost a US Supreme Court bid
The justices denied Google’s bid to pause changes to its app store. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s part of the lawsuit Epic Games brought against the tech giant. (Reuters)
+ The dispute remains unsolved, so it may be handed back to the justices. (NYT $)

3 You can now use some apps directly within ChatGPT
It’s all part of OpenAI’s ambitions to make it a one-stop-shop for all your needs. (The Verge)
+ Sam Altman wants it to become your primary digital portal. (The Information $)

4 Deloitte used AI to generate a report for the Australian government
Unfortunately, it was littered with hallucinated mistakes. (Ars Technica)

5 The Nobel prize for medicine has been awarded to three immunity researchers
The trio discovered an immune cell that helps stop the immune system attacking itself. (New Scientist $)

6 Russians are using AI to create video memorials of their war dead
A burgeoning industry has sprung up, and practitioners will generate clips for $30. (WP $)
+ Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The dream of greener air travel is starting to die
Hydrogen-powered planes are years away. So what now? (FT $)
+ How new technologies could clean up air travel. (MIT Technology Review)

8 How job hunters are trying to trick AI résumé-checkers
Inserting sneaky hidden prompts is becoming commonplace. (NYT $)

9 The creator of the Friend AI pendant doesn’t care if you hate it
The backlash to its provocative ads is all part of the plan, apparently. (The Atlantic $)

10 Taylor Swift’s fans really don’t like AI
They’ve accused the singer’s new videos, which appear to be AI-generated, of looking cheap and sloppy. (NY Mag $)
+ AI text is out, moving pictures are in. (Economist $)

Quote of the day

“When AI videos are just as good as normal videos, I wonder what that will do to YouTube and how it will impact the millions of creators currently making content for a living… scary times.”

—YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, reflects on AI videos infiltrating the internet, TechCrunch reports.

One more thing

The case against humans in space

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are bitter rivals in the commercial space race, but they agree on one thing: Settling space is an existential imperative. Space is the place. The final frontier. It is our human destiny to transcend our home world and expand our civilization to extraterrestrial vistas.

This belief has been mainstream for decades, but its rise has been positively meteoric in this new gilded age of astropreneurs.

But as visions of giant orbital stations and Martian cities dance in our heads, a case against human space colonization has found its footing in a number of recent books, from doubts about the practical feasibility of off-Earth communities, to realism about the harsh environment of space and the enormous tax it would exact on the human body. Read the full story.

—Becky Ferreira

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)+ Wow: scientists have successfully reconstructed a million-year old skull
+ Take a trip back in time with this fun compilation of music from the very first Sims game.
+ RIP ‘stomp clap hey’—music’s most misunderstood and simultaneously annoying genre.
+ How to live a good life in a tough world.

The Download: introducing the 10 climate tech companies to watch for 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.

Introducing: 10 climate tech companies to watch

Every year, the MIT Technology Review newsroom produces a list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. It’s an exercise that we hope brings positive attention to companies working to decarbonize major sectors of the economy, whether by spinning up new, cleaner sources of energy or reinventing how we produce foods and distribute goods.

Though the political and funding landscape has shifted dramatically in the US since last year, nothing has altered the urgency of the climate dangers the world now faces—we need to rapidly curb greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. This project highlights the firms making progress toward that end.

Check out the third annual edition of the list, and learn more about why we selected these companies.

Our best weapon against climate change is ingenuity

—Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist.

It’s a foregone conclusion that the world will not meet the goals for limiting emissions and global warming laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Many people want to blame politicians and corporations for this failure, but there’s an even more fundamental reason: We don’t have all the technological tools we need to do it, and many of the ones we do have are too expensive.

But I don’t think this is a reason to be pessimistic. I see it as cause for optimism, because humans are very good at inventing things. In fact, we’ve already created many tools that are reducing emissions. And I am confident that more positive changes are coming. Read the full story.

Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline

People over Papers, a crowd-sourcing project that maps sightings of immigration agents, was taken offline yesterday by Padlet, the collaborative bulletin board platform on which it was built. 

It’s just the latest ICE-tracking initiative to be pulled by tech platforms in the past few days, including the ICEBlock app that was removed from app stores last week and the Stop ICE Raids Alert Network. Read the full story.

—Eileen Guo

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 ICE wants to build a social media surveillance squad 
Contractors will sift through social content searching for information to aid arrests and deportations. (Wired $)
+ A US citizen with stage four cancer has been deported. (The Guardian)

2 xAI is building massive data centers in Memphis
Which isn’t great news for disgruntled locals. (WSJ $)
+ Data centers are big business in Europe right now. (Bloomberg $)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Ukraine’s front lines are fighting deadly infections
Bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics are infiltrating the country. (Knowable Magazine)
+ Why tiny viruses could be our best bet against antimicrobial resistance. (MIT Technology Review)

4 A Silicon Valley school asked its students to draft an AI policy
Mountain View High School thinks involving kids is the best way forward. (WP $)
+ Elsewhere, a school in Texas is letting AI guide its entire curriculum. (CBS News)
+ AI’s giants want to take over the classroom. (MIT Technology Review)

5 These countries hope to benefit from the US visa crackdown
Skilled engineers from overseas are looking beyond America for new opportunities. (FT $)
+ India hopes its skilled workers living abroad will return home. (BBC)

6 How an empty Chinese city became a self-driving testbed
Ordos has everything that self-driving cars need—except humans. (Rest of World)
+ Why China’s self-driving industry is pushing into Europe. (Reuters)

7 How to talk to cows
A wave of high-tech AI-powered collars is the closest we’ve got. (NYT $)
+ Scientists are trying to get cows pregnant with synthetic embryos. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Technology is full of fascinating records
Strongest robotic arm, anyone? (IEEE Spectrum)

9 Posting a simple Instagram photo is no longer enough
The app keeps pushing us to ‘contentify’ everything. (The Verge)

10 Japanese beer brand Asahi has resumed production 
After a huge cyber attack forced its breweries offline. (BBC)
+ But we don’t know when its plants will return to full capacity. (Reuters)

Quote of the day

“You’ll never have a human trafficked AI girl.”

—Steve Jones, who runs an AI porn site, explains how he sees the ethics of his endeavor to the Guardian.

One more thing

The race to fix space-weather forecasting before next big solar storm hits

As the number of satellites in space grows, and as we rely on them for increasing numbers of vital tasks on Earth, the need to better predict stormy space weather is becoming more and more urgent.

Scientists have long known that solar activity can change the density of the upper atmosphere. But it’s incredibly difficult to precisely predict the sorts of density changes that a given amount of solar activity would produce.

Now, experts are working on a model of the upper atmosphere to help scientists to improve their models of how solar activity affects the environment in low Earth orbit. If they succeed, they’ll be able to keep satellites safe even amid turbulent space weather, reducing the risk of potentially catastrophic orbital collisions. Read the full story.

—Tereza Pultarova

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I love this website showcasing madcap music genres (thanks Rachel!)
+ It’s not just you—world records really are getting harder to beat.
+ If you’ve ever wanted to play Snake in a url bar, now’s your chance (warning, it’s hard!)
+ Fall is here, and the photos are already breathtaking ($)

The Download: using AI to discover “zero day” vulnerabilities, and Apple’s ICE app removal

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.

Microsoft says AI can create “zero day” threats in biology

A team at Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to discover a “zero day” vulnerability in the biosecurity systems used to prevent the misuse of DNA.

These screening systems are designed to stop people from purchasing genetic sequences that could be used to create deadly toxins or pathogens. But now researchers say they have figured out how to bypass the protections in a way previously unknown to defenders. Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

If you’re interested in learning more about AI and biology, check out:

+ AI-designed viruses are here and already killing bacteria. Read the full story.

+ OpenAI is making a foray into longevity science with an AI built to help manufacture stem cells.

+ AI is dreaming up drugs that no one has ever seen. Now we’ve got to see if they work.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Apple removed an app for reporting ICE officer sightings
The US Attorney General requested it take down ICEBlock—and Apple complied. (Insider $)
+ Apple says the removal was down to the safety risk it posed. (Bloomberg $)
+ The company had a similar explanation for removing a Hong Kong map app back in 2019. (The Verge)

2 OpenAI’s parental controls are easily circumvented 
Its alerts about teenagers’ concerning conversations also took hours to deliver. (WP $)
+ The looming crackdown on AI companionship. (MIT Technology Review)

3 VCs have sunk a record amount into AI startups this year 
To the tune of $192.7 billion so far. (Bloomberg $)
+ The AI bubble is looking increasingly precarious, though. (FT $)
+ How to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review)

4 The US federal vaccination schedule is still waiting for an update
Officials are yet to sign off on recommendations for this year’s updated Covid shots. (Ars Technica)
+ Many people have been left unable to get vaccinated. (NPR)

5 The US Department of Energy has canceled yet more clean energy projects
In mostly blue states. (TechCrunch)
+ More than 300 funding awards have been axed. (CNBC)
+ How to make clean energy progress under Trump in the states. (MIT Technology Review)

6 TikTok recommends pornography to children’s accounts
Despite activating its “restricted mode” to prevent sexualized content. (BBC)

7 China has launched a new skilled worker visa program
In the wake of the US H-1B visa clampdown. (Wired $)
+ The initiative hasn’t gone down well with locals. (BBC)

8 Flights were grounded in Germany after several drone sightings
NATO members are worried about suspected Russian incursions in their skies. (WSJ $)
+ It’s the latest in a string of airspace sightings. (FT $)

9 How YouTube is shaking up Hollywood
Its powerful creators are starting to worry the entertainment establishment—and Netflix. (FT $)

10 Anti-robocall tools are getting better
Call screening features are a useful first line of defense. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move.”

—Joshua Aaron, the developer of ICEBlock, the app that crowdsources sightings of ICE officials, hits back at Apple’s decision to remove it from the App Store, 404 Media reports.

One more thing

How AI can help supercharge creativity

Existing generative tools can automate a striking range of creative tasks and offer near-instant gratification—but at what cost? Some artists and researchers fear that such technology could turn us into passive consumers of yet more AI slop.

And so they are looking for ways to inject human creativity back into the process: working on what’s known as co-­creativity or more-than-human creativity. The aim is to develop AI tools that augment our creativity rather than strip it from us. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Congratulations to Fizz, the very handsome UK cat of the year!
+ What it took to transform actor Jeremy Allan White into the one and only Boss in his new film, Deliver Me from Nowhere.
+ Divers have salvaged more than 1,000 gold and silver coins from a 1715 shipwreck off the east coast of Florida.
+ The internet is obsessed with crabs. But why?