The Download
What's up in emerging technology
Three years later, Google still has big-time diversity issues
Tencent and Alibaba’s mobile payment war shows how far China is ahead of the US
Cheap lidar gets a big win in deal with Volvo
The SEC says Ethereum’s cryptocurrency isn’t a security
Apple is closing a loophole that lets police hack into iPhones
June 4-5, 2018
MIT Media Lab
When robots are your colleagues, which human skills will still matter?
Join the conversion at EmTech Next where we talk about the future of work with the world’s leading experts.
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Sustainable Energy
China’s ambition to power the world’s electric cars took a huge leap forward this week
CATL’s stock has shot up since it raised nearly $1 billion in an IPO to build more lithium-ion battery plants.
Business Impact
AI could help the construction industry work faster—and keep its workforce accident-free
The construction industry, long a technology laggard, is hiring data scientists to boost efficiency.
Intelligent Machines
The world’s most powerful supercomputer is tailor made for the AI era
The technology used to build America’s new Summit machine will also help us make the leap to exascale computing.
Business Impact
The US government is seriously underestimating how much Americans rely on gig work
Undercounting people who rely on “alternative work arrangements” risks marginalizing a key part of the American economy.
Intelligent Machines
Don’t be AI-vil: Google says its algorithms will do no harm
Google has created a set of principles for its artificial-intelligence researchers to live by—and they prohibit weapons technology.
Sustainable Energy
Maybe we can afford to suck CO2 out of the sky after all
A new analysis shows that air capture could cost less than $100 a ton.
Intelligent Machines
Economies can’t ignore human needs if they want to benefit from automation
MIT professor Daron Acemoglu: “We are not heading to an economy without human labor anytime soon.”
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More videos
CRISPR Decoded 02:22
Access to broadband is as important as access to water and electricity 01:15
We shouldn't preserve "willy nilly" the cost of production 01:00
Coffee-fetching robots 02:08
Automating things on wheels 00:50
Humans versus machines: Chopin edition 02:06
Teaching systems to dance 01:44
3-D printed potato chips 01:15
Robots as nurses' assistants 00:36
Communicating with robots 01:35
Rewriting Life
CRISPR Decoded 02:22
Your two-minute guide to understanding how the revolutionary gene-editing technology works.
From Our Current Issue
Rewriting Life
Reprogramming our bodies to make us healthier.
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Gene therapy is saving children’s lives—but screening to discover who needs it is lagging behind
States in the US have been slow to test newborns for genetic conditions.
by Emily Mullin
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It’s fiction, but America just got wiped out by a man-made terror germ
At “germ games” held in Washington, DC, pandemic planners get a look at the threat posed by synthetic biology.
by Antonio Regalado
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Does the brain store information in discrete or analog form?
New evidence in favor of a discrete form of data storage could change the way we understand the brain and the devices we build to interface with it.
by Emerging Technology from the arXiv
Briefing Paper
How to Unlock the Power of IoT with Real-Time Monitoring
Executive Briefing
Cloud Development: The Key to Rapid Innovation
Features
Sustainable Energy
The scientist still fighting for the clean fuel the world forgot
A decade of investment in advanced biofuels led nowhere, but Jay Keasling remains undaunted.
Sustainable Energy
Can we sustainably provide food, water, and energy to a growing population during a climate crisis?
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China’s ambition to power the world’s electric cars took a huge leap forward this week
CATL’s stock has shot up since it raised nearly $1 billion in an IPO to build more lithium-ion battery plants.
by James Temple
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Maybe we can afford to suck CO2 out of the sky after all
A new analysis shows that air capture could cost less than $100 a ton.
by James Temple
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Trump’s coal pandering plan would raise costs, undermine renewables
Other power producers will immediately challenge the order.
by James Temple