The Download
What's up in emerging technology
AI may be used to sift through Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s documents
Police body cameras could be about to get an AI upgrade
China is installing a bewildering, and potentially troublesome, amount of solar capacity
Robot-deployed balloons are taking over for humans at remote weather stations
AI is a poet, and knows it
From Our Current Issue
Connectivity
The blockchain believers
What makes blockchain devotees so passionate about the technology? We sent reporters and photographers to two blockchain conferences to find out.

Science Fiction
Unchained: A story of love, loss, and blockchain
A science fiction story for MIT Technology Review’s blockchain issue.
Sustainable Energy
The daunting math of climate change means we’ll need carbon capture
One leading expert describes what it would take to do it economically—and on a huge scale.
Connectivity
Let’s destroy Bitcoin
Three ways Bitcoin could be brought down, co-opted, or made irrelevant.
Watch Video
More videosConnectivity
"Bitcoin is like Coca-Cola" 01:11
Kathleen Breitman speaks at Business of Blockchain 2018.
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.
Register Now
Sustainable Energy
Can we sustainably provide food, water, and energy to a growing population during a climate crisis?
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The daunting math of climate change means we’ll need carbon capture
One leading expert describes what it would take to do it economically—and on a huge scale.
by James Temple
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How the science of persuasion could change the politics of climate change
Conservatives have to make the case to conservatives, and a growing number of them are.
by James Temple
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This battery advance could make electric vehicles far cheaper
Sila Nanotechnologies has pulled off double-digit performance gains for lithium-ion batteries, promising to lower costs or add capabilities for cars and phones.
by James Temple
View from the Marketplace
On-Device Processing and AI Go Hand-in-Hand
Executive Briefing
The Path to Professional Salvation for Modern IT Leaders
Features
Rewriting Life
Forecasts of genetic fate just got a lot more accurate
DNA-based scores are getting better at predicting intelligence, risks for common diseases, and more.

Rewriting Life
Reprogramming our bodies to make us healthier.
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In a medical first, drugs have reversed an inherited disorder in the womb
Doctors in Germany successfully treated twins in utero using a biotech drug, pointing to a new way to eliminate disease.
by Antonio Regalado
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Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body
If it were tried on a person, it might mean awakening in the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber.
by Antonio Regalado
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If we weren’t the first industrial civilization on Earth, would we ever know?
Fossils and objects are unlikely to survive more than a few million years. Searching for chemical traces of industrialization offers an intriguing alternative.
by Emerging Technology from the arXiv