The Download
What's up in emerging technology
Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to create the US Space Force
Facebook used AI for an eye-opening trick
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
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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Connectivity
Keeping America first in quantum computing means avoiding these five big mistakes
Potential pitfalls include putting the military in charge and spraying too much money around.
Intelligent Machines
This company tames killer robots
Artificial intelligence can turn the most dangerous industrial robots into helpful coworkers, and that could transform manufacturing.
Connectivity
EOS’s $4 billion crypto-democracy has just launched—and it’s probably going to be ruled by fat cats
A new blockchain aims to vastly speed up transactions, but it was incredibly slow in getting off the ground.
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.
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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 is creating a huge carbon market—but not a particularly aggressive one
The biggest test of cap-and-trade to date may be too timid to make much of a difference for the world’s largest carbon polluter.
by James Temple
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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