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What's up in emerging technology

Sept. 11-14, 2018

MIT Media Lab

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Connectivity

Four big targets in the cyber battle over the US ballot box

Here’s where hackers could strike the 2018 midterm elections
Intelligent Machines

Why AI researchers shouldn’t turn their backs on the military

The author of a new book on autonomous weapons says scientists working on artificial intelligence need to do more to prevent the technology from being weaponized.
Intelligent Machines

AI for cybersecurity is a hot new thing—and a dangerous gamble

Machine learning and artificial intelligence can help guard against cyberattacks, but hackers can foil security algorithms by targeting the data they train on and the warning flags they look for.
Business Impact

MIT Technology Review’s new design—and new mission

Tech journalism shouldn’t just explain technology, but seek to make it more of a force for good.
Intelligent Machines

A small team of student AI coders beats Google’s machine-learning code

The success shows that advances in artificial intelligence aren’t the sole domain of elite programmers.

A gridded image collage of thousands of photographs
Connectivity

Why security experts hate that “blockchain voting” will be used in the midterm elections

It’s too dangerous to conduct elections over the internet, they say, and West Virginia’s new plan to put votes on a blockchain doesn’t fix that.
Rewriting Life

US scientist who edited human embryos with CRISPR responds to critics

Can we safely fix the DNA of human embryos in a lab dish?
Intelligent Machines

Magic Leap’s headset is real, but that may not be enough

It’s taken years of work and billions of dollars in venture funding to build a working mixed-reality headset for developers. Now what?
Intelligent Machines

Cybersecurity’s insidious new threat: workforce stress

This week’s Black Hat event will highlight job-related stress and mental health issues in the cyber workforce.

From Our Current Issue

MIT Technology Review: July/August 2018

AI and robots are wreaking economic havoc. We need more of them.

Tierra y libertad

Science fiction: a robot rebellion in the pistachio fields.

Basic income could work—if you do it Canada-style

A Canadian province is giving people money with no strings attached—revealing both the appeal and the limitations of the idea.

35 Innovators Under 35

Better gene editing. Smarter AI. Cheaper solar cells. Stretchable electronics. This year’s list of 35 Innovators Under 35 will give you a sense of what’s coming next—and what kinds of people are making it happen.

See the Collection

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Next-Generation Robots Need Your Help 27:36

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

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

Intelligent Machines

Coffee-fetching robots 02:08

One job interns may be glad to relinquish to robots is the notorious coffee run. Manuela Veloso discusses coffee-fetching bots at EmTech Next 2018.

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10 Breakthrough Technologies 2018

Dueling neural networks. Artificial embryos. AI in the cloud. Welcome to our annual list of the 10 technology advances we think will shape the way we work and live now and for years to come.

See the Collection

Sustainable Energy

Can we sustainably provide food, water, and energy to a growing population during a climate crisis?

All Topics

  1. The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid

    Fluctuating solar and wind power require lots of energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries seem like the obvious choice—but they are far too expensive to play a major role.
    by James Temple

  2. How one climate scientist combats threats and misinformation from chemtrail conspiracists

    Harvard geoengineering researcher David Keith explains when to feed the trolls and when not to.
    by James Temple

  3. Climate change could drive tens of thousands of additional suicides in North America

    Stanford and Berkeley scientists found that suicides, as well as depressive language on Twitter, rise as temperatures do.
    by James Temple
More from Sustainable Energy

Features

Intelligent Machines

The World Economic Forum warns that AI may destabilize the financial system

Increased use of machine learning and cloud services could make the financial world more vulnerable.

by Will Knight

Connectivity

How social media took us from Tahrir Square to Donald Trump

To understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves.

Photo of protester waving Egypt's flag.
Intelligent Machines

Tim Hwang’s FiscalNote is revolutionizing Washington lobbying with big data

FiscalNote takes the intuition out of politics. Does it take the democracy out, too?
Briefing Paper

How to Unlock the Power of IoT with Real-Time Monitoring

In association with AppDynamics

Executive Briefing

Cloud Development: The Key to Rapid Innovation

In partnership with Oracle

Global Survey Report

Unlock Data Intelligence with AI

In partnership with Pure Storage

Executive Briefing

The Artificial Intelligence Imperative

In partnership with Pure Storage

SPONSORED COLLECTION

Innovations, Ideas, and Insights

Provided by BBVA

  1. SPONSORED

    From the age of perplexity to the era of opportunities

    Finance for Growth
    by Francisco Gonzalez

  2. SPONSORED

    Undoing Aging with Molecular and Cellular Damage Repair

    Since the dawn of medicine, aging has been doctors’ foremost challenge.
    by Aubrey D. N. J. de Grey

  3. SPONSORED

    Human Legacies When Robots Rule the Earth

    Machines have been displacing humans on job tasks for several centuries, and for seventy years many of these machines have been controlled by computers.
    by Robin Hanson
More in Innovations, Ideas, and Insights

Business Impact

How technology advances are changing the economy and providing new opportunities in many industries.

All Topics

  1. The “neuropolitics” consultants who hack voters’ brains

    These experts say they can divine political preferences you can’t express from signals you don’t know you’re producing.
    by Elizabeth Svoboda

  2. How 5G connectivity and new technology could pave the way for self-driving cars

    C-V2X enables vehicles to communicate, which should reduce accidents and aid autonomous driving.
    by Elizabeth Woyke

  3. AI can now tell your boss what skills you lack—and how you can get them

    Coursera is unveiling a new machine learning tool to show companies what skills their employees are acquiring from its classes and their level of expertise.
    by Elizabeth Woyke
More from Business Impact