Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending January 24, 2014)

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

January 24, 2014

Startup Thinks Its Battery Will Solve Renewable Energy’s Big Flaw
Aquion has started production of a low-cost sodium-ion battery aimed at making renewable energy viable.
Around the World, Net Neutrality Is Not a Reality
In much of the world, the concept of “net neutrality” generates less public debate, given there’s no affordable Net in the first place.
Tesla Motors’ Over-the-Air Repairs Are the Way Forward
Tesla and GM have both issued fire-related recalls, but Tesla’s fix doesn’t require owners to bring their cars in.
The Power to Decide
What’s the point of all that data, anyway? It’s to make decisions.
Chasing the Dream of Half-Price Gasoline from Natural Gas
A startup called Siluria thinks it’s solved a mystery that has stymied huge oil companies for decades.
Securing the Smart Home, from Toasters to Toilets
Efforts are underway to make your smart toilet—and other connected devices—less vulnerable to hackers.
How the Friendship Paradox Makes Your Friends Better Than You Are
The friendship paradox is the empirical observation that your friends have more friends than you do. Now network scientists say your friends are probably wealthier and happier, too.

Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.

Can anti-aging breakthroughs add 10 healthy years to the human life span? The CEO of OpenAI is paying to find out.

New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.

We got a first look at the much-anticipated big new language model from OpenAI. But this time how it works is even more deeply under wraps.

Illustration by Rose Wong

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