Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending October 11, 2014)

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

October 10, 2014

Can Sucking CO₂ Out of the Atmosphere Really Work?
A Columbia scientist and his startup think they have a plan to save the world. Now they have to convince the rest of us.
The Contrarian’s Guide to Changing the World
Investor Peter Thiel has inspiring advice for wanna-be entrepreneurs, but he is unrealistic about where technology really comes from.
An Industrial-Size Generator That Runs on Waste Heat, Using No Fuel
Startup Alphabet Energy has its first product: what it says is the world’s largest thermoelectric generator.
Should Industrial Robots Be Able to Hurt Their Human Coworkers?
Standards bodies are wrestling with the impact of accidental robot strikes.
Lighting Sheets Would Use Half as Much Power as Lightbulbs
OLEDs are highly efficient but expensive. Better materials and manufacturing methods are changing that.
An Optical Trick Makes Disappearing Messages Harder to Screenshot
An app called Yovo uses a clever trick to make it hard to preserve its ephemeral messages.
Winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics Enabled Ultra-Efficient Lighting
The blue LED might save more energy than just about any other technology.