Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending December 20, 2014)
A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.
Back to the Future: Advanced Nuclear Energy and the Battle Against Climate Change
A thoughtful exploration of Transatomic Power’s elegant ideas for ultra-safe nuclear energy and whether they can become reality.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor
The Best Tech Quotes of 2014
New Yorker correspondent Vauhini Vara rounds up the most colorful tech quotes of the year.
—Kristin Majcher, special projects editor
How Self-Tracking Apps Exclude Women
Who knew dudes even imagined that a phone accelerometer could be used to quantify how good they are in bed.
—Linda Lowenthal, copy chief
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Graphene May Be the Most Remarkable Substance Ever Discovered. But What’s It For?
Everything you thought you should already know about graphene but were afraid to ask.
—Linda Lowenthal
The Evidence That North Korea Hacked Sony Is Flimsy
The publicly available evidence that North Korea was behind the hack of Sony’s computer networks is far from conclusive, explains Wired’s Kim Zetter.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco bureau chief
Oversold Prenatal Tests Spur Some to Choose Abortions
New prenatal tests aren’t as accurate as they are marketed to be.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, biomedicine
Famed Geneticist Altshuler Bolts Broad Institute for Vertex
Senior geneticist from Broad Institute is the latest academic star to move to industry.
—Antonio Regalado
As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up
The rise of the robot is actually becoming a reality, raising fears about the effects on employment. Ironic, since the need for more robots to replace human workers may itself result in new jobs.
—J. Juniper Friedman, associate Web producer
This 3D-Printed Plastic Dress Flows Like Fabric
Next up in fashion—computer-generated garments made of interlocking plastic segments.
—J. Juniper Friedman
What Happened When Marissa Mayer Tried to Be Steve Jobs
An eye-opening close reading of the (so far unsuccessful) tenure of Yahoo’s CEO.
—Kyanna Sutton, senior Web producer
The Year of Outrage
A detailed interactive depicting what everyone was infuriated by in 2014.
—Kyanna Sutton
Dog Runs for First Time in His Life, Thanks to 3-D-Printed Legs
3-D printing has come a long way from keychains. Just ask Derby the Dog.
—David Sweeney, director marketing and communications
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
Why the Sony hack is a worrying sign.
—Will Knight, news and analysis editor
Achievement Points, You Can’t Take ‘Em With You
Simon Parkin on the endless, addictive, and sometimes surreal, quest for virtual achievement points.
—Will Knight
Bots Now Outnumber Humans on the Web
Non-human actors have quietly taken over the web. In some corners as much as 80 percent of the traffic is automated.
—Mike Orcutt, research editor
