Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending April 4, 2015)

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

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April 3, 2015

Toolkits for the Mind
Programming languages shape the way their users think—which helps explain how tech startups work and why they are able to reinvent themselves.
Adding Greater Realism to Virtual Worlds
A startup is borrowing techniques used in high-frequency trading to make simulated worlds more realistic.
Broadcast Every Little Drama
Meerkat and Periscope show how simple, fun, and weird live-streaming can be.
The Problem with Fake Meat
It might be possible to create a burger that helps the environment and improves your health. But will it taste good enough to win over the masses?
Probing the Whole Internet for Weak Spots
Rapidly scanning the Internet has become vital to efforts to keep it secure.
Ripple, a Cryptocurrency Company, Wants to Rewire Bank Authentication
A digital-currency company thinks it can protect the personal information used to perform identity checks in the financial industry.
Facebook Lets Developers Build on Its Chat App
Facebook hopes that adding functionality like video sharing and shopping to Messenger will help it grow even as competition rises.

Keep Reading

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.