Our best photographs of 2018

Transport yourself around the world and see people creating and dealing with technological change in MIT Technology Review’s top photos of the year.

Emily Luongarchive page

December 27, 2018

In 2018, we featured photographs from around the world, from a refugee camp in Jordan that runs on blockchain to a quantum satellite network on a rooftop in Beijing. We took you to Phoenix and showed how Waymo is transforming a city, and then to Quebec, where bitcoin mining is threatening to overwhelm the power grid. We introduced a series of experts, from Jay Keasling, fighting for the clean fuel the world forgot, to Amber Baldet, fighting for inclusion in a crypto world with a sexist reputation.

These are images not just of technology, but of the stories generated by new ideas. The photos show the visionaries who dream up innovations, the way those innovations take form, and the impact they have on our culture and society.

We work with an incredibly talented group of photographers who come from diverse areas: fashion, fine art, photojournalism. We strive to show a variety of perspectives and showcase new visual talent. Below is a short list of some of our favorite photos we commissioned in 2018.

**For safety’s sake, we must slow innovation in internet-connected things**
Photograph by An Rong Xu

**The scientist still fighting for the clean fuel the world forgot**
Photograph by Christie Hemm Klok

**Digital immortality: How your life’s data means a version of you could live forever**
Photograph by Tony Luong

**Inside the Jordan refugee camp that runs on blockchain**
Photograph by Russ Juskalian

**Is the crypto world sexist? That might be the wrong question.**
Photograph by Celeste Sloman

**Bitcoin is eating Quebec**
Photograph by Alexi Hobbs

**Aboard the giant sand-sucking ships that China uses to reshape the world**
Photograph from CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/Digitalglobe

**The man turning China into a quantum superpower**
Photograph by Noah Sheldon

**The skeptic: What precision medicine revolution?**
Photograph by John Clark
John Clark

**The GANfather: The man who’s given machines the gift of imagination**
Photograph by Christie Hemm Klok

**Fake America great again**
Photograph by Bruce Peterson

**Phoenix will no longer be Phoenix if Waymo’s driverless-car experiment succeeds**
Photograph by Brandon Sullivan

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