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10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019

March 2019

Special guest curator Bill Gates picks this year’s list

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Letter from the editor

Editor’s Letter: How Bill Gates thinks about the future

Features

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10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019
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One man’s two-decade quest to suck greenhouse gas out of the sky
Klaus Lackner’s once wacky idea increasingly looks like an essential part of solving climate change.
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Wristwatch heart monitors might save your life—and change medicine, too
Making complex heart tests available at the push of a button has far-reaching consequences.
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The race to make a lab-grown steak
Meat production spews tons of greenhouse gas and uses up too much land and water. Is there an alternative that won’t make us do without?
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The new, safer nuclear reactors that might help stop climate change
From sodium-cooled fission to advanced fusion, a fresh generation of projects hopes to rekindle trust in nuclear energy.
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A simple blood test to predict premature births could save babies’ lives
Complications from preterm birth are the leading cause of death worldwide in children under five.
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AI is reinventing the way we invent
The biggest impact of artificial intelligence will be to help humans make discoveries we couldn’t make on our own.
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A philosopher argues that an AI can’t be an artist
Creativity is, and always will be, a human endeavor.
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What if you could diagnose diseases with a tampon?
Women’s health care is often treated as all about reproduction. Some “femtech” startups are exploring the innovations that get overlooked as a result.
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This is why AI has yet to reshape most businesses
For many companies, deploying AI is slower and more expensive than it might seem.

Also in this issue
- Bill Gates explains why we should all be optimists
  We sat down to talk about breakthrough technologies, China, and reasons to be cheerful with this issue’s guest editor.
  
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- 10 of Bill Gates’s favorite books about technology
  And how they helped him choose this year’s list of 10 breakthrough technologies
  
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- Ten big global challenges technology could solve
  None is easy, but all are incredibly important.
  
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- Ten recent low-tech inventions that have changed the world
  Technologies don’t have to be cutting edge to make a profound difference in people’s lives.
  
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- How AlphaZero has rewritten the rules of game play on its own
  David Silver says the computer program that taught itself to be a chess grandmaster exhibits “the essence of creativity.”
  
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- Why drones often aren’t the solution to developing-world problems
  A critical theorist tells us how studying drones lets her better understand how technology and society shape one another.
  
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- The 10 worst technologies of the 21st century
  We all make mistakes sometimes.
  
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