Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending April 18, 2015)

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

MIT Technology Reviewarchive page

April 17, 2015

Lake Kivu’s Great Gas Gamble
In a first-of-its-kind endeavor, electricity-starved Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are trying to get power from a lake—and avert catastrophe.
What Microsoft Was for PCs, This Company Hopes to Be for Drones
Startup unveils a control system it hopes will become the industry standard for commercial unmanned aerial vehicles.
CRISPR Patent Fight Now a Winner-Take-All Match
Lab notebooks could determine who was first to invent a revolutionary gene-editing technology.
Putting Technology in Its Place
Kentaro Toyama went to India with noble intentions for using technology to improve people’s lives. Now he’s wrestling with why the impact was so small.
A New Competitor for Bitcoin Aims to Be Faster and Safer
A Stanford professor claims to have invented a Bitcoin-like system that can handle payments faster and with more security.
A Way to Hide Corporate Data from Hackers
A system that keeps data on corporate computers and mobile devices encrypted until it is viewed may help prevent breaches.
Why Zapping the Brain Helps Parkinson’s Patients
Deep brain stimulation could lead to a more effective, self-tuning device for Parkinson’s.

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.