Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending May 30, 2015)
Tech in Cuba, Before the Thaw
Cuba is on the brink of opening up to the Internet as we know it; here’s a look at digital life inside the country today.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco bureau chief
Relax, the Terminator Is Far Away
Maybe the machines will rise against us one day. First they have to learn to open doors.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, biomedicine
Evan Spiegel Reveals Plan to Turn Snapchat into a Real Business
The 24-year old cofounder and CEO of Snapchat shares his plan to win over Madison Avenue, despite the fact that he answers a question about his long-term vision like this: “These are the kinds of questions I hate, dude.”
—Megan Barnett, deputy editor
Ignore the Tech Skeptics
This is a thoughtful critique of the dystopia/euphoria dichotomy that colors a lot of technology criticism.
—Kyanna Sutton, senior Web producer
I Fooled Millions into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here’s How.
A cautionary (and disappointing!) tale about the perils of lazy science journalism.
—Linda Lowenthal, copy chief
Inside the War on Coal
How the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign became one of the most successful in the history of environmentalism.
—Linda Lowenthal
What We Don’t See
Now that seemingly everything is photographed, what will not show up in our collective memories?
—Brian Bergstein, executive editor
Lyme Disease on Plum Island: Fringe Conspiracy Theory or Government Cover-Up?
Some say Lyme disease escaped from a lab on Plum Island, New York.
—J. Juniper Friedman, associate Web producer
Breaking the Saudi Rules of Succession
A peek into the opaque world of royal Saudi politics explains the surprising choices for succession after the death of the current monarch, Salman, who is 79 and in ill health. What happens will have implications for worldwide energy markets, and for the ongoing tumult in the Middle East.
—Richard Martin, senior editor, energy
Keep Reading
Most Popular
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.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.