Seven Must-Read Stories (Week ending August 29, 2015)

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

MIT Technology Reviewarchive page

August 28, 2015

When Virtual Reality Collides with Reality, It’s Surreal
A Portland startup called Wild is combining virtual reality with elements of the physical world.
Uber Project May Improve Autonomous Cars’ Vision
Uber’s collaboration with the University of Arizona could make laser mapping systems for cars cheaper and more practical.
New Boss on Construction Sites Is a Drone
Drones are being used to capture video footage that shows construction progress at the Sacramento Kings’ new stadium in California.
DOE Attempts to Jump-Start Concentrated Solar
Researchers seek breakthroughs for a technology designed to make solar more efficient.
Two Companies Close In on a Concussion Blood Test
A pair of companies say they’ve identified proteins that could lead to a blood test to quickly diagnose concussions.
Market Fall Masks Renewable Energy’s Bright Future
Why low oil prices will not halt the clean-energy revolution.
Microsoft Says Programmable Chips Will Make AI Software Smarter
A new approach to powering AI software could produce artificial neural networks of “unprecedented size,” says Microsoft.

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.