Seven Must-Read Stories (Week ending January 9, 2016)

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

MIT Technology Reviewarchive page

January 8, 2016

Human-Animal Chimeras Are Gestating on U.S. Research Farms
A radical new approach to generating human organs is to grow them inside pigs or sheep.
Battles Over Net Metering Cloud the Future of Rooftop Solar
Nevada’s reversal of net metering fees for solar owners marks a dramatic turn in the fight over solar policies.
Promising New Solar Material Boosts Performance of Silicon
Researchers say they’ve overcome an obstacle to making highly efficient solar devices by combining silicon with a new material.
Oculus Rift Gets a Price Tag: $599
Oculus’s price for its first consumer virtual-reality headset may influence how others price theirs.
Recommended Reads on the Robot and AI Beat This Week
A roundup of interesting stories on robotics and artificial intelligence from other sites, collected by Will Knight, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor for AI.
Intel Really, Really Wants You to Wear a Computer
Intel is finally getting ready to ship a tiny computer that could help make wearable gadgets a lot sleeker.
How Drones May Avoid Collisions by Sharing Knowledge
Instead of programming drones to know what to do in every single scenario, a Stanford lab is giving them the intelligence to understand their surroundings.

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.