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The Download: carbon removal factories’ funding cuts, and AI toys

“OpenAI is building the future of AI on infrastructure it doesn’t own, power it doesn’t control, and capital it doesn’t have.” —Andrey Sidorenko, head of research at data firm Mostly AI, critiques... Read more »

The Trump administration may cut funding for two major direct-air capture plants

The list features a “latest status” column, which includes the word “terminate” next to the roughly $50 million award amounts for each project. Those line up with the initial tranche of Department... Read more »

The US is set to cancel funding for two major direct-air capture plants

The list notes that around $50 million in funding has been terminated for both projects, the initial tranche of Department of Energy (DOE) funding for each development. Each was set to receive... Read more »

AI toys are all the rage in China—and now they’re appearing on shelves in the US too

But Chinese AI toy companies have their sights set beyond the nation’s borders. BubblePal was launched in the US in December 2024 and is now also available in Canada and the UK.... Read more »

The Download: extracting lithium, and what we still don’t know about Sora

On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world. This otherworldly scene is... Read more »

This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake isn’t an obvious place to develop a lithium mine. The Salton Sea boasts lithium concentrations of just under 200 parts per million. Argentina, where Lilac has another test... Read more »

The three big unanswered questions about Sora

OpenAI is making moves toward monetizing things (you can now buy products directly through ChatGPT, for example). On October 3, its CEO, Sam Altman, wrote in a blog post that “we are... Read more »

The Download: introducing the 10 climate tech companies to watch for 2025

Every year, the MIT Technology Review newsroom produces a list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. It’s an exercise that we hope brings positive attention to... Read more »

2025 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: Kairos Power and its next-generation nuclear reactors

Furthermore, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 slammed the doors on supplies of Russian uranium, including the fuel with a higher concentration of uranium-235 that’s needed to make the pellets for Kairos’s... Read more »

2025 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: Cyclic Materials and its rare earth recycling tech

Cyclic Materials is trying to address that challenge. In its two-part recycling process, rare earth–containing devices will first be amassed at “spoke” facilities. The devices will be shredded, and their magnet waste... Read more »