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Big Tech remains silent on questions about data privacy in a post-Roe US

Google says in its terms of service that the company reserves the right to remove any content that violates the law or could harm other users, third parties, or Google itself. Those... Read more »

The world will need dozens of breakthrough climate technologies in the next decade

Such “advance market commitments” have enabled cutting-edge technologies to swiftly reach commercial markets in other fields, from vaccine development to commercial spaceflight. The same approach could shrink the timeline to scaling up... Read more »

Computers will be transformed by alternative materials and approaches—maybe sooner than you think

Optical computing, an early approach that was later abandoned in favor of binary electronic circuitry, is also moving forward. I am fascinated by the possibility of building computers that use light as... Read more »

Rewriting what we thought was possible in biotech

It’s been exciting to see technology that rewrites and improves what we thought was an established health concept—how to evaluate the need for knee surgery, for instance. With the help of technology,... Read more »

AI’s progress isn’t the same as creating human intelligence in machines

But GPT-3 suffers from several problems that researchers are working to address. It’s often inconsistent—you can get contradictory answers to the same question. Second, GPT-3 is prone to “hallucinations”: when asked who... Read more »

Materials with nanoscale components will change what’s possible

Thanks to this built-in responsiveness, future materials could be made with some decision-making capabilities and adaptability. Intelligent materials may be able to automatically release precise amounts of medication, heal themselves when damaged,... Read more »

A pro-China online influence campaign is targeting the rare-earths industry

China has come to dominate the market in recent years, and by 2017 the country produced over 80% of the world’s supply. Beijing achieved this by pouring resources into the study and... Read more »

The U.S. only has 6,000 fast charging stations for EVs. Here’s where they all are.

The infrastructure bill that passed in November 2021 earmarked $7.5 billion for President Biden’s goal of having 500,000 chargers (individual plugs, not stations) around the nation. In the best case, Michalek envisions... Read more »

The Download: Big Tech’s post-Roe silence, and the US EV charging landscape

In the days after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, tech companies rushed to show their support for employees living in states where the procedure is now outlawed.... Read more »

How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry

Industrial steelmaking spits out about two tons of carbon dioxide emissions for every ton of steel produced—adding up to nearly 10% of such emissions worldwide. The global steel market is expected to... Read more »