Brain Implant Volunteers Seek Fairer Trial Terms
For decades, scientists have worked to decode brain activity, and today’s teams have built implants that can control robotic limbs, operate computers, and even help people speak. Yet the volunteers who test these devices, often for years, have historically had little say in how they are treated. Ian Burkhart, who received an implant himself after […]
Silicon Valley’s Midterm Miscalculation
Silicon Valley’s leaders have built their reputations on foresight. Figures such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, along with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, have long positioned themselves as people who can see decades ahead. Yet just five weeks before the midterm elections, many of these executives appeared together at the White House, posing with […]
Silicon Valley’s Blind Spot and Nvidia’s Chip Tracking
Silicon Valley has built its reputation on seeing the future, yet many of its leaders recently appeared to misread the political landscape. Five weeks before the midterms, a group of tech executives gathered at the White House to pose with President Trump and endorse his artificial intelligence agenda, despite growing public opposition to AI and […]
COP31 Talks and the Race for Cognitive Immortality
Thousands of delegates, lobbyists, and journalists have converged on Antalya, Turkey, for COP31, the annual United Nations climate negotiations. This year’s talks unfold against a tense geopolitical backdrop, as the world continues to fall further behind the goals set by the Paris Agreement. Soaring energy prices have raised pressing questions about how nations will confront […]
Nvidia Privately Said It Could Track Smuggled Chips
Nvidia representatives told Illinois Representative Bill Foster that implementing the anti-smuggling measures in the proposed Chip Security Act would be technically possible, Foster told MIT Technology Review. The disclosure stands in contrast to the public position of the Semiconductor Industry Association, of which Nvidia is a member, which in March 2026 called the bill’s chip-tracking […]
Inside COP31: What to Expect From the Antalya Climate Talks
Delegates, lobbyists, and journalists have gathered in Antalya, Turkey, for this year’s UN climate negotiations. COP31 kicked off on November 8 and is scheduled to conclude on November 20, with Turkey and Australia serving as cohosts. Known as the “Conference of the Parties,” the annual summit is often a barometer for how the world is […]
Preserving Minds and Weighing Open AI Risks
Our memories fade as we age, yet something stubbornly persists: at 30, 50, or 70, we still feel like ourselves. Driven by that puzzle of personal continuity, a group of forward-thinking technologists is exploring ways to keep the mind functioning beyond death. Proposals range from freezing brains in liquid nitrogen to augmenting living brains and […]
Rethinking Metal Extraction for a Critical Future
For more than a century, many metal extraction processes have relied on scientific foundations that would be familiar to metallurgists from earlier generations. Furnaces have grown larger and control systems smarter, yet the fundamental chemistry of separating metals from ores has evolved far less than most people realize. Today’s materials challenges, however, differ sharply from […]
Pelosi’s Successor Eyes AI Rules; Data Centers Face Power Strain
Scott Wiener, the California state senator who authored legislation aimed at curbing the risks of advanced AI, has won a tight congressional race to succeed Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco. Shortly after his victory was declared, he spoke about the dangers he sees in rapidly advancing AI, using the phrase “recursive self-improvement” repeatedly. “We need […]
Pelosi’s Successor Eyes Federal AI Regulation
Scott Wiener, the California state senator who recently won a tight congressional race to succeed Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco, may soon be positioned to shape federal artificial intelligence policy. Wiener previously authored state legislation aimed at reducing the risks of advanced AI, and he has made the concerns of the AI safety movement central […]