Climate tech is back—and this time, it can’t afford to fail
Boston Metal’s strategy is to try to make the transition as digestible as possible for steelmakers. “We won’t own and...
World
The Download: generative AI’s carbon footprint, and a CRISPR patent battle
The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 This is why we’re...
A high school’s deepfake porn scandal is pushing US lawmakers into action
Efforts from members of Congress to clamp down on deepfake pornography are not entirely new. In 2019 and 2021, Representative...
The first CRISPR cure might kickstart the next big patent battle
And really, what’s the point of such a hard-won triumph unless it’s to enforce your rights? “Honestly, this train has been...
Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone
“If you’re doing a specific application, like searching through email … do you really need these big models that are...
Sustainability starts with the data center
For data center operators, options for boosting sustainability include shifting energy sources, upgrading physical infrastructure and hardware, improving and automating...
The Download: abandoning carbon offsets, and creating new materials
In the fall of 2018, the University of California tasked a team of researchers with identifying projects from which it...
The University of California has all but dropped carbon offsets—and thinks you should, too
Direct cuts In 2013, the University of California pledged to achieve carbon neutrality across its campuses and health centers within...
Google DeepMind’s new AI tool helped create more than 700 new materials
GNoME can be described as AlphaFold for materials discovery, according to Ju Li, a materials science and engineering professor at...
The X Prize is taking aim at aging with a new $101 million award
The intent isn’t to reverse aging per se, says Diamandis, but rather to restore some of the function we lose...
Augmenting the realities of work
So, for example. Right now, we do video meetings. It would be more interesting for some people to be able...
The Download: the year’s most-read climate stories, and Amazon’s chatbot
2023 has been a big year for climate news. Wildfires, floods and heatwaves displaced and killed thousands of people across...
Procurement in the age of AI
Influencing compliance spend. Procurement professionals aim to balance employees’ freedom to purchase the items they need with minimal intervention. However,...
The Download: COP28 controversy and the future of families
The United Arab Emirates is one of the world’s largest oil producers. It's also the site of this year’s UN...
Why the UN climate talks are a moment of reckoning for oil and gas companies
In order to be on track for net-zero emissions, the oil and gas industry will need to cut emissions from...
The Download: unpacking OpenAI Q* hype, and X’s financial woes
While we still don’t know all the details, there have been reports that researchers at OpenAI had made a “breakthrough”...
Unpacking the hype around OpenAI’s rumored new Q* model
While we still don’t know all the details, there have been reports that researchers at OpenAI had made a “breakthrough”...
Finding value in generative AI for financial services
According to a McKinsey report, generative AI could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually in value to the global economy. The...
The Download: OpenAI’s wild year, and tech’s cult of personality
Few companies can say they’ve had more of a rollercoaster year than OpenAI. At the beginning of 2023, the world’s...
The Download: how to talk about climate tech, and Sam Altman’s past
Our climate reporter Casey Crownhart has been in the middle of plenty of heated conversations around the dinner table. And...