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Our Favorite Stories of 2022
We like to think we’ve had a great year at MIT Technology Review. Our story has won numerous awards (this story from our magazine that won a Gold Award at the AAAS Awards) and our surveys helped exposing unjust policies.
So this year we asked our writers and editors to look back over the last 12 months and try to pick just one of their favorite stories — and tell us why. that’s what they say.
What’s next for artificial intelligence
In 2022, artificial intelligence begins to get creative. AI models can now generate remarkably convincing text, pictures, and even video, with just a hint. It’s been just nine months since OpenAI ignited the generative AI explosion with the introduction of DALL-E 2, a deep learning model that can generate images based on textual instructions. It was followed by a breakthrough from Google and Meta: AI that can generate video from text. It’s been just a few weeks since OpenAI released ChatGPT, the latest large-scale language model that ignited the internet with its prodigious eloquence and coherence.
The pace of innovation this year has been remarkable—sometimes overwhelming. Who could have predicted its arrival? How can we predict what will happen next?
Our in-house experts Will Douglas Heaven and Melissa Heikkilä tell us four trends they expect to shape the AI landscape in 2023. read more
Brain stimulation may be more invasive than we thought
Today, there are many neurotechnologies that can read what’s going on in our brains, modify how they work, and change the wiring. For example, deep brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes deep in the brain to stimulate neurons and control the way brain regions fire. In a medical sense, it is considered very invasive.
Other treatments, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, which involve passing a device shaped like a figure-of-eight over a person’s head to deliver magnetic pulses to various parts of the brain and interfere with their activity, are considered “non-invasive” because They are brains acting from the outside. But if we can get into a person’s mind, even without piercing the skull, how non-invasive is this technology really? read more.
— Jessica Hamzelloo
Jessica’s story comes from The Checkup, her weekly newsletter covering everything worth knowing about the world of biotech. register Get it in your inbox every Thursday.
Podcast: The Future of Agriculture Lies in Space
Artificial intelligence is used in agriculture to pinpoint weeds and optimize irrigation patterns. It’s also being used in ways you might not expect, like tracking the health of a dairy ranch from space. In part one of a two-part series on agriculture, artificial intelligence, and satellites, we go from test farm to orchard.
keep listening apple podcasts Or anywhere you usually listen to podcasts.
required reading
I combed the internet to find you the funniest/most important/scary/fascinating stories about technology today.
1 Sam Bankman-Fried released on $250 million bond
He faces home detention while awaiting trial. (bbc)
+ It was one of the largest bail bonds in U.S. history. (Bloomberg $)
+ Crypto Twitter Not Impressed With His Easy Conditions.(Coin Telegram)
2 A severe storm forces American Airlines to cancel flights
+ Scramble left, right and center for Christmas travel. (wall street journal $)
+ It will sweep through most of the United States and into Canada. (wired $)
3 We don’t know how effective the nasal covid vaccine will be
And because we’re not collecting the right kind of data, we may never know. (Atlantic Organization $)
+ Two inhaled covid vaccines have been approved – but we don’t yet know how good they are. (MIT Technology Review)
+ US life expectancy drops again.(axiom)
4 Twitter starts showing how many people saw your tweet
Here’s another gasp from Elon Musk. (technology crisis)
+ Twitter looks like it’s crashing right now. (Atlantic Organization $)
+ We’re witnessing Twitter’s brain death. (MIT Technology Review)
5-byte beating has been following reporters
Its employees improperly gained access to their IP addresses in an attempt to determine whether they had been in contact with ByteDance employees. (Forbes)
+ After all, the company failed to detect any leaks. (Financial Times $)
+ TikTok is desperately trying to please the United States. (Reuters)
6 NFTs are at a crossroads
Their value plummeted, but the preacher refused to give up. (wired $)
+ Some cryptocurrency stalwarts are trying to absorb losses. (vice)
7 Laid-off immigrant skilled workers in trouble
Losing their jobs meant their families couldn’t work either, leaving many with no choice but to leave the country. (protector)
+ For the startup founder, the bankruptcy of his business is a relief. (Information $)
8 This year is a milestone year for electric vehicles
They are no longer just synonymous with Tesla. (sound)
+ Why EVs Won’t Replace Hybrids Anytime Soon. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Japan’s space agency is sending a toy-like rover to the moon
This adorable ball was designed by popular toymaker Tomy. (New Yorker $)
+ The Perseverance rover has dropped its first sample tube. (register)
10 We’re Living Our First BeReal Christmas
Unfortunately, originality is very rare. (vice)
daily quote
“Despite the odds, amid the doom and gloom, Ukraine has not collapsed. Ukraine is alive and playing.”
— Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky thanked the U.S. Congress for its financial support of Ukraine and its people 10 months after the Russian invasion, CNN report.
big story
Startups race to replicate breast milk in the lab
December 2020
Like many mothers, Leila Strickland found breastfeeding difficult. She struggled to feed her son and, three years later, her daughter, nursing or pumping all day every day to stimulate her milk flow.
Strickland, a professor of vascular physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, began thinking about how she might be able to use a process pioneered by the Dutch food technology company Mosa Meat to make artificial beef, but for cells that produce human milk.
She had struggled to keep the project funded for years, and she almost gave up on the idea. But in May 2020, the company she founded, Biomilq, received $3.5 million from a group of investors led by Bill Gates. Biomilq is now taking on rivals to shake up the world of infant nutrition in a way not seen since the birth of the now $42 billion formula industry. read more.
— Hayley Cohen Gilliland
we can still have nice things
A place of comfort, fun and distraction in these strange times. (Any ideas?leave me a messageeithertweet me.)
+ I must admit, I haven’t heard of Flirt with the onion emoji so far.
+ Even millennials are starting to look for millennials cringe.
+ A Fearless Guide for All Netflix’s Cheesy Holiday Movies– Be aware of your dangers.
+ This chef is bravely reimagining an Italian Christmas classic festive pastryWith a touch of Silesian flair.
+ How to make new year’s resolution You actually stick to it.
