MIT Technology Review Narrated
MIT Technology Review Narrated is the audio home for the best journalism from MIT Technology Review. Each week, the podcast shares one of the publication's most ambitious stories, from print and online, narrated by real voice actors. The episodes cover big themes, thought-provoking topics, and sharp analysis, all backed by trusted reporting.
Episodes
The search for dark matter has been blown wide open
After decades of hunting, physicists still don’t know what makes up most of the universe’s matter. Now they need to cast a wider net.
This story was written by Dan Garisto and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever
As space rock 2024 YR4 became more likely to hit Earth than anything of its size had ever been before, scientists all over the world mobilized to protect the planet.
This story was written by Robin George Andrews and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Inside interoception: The hidden sense of how you feel inside
Researchers are decoding how signals move between body and brain, with implications for how we understand and treat conditions from obesity to anxiety.
This story was written by Katherine W. Isaacs and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria
What do the numbers really say about the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market? The answer might surprise you.
This story was written by David Rotman and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Inside Anduril and Meta’s quest to make smart glasses for warfare
It’s been a year since the duo entered the US Army’s troubled augmented-reality contest. Here’s what it looks like so far.
This story was written by James O'Donnell and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
How IVF is being revolutionized
Automation, AI, and screening technologies are already transforming reproductive medicine.
This story was written by Jessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
This scientist rewarmed and studied pieces of his friend’s cryopreserved brain
A gerontologist wanted his preserved brain to be reanimated. Cryopreservation is more likely to be used on organs for transplantation.
This story was written byJessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
NASA is building the first nuclear reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft. How will it work?
NASA wants to fly a nuclear powered spaceship to Mars by the end of 2028. Experts say that’s … ambitious.
This story was written by Robin George Andrews and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over.
Around the country, heated debates are taking place over whether to install artificial turf, pitting neighbors against each other.
This story was written by Douglas Main and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
No one’s sure if synthetic mirror life will kill us all
Synthetic biologists were tantalized by the idea of making mirror images of microbes. Then things got complicated.
This story was written by Stephen Ornes and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Desalination plants in the Middle East are increasingly vulnerable
Conflict and extreme weather could threaten large desalination plants that supply water to the region.
This story was written by Casey Crownhart and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
This company is developing gene therapies for muscle growth, erectile dysfunction, and “radical longevity”
A small group of volunteers will receive multiple injections of an experimental treatments for various enhancements .
This story was written by Jessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home
People in Nigeria and India are strapping iPhones onto their heads and recording themselves doing chores.
This story was written by Michelle Kim and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Can quantum computers now solve health care problems? We’ll soon find out.
After 30 months of fast-paced innovation in quantum algorithms, six research groups are hoping to hit paydirt. But there can be only one big winner—if there is a winner at all.
This story was written by Michael Brooks and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world
Niantic's AI spinout is training a new world model using 30 billion images of urban landmarks crowdsourced from players.
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
How uncrewed narco subs could transform the Colombian drug trade
Fast, stealthy, and cheap—autonomous, semisubmersible drone boats carrying tons of cocaine could be international law enforcement’s nightmare scenario. A big one just came ashore.
This story was written by Eduardo Echeverri López and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
America was winning the race to find Martian life. Then China jumped in.
The Mars Sample Return mission got off to a promising start, hunting for potentially humanity-changing space rocks. How did it fall off the rails?
This story was written by Robin George Andrews and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis
A new wave of theft is rocking the luxury car industry—mixing high tech with old-school chop-shop techniques to snag vehicles while they’re in transport.
This story was written by Craig Silverman and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Hackers made death threats against this security researcher. Big mistake.
Allison Nixon had helped arrest dozens of members of the Com, a loose affiliation of online groups responsible for violence and hacking campaigns. Then she became a target.
This story was written by Kim Zetter and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
Stratospheric internet could finally start taking off this year
High-altitude platforms could help connect over 2 billion people around the world who are still offline.
This story was written by Tereza Pultarova and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint
From molten salt to TRISO fuel, here’s how technological advancements could upend an old power technology.
This story was written by Casey Crownhart and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
China figured out how to sell EVs. Now it has to deal with their aging batteries.
As early electric cars age out, hundreds of thousands of used batteries are flooding the market, fueling a gray recycling economy even as Beijing and big manufacturers scramble to build a more orderly system.
This story was written by Caiwei Chen and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com
This Nobel Prize–winning chemist dreams of making water from thin air
Omar Yaghi thinks crystals with gaps that capture moisture could bring technology from “Dune” to the arid parts of Earth.
This story was written by Alexander C. Kaufman and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Meet the new biologists treating LLMs like aliens
By studying large language models as if they were living things instead of computer programs, scientists are discovering some of their secrets for the first time.
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
What’s next for AI in 2026
Our AI writers make their big bets for the coming year—here are five hot trends to watch.
This story was written by Rhiannon Williams, Will Douglas Heaven, Caiwei Chen, James O'Donnell, Michelle Kim and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet
And why many scientists are freaked out about the first serious for-profit company moving into the solar geoengineering field.
This story was written by James Temple and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Why it’s so hard to bust the weather control conspiracy theory
From effective rain-enhancing technology to a long, secretive history of trying to weaponize storms, there’s fertile ground for misinformation.
This story was written by David Levitan and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
AI materials discovery now needs to move into the real world
Startups flush with cash are building AI-assisted laboratories to find materials far faster and more cheaply, but are still waiting for their ChatGPT moment.
This story was written by David Rotman and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How two brothers became go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion
Two Long Island UFO hunters have been called upon by some domestic law enforcement to investigate unexplained phenomena.
This story was written by Matthew Phelan and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Is this the electric grid of the future?
In Nebraska, a publicly owned utility deftly tackles the challenges of delivering on reliability, affordability, and sustainability.
This story was written by Andrew Blum and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures
Scientists hope to prevent deaths from climate change, but heat and cold are more complicated than we thought.
This story was written by Max G. Levy and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How to fix the internet
If we want online discourse to improve, we need to move beyond the big platforms.
This story was written by Katie Notopoulos and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Why climate researchers are taking the temperature of mountain snow
As climate change fuels increasingly erratic weather, scientists need a better read on snowpack temperature to understand when water will reach reservoirs—and when it threatens to flood them.
This story was written by James Temple and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
What it’s like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert)
Mike Rothschild has spent years studying the rise of QAnon and antivaccine conspiracism. After his house in Altadena, California, burned down, he found himself mired in similarly sticky webs of misinformation.
This story was written by Mike Rothschild and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.
Some therapists are using AI during therapy sessions. They’re risking their clients’ trust and privacy in the process.
This story was written by Laurie Clarke and narrated by Noa -
newsoveraudio.com.
Supershoes are reshaping distance running
Kenyan runners, like many others, are grappling with the impact of expensive, high-performance shoes.
This story was written by Jonathan W. Rosen and narrated by Noa -
newsoveraudio.com.
How Antarctica’s history of isolation is ending—thanks to Starlink
The seventh continent has always been a bleak, unconnected place. Elon Musk’s satellite internet is changing that, and people want to see what life is like there.
This story was written by Allegra Rosenberg and narrated by Noa -
newsoveraudio.com.
Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos
Frozen embryos are filling storage banks around the world. It's a struggle to know what to do with them.
This story was written by Jessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa -
newsoveraudio.com.
How to measure the returns on R&D spending
Forget the glorious successes of past breakthroughs—the real
justification for research investment is what we get for our money. Here’s what economists say.
This story was written by David Rotman and narrated by Noa -
newsoveraudio.com.
How do AI models generate videos?
With powerful video generation tools now in the hands of more people than ever, let's take a look at how they work.
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
What’s next for AI and math
The last year has seen rapid progress in the ability of large language models to tackle math at high school level and beyond. Is AI closing in on human mathematicians?
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How AI can help supercharge creativity
Forget one-click creativity. These artists and musicians are finding new ways to make art using AI, by injecting friction, challenge, and serendipity into the process.
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Google DeepMind has a new way to look inside an AI’s “mind”
Autoencoders are letting us peer into the black box of artificial intelligence. They could help us create AI that is better understood, and more easily controlled.
This story was written by Scott J Mulligan and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions
With a new reasoning model that matches the performance of ChatGPT o1, DeepSeek managed to turn restrictions into innovation.
This story was written by Caiwei Chen and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming
Agents could make it easier and cheaper for criminals to hack systems at scale. We need to be ready.
This story was written by Rhiannon Williams and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How to run an LLM on your laptop
It’s now possible to run useful models from the safety and comfort of your own computer. Here’s how.
This story was written by Grace Huckins and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Can nuclear power really fuel the rise of AI?
Tech giants are looking for more energy, but building new reactors takes time.
This story was written by Casey Crownhart and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
GPT-5 is here. Now what?
The much-hyped release makes several enhancements to the ChatGPT user experience. But it’s still far short of AGI.
This story was written by Grace Huckins and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it
Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge.
This story was written by Mat Honan and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys?
We’re starting to give AI agents real autonomy, and we’re not prepared for what could happen next.
This story was written by Grace Huckins and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone
There’s an accelerating cat-and-mouse game between web publishers and AI crawlers, and we all stand to lose.
This story was written by Shayne Longpre and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
This rare earth metal shows us the future of our planet’s resources
The story of neodymium reveals many of the challenges we’ll likely face across the supply chain in the coming century and beyond.
This story was written by Casey Crownhart and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The Biggest Questions: How did life begin?
AI is helping chemists unpick the mysteries around the origins of life and detect signs of it on other worlds.
This story was written by Michael Marshall and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The tech industry can’t agree on what open-source AI means. That’s a problem.
What counts as 'open-source AI'? The answer could determine who gets to shape the future of the technology.
This story was written by Edd Gent and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars?
From generous government subsidies to support for lithium batteries, here are the keys to understanding how China managed to build a world-leading industry in electric vehicles.
This story was written by Zeyi Yang and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business
In China, people are seeking help from AI-generated avatars to process their grief after a family member passes away.
This story was written by Zeyi Yang and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The surprising barrier that keeps us from building the housing we need
Sure, there's too much red tape, but there is another reason building anything is so expensive: the construction industry's "awful" productivity.
This story was written by David Rotman and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How DeepSeek became a fortune teller for China’s youth
AI-powered BaZi analysis has become the new oracle for a disillusioned generation seeking answers.
This story was written by Caiwei Chen and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Google, Amazon and the problem with Big Tech’s climate claims
How companies like Amazon and Google reach their emissions goals is more important than how fast.
This story was written by James Temple and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Congress used to evaluate emerging technologies. Let’s do it again.
A look back at the Office of Technology Assessment, the Congressional think tank that detected lies and tested tech.
This story was written by Peter Andrey Smith and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
What’s next for our privacy?
The US still has no federal privacy law. But recent enforcement actions against data brokers may offer some new protections for Americans’ personal information.
This story was written by Eileen Guo and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How Trump’s tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more
The incoming administration’s hostile trade plans threaten to slow the shift to cleaner industries, boost inflation, and stall the economy.
This story was written by James Temple and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The second wave of AI coding is here
A string of startups are racing to build models that can produce better and better software. They claim it’s the shortest path to AGI.
This story was written by Will Douglas Heaven and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Quantum computing is taking on its biggest challenge: noise
For a while researchers thought they’d have to make do with noisy, error-prone systems, at least in the near term. That’s starting to change.
This story was written by Michael Brooks and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Will we ever trust robots?
If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes?
This story was written by James O'Donnell and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Exosomes are touted as a trendy cure-all. We don’t know if they work.
People are spending thousands of dollars on unproven exosome therapies for hair loss, skin aging, and acne, as well as more serious conditions like long covid and Alzheimer’s.
This story was written by Jessica Hamzelou and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The quest to figure out farming on Mars
If we’re going to live on Mars we’ll need a way to grow food in its arid dirt. Researchers think they know a way.
This story was written by David W. Brown and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How tracking animal movement may save the planet
Researchers have been dreaming of an Internet of Animals. They’re getting closer to monitoring 100,000 creatures—and revealing hidden facets of our shared world.
This story was written by Matthew Ponsford and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Happy birthday, baby! What the future holds for those born today
An intelligent digital agent could be a companion for life—and other predictions for the next 125 years.
This story was written by Kara Platoni and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern Europe
Startups in Latvia and other nearby countries see the mobilization of Ukraine as a warning and as inspiration. They are now changing consumer products—from scooters to recreational drones—for use on the battlefield.
This story was written by Peter Guest and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
AI search could break the web
At its best, AI search can better infer a user’s intent, amplify quality content, and synthesize information from diverse sources. But if AI search becomes our primary portal to the web, it threatens to disrupt an already precarious digital economy.
Today, the production of content online depends on a fragile set of incentives tied to virtual foot traffic: ads, subscriptions, donations, sales, or
The messy quest to replace drugs with electricity
“Electroceuticals” promised the post-pharma future for medicine. But the exclusive focus on the nervous system is seeming less and less warranted.
This story was written by Sally Adee and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
The weeds are winning
As the climate changes, genetic engineering will be essential for growing food. But is it creating a race of superweeds?
This story was written by Douglas Main and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.
Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch
Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics.
Those expectations have been especially high in physics and chemistry, where the weird effects of quantum mechanics come into play. In theory, this is where quantum computers could have a huge advantage
The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age
We’re making more data than ever. What can—and should—we save for future generations? And will they be able to understand it?
This story was written by Niall Firth and narrated by Noa.
Is this the end of animal testing?
More than 60 companies now produce organs on chips commercially, focusing on five major organs: liver, kidney, lung, intestines, and brain. They’re already being used to understand diseases, discover and test new drugs, and explore personalized approaches to treatment. Could this be the end of animal testing?
This story was written by Harriet Brown and narrated by Noa.
Meet the divers trying to figure out how deep humans can go
Figuring out how the human body can withstand underwater pressure has been a problem for over a century, but a ragtag band of divers is experimenting with hydrogen to find out.
This story was written by Samantha Schuyler and narrated by Noa.
Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality
Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, has set his sights on a new mixed-reality headset customer: the Pentagon.
His company Anduril Industries, which focuses on drones, cruise missiles, and other AI-enhanced technologies for the US Department of Defense, announced it would partner with Microsoft on the US Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), arguably the military’s largest effo
How covid conspiracy theories led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism
Podcaster Joe Rogan, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and football quarterback Aaron Rodgers are all helping revive AIDS denialism—a false collection of theories arguing either that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS or that there’s no such thing as HIV at all.
These ideas were initially promoted back in the 1980s and ’90s by a cadre of scientists from unrelated fields, as well as many
How to fine-tune AI for prosperity
The newest versions of generative AI are bedazzling, with lifelike videos, seemingly expert-sounding prose, and other all too humanlike behaviors. Business leaders are fretting over how to reinvent their companies as billions flow into startups, and the big AI companies are creating ever more powerful models. Predictions abound on how ChatGPT and the growing list of large language models will tran
