Introducing our 10 game-changing technologies

Each year, MIT Technology Review reporters and editors select 10 game-changing technologies, all of which hold the promise of fundamentally changing the way we live and work. This year’s list covers everything from space science and telemedicine to advances in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. They represent the technologies that we believe will have the greatest impact on our lives in the coming year.

This year’s TR10 is the 22nd we’ve published, and I’ll be highlighting an entry each day in The Download for the next 10 days, starting tomorrow. We hope you enjoy marveling at advancements in gene editing, military drones, battery recycling, and computer chip design, to name a few.

David Rotman, our editor, has written a fascinating introductory essay that explains how legislation investing hundreds of billions in industry and research and development could redefine the way we think about the role of governments in the economy. You can read it here.

Finally, we want to hear from you! We’re giving you the chance to help choose an 11th bonus technology. You can vote in our poll until March 1, when I’ll announce the winner in The Download.

TR10: what the publishers think Mat Honan, our Editor-in-Chief, Amy Nordrum, our Operations Editor, and David Rotman will host a conversation on LinkedIn Live to discuss this year’s list today from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. Register here to login.

The unavoidable

I’ve scoured the internet to find you today’s funniest/important/scariest/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Brazilian Congress rioters planned their attack on social media
It has chilling echoes of the US Capitol protests two years ago. (WP$)
+ Rioters stormed many federal buildings in Brasilia. (voice)
+ The protesters communicated using coded messages on Telegram. (BBC)
+ Questions have been raised about the extent to which the police tried to arrest them. (Economist $)

2 Nearly 90% of people in a major Chinese province have covid
More than 88 million people in Henan have been infected. (BBC)
+ South Korea says China’s ‘pride’ prevents it from accepting foreign vaccines. (FT$)

3 A man died while working in an Amazon warehouse
His colleagues were not notified and were ordered to continue working as normal. (The Guardian)

4 Elon Musk has had enough of San Francisco’s ‘negativity’
He was asked to move an upcoming trial out of town, complaining that local jurors would be biased against him. (The edge)
+ Musk’s cult isn’t as all-consuming as it used to be. (FT$)
+ Some fired Twitter employees eventually received paltry severance packages. (Initiate $)
+ Twitter is sailing dangerously close to MySpace territory. ($Bloomberg)

5 NASA satellite crash could pose danger to South Koreans
Authorities sent phone alerts warning civilians to beware of debris. ($Bloomberg)
+ NASA’s lunar mission is picking up speed. (WP$)

6 At least the crypto journalists are having fun
The drama of recent months is catnip for journalists. (Slate $)
+ The Winklevoss twins crypto exchange is in hot water. (Information $)
+ The computer scientist who chases costly bugs in crypto code. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Climate change shakes up archeology
While droughts expose artifacts, storms also ruin research sites. (Axios)
+ A startup says it has started releasing particles into the atmosphere, with the aim of altering the climate. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Mexico bends over backwards for digital nomads
Gig workers say they cook less spicy dishes to appease foreign visitors. (Rest of the world)

9 Why Silicon Valley Loves Horses So Much
Equine therapy encourages executives to open up and embrace the natural world. (Information $)

10 Does your outdated profile picture make you a catfish?
Some professionals need to update theirs more often than others. (Wired $)