B:16.625” T:16.375” S:15.625” S:10” T:10.5” B:10.75” When will someone bring the future forward faster? We started by connecting the phone to the Internet, now we’re connecting the Internet to everything. By inventing technologies that connect your car, your home, and the cities in which we all live, we’re accelerating a smarter, more seamless and intuitively synchronized world. We are Qualcomm, and these are just a few of the ways we’re bringing the future forward faster. #WhyWait to join the discussion Qualcomm.com/WhyWait © 2016 Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Why Wait is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Untitled-2 2 11/30/15 2:26 PM D22648_1a_P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd D22648c01A_Brain_Blue_3u.tif 11.23.15 Epson HP Client: QUALCOMM Document: P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd Date: 11-20-2015 4:01 PM Notes:December 1 Job No.: P56191 DDB Office: San Francisco Trim: 16.375” x 10.5” Description: MIT TECH REVIEW Pick-up Job No.: NONE Gutter: None Color(s): 4C Miller, Jason APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC B:16.625” T:16.375” S:15.625” S:10” T:10.5” B:10.75” When will someone bring the future forward faster? We started by connecting the phone to the Internet, now we’re connecting the Internet to everything. By inventing technologies that connect your car, your home, and the cities in which we all live, we’re accelerating a smarter, more seamless and intuitively synchronized world. We are Qualcomm, and these are just a few of the ways we’re bringing the future forward faster. #WhyWait to join the discussion Qualcomm.com/WhyWait © 2016 Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Why Wait is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Untitled-2 3 11/30/15 2:26 PM D22648_1a_P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd D22648c01A_Brain_Blue_3u.tif 11.23.15 Epson HP Client: QUALCOMM Document: P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd Date: 11-20-2015 4:01 PM Notes:December 1 Job No.: P56191 DDB Office: San Francisco Trim: 16.375” x 10.5” Description: MIT TECH REVIEW Pick-up Job No.: NONE Gutter: None Color(s): 4C Miller, Jason APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 119 | NO. 1 TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM From the Editor I don’t recall when I first heard about cli- generated by renewable sources or gen- mate change. It was before Jim Han- erate power from safer, cheaper nuclear sen, then director of NASA’s Institute reactors. These efforts will require smart for Space Studies in Manhattan, testi- energy policies, international treaties, fied before the U.S. Congress on June 23, and a significant increase in the amount 1988. Then, he told the Senate Energy nations spend on energy R&D. and Natural Resources Committee, “It Other unknowns are the climate’s is time to stop waffling so much and say sensitivity to increases in atmospheric that the evidence is pretty strong that the carbon dioxide and the impact those greenhouse effect is here.” temperature increases will have. David I am 48 years old; I have been hear- Rotman, MIT Technology Review’s edi- ing about climate change most of my tor, argues (see “Hot and Violent,” page life. We have been waffling the whole 70), “No one knows how climate change time. Yet until recently there was some will transform our lives. Not only is it sense, however inchoate, that significant uncertain how much elevated levels of changes were still avoidable if we acted. carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will It’s now clear to everyone except the raise temperatures and affect precipita- most inveterate climate-change skeptics tion in different parts of the world, but that what Hansen told Congress in 1988 there remains much to learn about how is the case: climate change is here. As these changes will reduce agricultural Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the productivity, damage human health, and Carnegie Institution for Science, writes affect economic growth.” Could climate in “Stop Emissions!” on page 40, part of change, Rotman asks, “lead to a far more this issue’s coverage of climate change: violent world?” “Already, in the middle latitudes of the At least 2 °C of global warming, Northern Hemisphere, average tem- which was once thought the upper peratures are increasing at a rate that band of what we could bear as a civili- is equivalent to moving south about 10 zation, now seems locked in. More may meters (30 feet) each day.” We failed to be likely. We must begin to imagine the act in time. social, economic, agricultural, and engi- What’s left to be discovered is how neering implications of living in that bad it will be, how fast it will happen, future, and plan accordingly. It will be and what we will do about it. The first hotter; seas will rise and flood cities; great unknown is how quickly we will there will be more droughts and storms, abandon coal, petroleum, and natural and crops will fail; the nations will fight; gas. If we burn all available fossil-fuel and refugees will stream from the poor resources and dump the resulting car- parts of the world. bon dioxide into the air, global average Faced with all this, it’s easy to recall temperatures could rise as much as the words of Job 3:25—“The thing 9 °C; mammals might not be able to live which I greatly feared is come upon me, at the waist of the Earth. That probably and that which I was afraid of is come won’t happen, but to limit temperature unto me.” But it’s never too late until it’s increases, we must swiftly deploy the too late; life goes on unless it doesn’t. low-carbon energy technologies that we We have to decide what we want to do do understand, such as solar and wind next. That’s the moral imperative and power, while researching and developing the practical reality. Don’t panic. TI T solutions to energy problems that still Write me and tell me what you think O VI D elude us, like how to store the electricity at [email protected]. UI G 2 JF16_editor.indd 2 12/9/15 11:25 AM Untitled-2 1 12/8/15 5:31 PM MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 119 | NO. 1 TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM Contents Front Back January / February 2016 2 From the Editor CLIMATE BUSINESS REPORT 10 Feedback 61 Funding Innovation Around the world, investment in VIEWS innovation is exploding. 12 Early Intervention CHANGE It should be possible to help REVIEWS people with Down syndrome even before they’re born. 70 Hot and Violent Tempers will rise as climate 12 Child’s Play change strains resources. Smarter computers will mimic By David Rotman the brains of children. 76 The End of Advertising as 13 The Encryption Myth We Know It We don’t need to make it easier Ad blockers present a great for law enforcement to get our opportunity for better ads. data; it’s already easy enough. By Doc Searls 80 Are Young Athletes Risking UPFRONT Brain Damage? 15 Google’s Great Virtual- The earlier kids play contact Reality Experiment sports, the worse the problem. With Cardboard, Google hopes By Amanda Schaffer to push high-end VR gadgets into irrelevance. DEMO 18 Gene-Edited Dogs 84 The Ideal Fuel How genome engineering gave Taking a lesson from leaves. us a super-muscular beagle. By Katherine Bourzac 20 The Fast Rise of Ad Blockers What’s Next? ..............................................................................38 26 YEARS AGO A look at the incredible surge Stop Emissions! ........................................................................40 88 A Conservative Proposition in popularity of software that makes online ads invisible. Witnessing Climate Change Everywhere .....................44 for Global Warming From 1990, a proposal for The Evidence .............................................................................48 22 Taking Carbon from Air kicking our fossil-fuel habit. A Canadian plant aims to turn A Sensible Climate Policy ....................................................49 carbon dioxide into fuels. The Energy Startup Conundrum ......................................51 ON THE COVER 24 Battery Firepower Adaptable batteries could help EZ ÁV your smartphone last longer on 30 | A Change of Mind PVOL. 119 NO. 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 20A16 US $6.99/CAN $7.99 N(DON’T) IC N CH a charge. A champion of prenatal testing for Down syndrome now NSO BI 26 Shared Robot Knowledge wants to find a way to treat it. By Bonnie Rochman RO Why should we teach robots AEL H C how to do everything? They 52 | Kindergarten for Computers MI can teach each other. Making artificial intelligence more human might require D.WCCOLHHp IAAMA. BN3TA8 OGTTUEOE. T H BY P A picking up some pointers from children. By Will Knight GR O OT Design by Neil Donnelly H P 4 JF16_TOC.indd 4 12/10/15 11:03 AM Who will prevent downtime and equipment failure? You and NI will. With an integrated platform that combines flexible, rugged hardware with intuitive software, NI helps organizations improve operational efficiency by providing systems that monitor and analyze rotating equipment. With advanced I/O, complex signal processing, and data analytics and visualization capabilities, NI puts you on the cutting edge of the Industrial Internet of Things and connects equipment, people, and technology like never before. See how at ni.com/mcm. 800 891 8841 ©2015 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 24241 24241_CondMonitoring_Ad_MITTR_HR.indd 1 12/1/15 4:06 PM Untitled-2 1 12/8/15 5:32 PM MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 119 | NO. 1 TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM The MIT Press Technology Review.com/mustreads Visit us online for daily news and analysis, Business Reports, magazine archives, and more. BIOMEDICINE With This Genetic- Engineering Technology, There’s No Turning Back Designers of a “selfish” gene able to spread among mosquitoes say it could wipe out malaria, but the scientific community is at odds over whether or not we should use it. A guided tour through the Internet of Things, ENERGY COMPUTING a networked New Material Makes It Claimed Breakthrough Easier to Store Slays Classic world of connected Lots of Natural Gas Computing Problem devices, objects, and people that ROBOTICS MOBILE is changing How Robots Can Track Your Heart with Quickly Teach Each Other Your Phone, Even If the way we live to Grasp New Objects Your Phone’s in Your Bag and work. BIOMEDICINE COMPUTING THE MIT PRESS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE SERIES Patients Favor Changing The Ad-Blocking Kingpin 184 pp., $12.95 paper the Genes of the Next Reshaping the Web Generation with CRISPR as He Prefers It FROM THE ARCHIVES Virtual Reality Check World Changing Ideas October 1993 April 2005 Even in its nascency, virtual A look at technological reality showed much of the projects and problems from promise we’re realizing today. seven countries around the globe. TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM/ TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM/ 1993VIRTUAL 2005WORLD Subscribers and MIT alumni can access our complete online article archive by activating their Insider accounts at mitpress.mit.edu technologyreview.com/activate. Not a subscriber or alum? Subscribe now at technologyreview.com/getinsider. JF16_web_toc.indd 6 12/9/15 4:23 PM Special Advertising Section Introducing Turkey’s Next-Generation Mobile Network In August 2015, Turkey took a major several technology and network compa- step toward a new era of wireless commu- nies. The infrastructure itself requires nication, when the government distributed an investment of about USD $7.7 frequency rights for a 4.5G network among billion by the tender winners. the country’s three mobile operators as part Local development of network of a USD $3.9 billion government tender. hardware and software, as specified by govern- Turkish officials expect the next- ment requirements, will generation network to generate immensely benefit the USD $17 billion for Turkey’s country’s information economy in the next few years. and communications technology (ICT) The new LTE Advanced network, companies. It will also scheduled to launch by April 1, 2016, give Turkey’s fast- will provide Turkey’s current 61 million growing ICT industry a 3G mobile subscribers with a speedier, competitive edge in the smoother, more secure way to access the international arena as Internet, make calls, watch streaming video, new markets adopt the listen to music, and more. Officials expect next-generation the country’s mobile users, especially its wireless technologies. dynamic, tech-savvy young people, to Turkish officials expect embrace the improved network. the new 4.5G network to generate USD $17 billion for The new network will also be essen- Turkey’s economy in the next tial for achieving the goals of Vision few years. The e-commerce sector 2023, the ambitious set of economic in particular will benefit as the network and technology initiatives that Turkey strengthens mobile commerce and provides has targeted for the centennial of subscribers with faster and easier avenues leading up to 2023, the topics of digital its founding. for online shopping. transformation and broadband policies and Boasting speeds up to 14 times faster Early adopters, Internet businesses, strategies will only grow in prominence as than the 3G networks, the new 4.5G technology companies, and the mobile- Turkey prepares economically, politically, network represents a significant upgrade to gaming industry all stand to gain com- and infrastructurally for its next century Turkey’s telecommunications infrastructure. petitive advantage from the new network. of existence. According to government specifications, Public institutions such as ministries and the network will reach 95 percent of municipalities, which serve millions of Boasting speeds up to 14 times Turkey’s 77 million residents, bringing the citizens every day, will also invest in faster than the 3G networks, the latest in wireless communications to the new technologies so that they can offer new 4.5G network represents a country’s remotest corners and further better services. significant upgrade to Turkey’s bolstering the republic’s status among the telecommunications infrastructure. The new network will also be essential world’s most developed nations. for achieving the goals of Vision 2023, the For more information, visit: invest.gov.tr The effort to establish the Advanced LTE ambitious set of economic and technology network in Turkey resulted from collabora- initiatives that Turkey has targeted for the tion between the wireless operators and centennial of its founding. In the years Untitled-1 1 12/9/15 6:10 PM MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 119 | NO. 1 TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM CEO, Editor in Chief, and Publisher CORPORATE ADVERTISING SALES CONSUMER MARKETING Jason Pontin President Director of Advertising Sales VP, Consumer Revenues and Marketing Kathleen Kennedy James Friedman Bruce Rhodes EDITORIAL Chief Operating Officer [email protected] Director of Marketing and Communications Editor Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau 617-475-8015 David W.M. Sweeney David Rotman Chief Financial Officer Midwest Sales Director Executive Editor James Coyle Maureen Elmaleh Senior Marketing Associate Julie Swanson Brian Bergstein [email protected] Advisor to the CEO 303-975-6381 Deputy Editor Rick Crowley Assistant Consumer Marketing Manager Megan Barnett Director of International New York, New England, and Southeast Katya Hill Barry Echavarria Business Development Senior Editor, Business Reports Antoinette Matthews [email protected] MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM, INC. 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