Articles by Technology Review from January 2014

Macaques in China are the first primates born with genomes engineered by precision gene targeting methods.Researchers Nanjing Medical University and Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Researc...

The Glyph headset is weird-looking and expensive, but amazingly immersive.Im watching a jellyfish pump past me lazily, its movement interrupting the twinkling of underwater particles, when a sea turtl...

A new approach to encryption beats attackers by presenting them with fake data.Ari Juels, an independent researcher who was previously chief scientist at computer security company RSA, thinks somethin...

Rice University is testing a highly efficient wireless communications system.Even as the worlds carriers build out the latest wireless infrastructure, known as 4G LTE, a new apparatus bristling with 9...

Startup Global Bioenergies uses genetic engineering to avoid one of the costliest steps in biofuel production.Audi is investing in a startup, Paris-based Global Bioenergies, that says it can make chea...

The charming automated assistant in Spike Jonzes new movie isnt realistic. But if they were designed thoughtfully, computerized interlocutors could make us better people.In the movie Her, which was no...

Aquion has started production of a low-cost sodium-ion battery aimed at making renewable energy viable.A former Sony TV factory near Pittsburgh is coming to life again after lying idle for four years....

Whats the point of all that data, anyway? Its to make decisions.Back in 1956, an engineer and a mathematician, William Fair and Earl Isaac, pooled $800 to start a company. Their idea: a score to handi...

More than technology, businesses need the scientific method.Throughout history, innovations in instrumentationthe microscope, the telescope, and the cyclotronhave repeatedly revolutionized science by ...

Optimization technology is reshaping publishers decision-making processand the Web itself.1-800-Dentist is a small company facing a big decision. What picture on its Web home page will get the most pe...

Efforts are underway to make your smart toiletand other connected devicesless vulnerable to hackers.In late December, a researcher at enterprise security company Proofpoint noticed something strange: ...

In much of the world, the concept of net neutrality generates less public debate, given theres no affordable Net in the first place.Net neutralitythe idea that all Internet traffic should generally be...

The company behind the Bittorrent protocol is working on software that can replicate most features of file-syncing services without handing your data to cloud servers.The debate over how much we shoul...

By delivering gene therapies to patients before they go blind, doctors may be able to prevent the loss of many important light-detecting cells.A new kind of gene therapy has reversed some vision loss ...

A startup called Siluria thinks its solved a mystery that has stymied huge oil companies for decades.At a pilot plant in Menlo Park, California, a technician pours white pellets into a steel tube and ...

The ability to print retinal cells could lead to new therapies for retinal disorders such as macular degeneration....

A former hockey player founded a company to give athletes and families a better way to identify brain injuries.Kelly Gee knows all too well the devastating effects of concussion. A former minor-league...

A new smartphone app from a Twitter cofounder makes it easy and fun to get your friends advice on everything from shopping to Chopin.There are plenty of places to seek answers to questions, including ...

Smart home appliances could become more common thanks to efforts by major companies including Lowes and Staples to make gadgets compatible.When I interviewed Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod and ...

Companies have figured out that a smart watch cant just be functional; it has to look good, too.When Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled a smart watch during his keynote speech at the International Cons...

Low-cost materials could make storing hours of power from a wind farm economically feasible.Utilities would love to be able to store the power that wind farms generate at nightwhen no one wants itand ...

Low-cost materials could make storing hours of power from a wind farm economically feasible.Utilities would love to be able to store the power that wind farms generate at nightwhen no one wants itand ...

A book-sized computer capable of driving a car could help the technology reach the mass market.Carmaker Audi showed off a book-sized circuit board capable of driving a car on Monday at the Internation...

Controlled with gestures, these depth-sensing devices will appear in the second half of 2014.A combined 2-D and 3-D camera from Intel will be built into laptops and tablets from a range of manufacture...

Accessory promises gamers more realistic interactions with virtual characters.A new game controller announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Sunday could let PC gamers control the action with ...

Data synthesis and sensor coverage make for better monitoring of natural disasters.We usually think of GPS as a way to find out where we are and how to get where were going. But over the past couple...

3Ms new silver nanowire films could lead to large, interactive, and ultimately flexible displays.3M will begin selling flexible transparent conductive films made of silver nanowires for use in touch s...

A novel vaccine design could lead to new weapons against often deadly bacterial infections.A nanoparticle wrapped in material taken from the membranes of red blood cells could become the basis for vac...

Developers hope apps that improve upon their smartphone versions will help Googles head-worn computer catch on.When Google first introduced Glass over a year and a half ago, one question loomed: what ...

Advanced technologies are affecting everything from our sense of privacy and free speech to the types of jobs that are available to the foods that we eat. In our best features this year, we got into t...