The Download: sustainable architecture, and DeepSeek’s success
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
Material Cultures looks to the past to build the future
Despite decades of green certifications, better material sourcing, and the use of more sustainable materials, the built environment is still responsible for a third of global emissions worldwide. According to a 2024 UN report, the building sector has fallen “significantly behind on progress” toward becoming more sustainable. Changing the way we erect and operate buildings remains key to tackling climate change.
London-based design and research nonprofit Material Cultures is exploring how tradition can be harnessed in new ways to repair the contemporary building system. As many other practitioners look to artificial intelligence and other high-tech approaches, Material Cultures is focusing on sustainability, and finding creative ways to turn local materials into new buildings. Read the full story.
—Patrick Sisson
This story is from our new print edition, which is all about the future of security. Subscribe here to catch future copies when they land.
MIT Technology Review Narrated: How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions
Earlier this year, the AI community was abuzz over DeepSeek R1, a new open-source reasoning model. The model was developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which claims that R1 matches or even surpasses OpenAI’s ChatGPT o1 on multiple key benchmarks but operates at a fraction of the cost.
DeepSeek’s success is even more remarkable given the constraints facing Chinese AI companies in the form of increasing US export controls on cutting-edge chips. Read the full story.This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Google won’t be forced to sell Chrome after all
A federal judge has instead ruled it has to share search data with its rivals. (Politico)
+ He also barred Google from making deals to make Chrome the default search engine on people’s phones. (The Register)
+ The company’s critics feel the ruling doesn’t go far enough. (The Verge)
2 OpenAI is adding emotional guardrails to ChatGPT
The new rules are designed to better protect teens and vulnerable people. (Axios)
+ Families of dead teenagers say AI companies aren’t doing enough. (FT $)
+ An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it. (MIT Technology Review)
3 China’s military has showed off its robotic wolves
Alongside underwater torpedoes and hypersonic cruise missiles. (BBC)
+ Xi Jinping has pushed to modernize the world’s largest standing army. (CNN)
+ Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)
4 ICE has resumed working with a previously banned spyware vendor
Paragon Solutions’ software was found on the devices of journalists earlier this year. (WP $)
+ The tool can manipulate a phone’s recorder to become a covert listening device. (The Guardian)
5 An identical twin has been convicted of a crime based on DNA analysis
It’s the first time the technology has been successfully used in the US, and solves a 38-year old cold case. (The Guardian)
6 People who understand AI the least are the most likely to use it
Those with a better grasp of how AI works know more about its limitations. (WSJ $)
+ What is AI? (MIT Technology Review)
7 BMW is preparing to unveil a super-smart EV
Its new iX3 sport utility vehicle will have 20 times more computing power. (FT $)
8 Sick and lonely people are turning to AI “doctors”
Physicians are too busy to spend much time with patients. Chatbots are filling the void. (Rest of World)
+ AI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctors. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Around 90% of life on Earth is still unknown
But shedding light on these mysterious organisms is essential to our future survival. (Vox)
10 Wax worms could help tackle our plastic pollution problem 
The plastic-hungry pests can eat a polythene bag in a matter of hours. (Wired $)
+ Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“It’s a nothingburger.”
—Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of search engine DuckDuckGo, reacts to the judge’s decision in the Google Chrome monopoly case, the New York Times reports.
One more thing
Why we can no longer afford to ignore the case for climate adaptation
Back in the 1990s, anyone suggesting that we’d need to adapt to climate change while also cutting emissions was met with suspicion. Most climate change researchers felt adaptation studies would distract from the vital work of keeping pollution out of the atmosphere to begin with.
Despite this hostile environment, a handful of experts were already sowing the seeds for a new field of research called “climate change adaptation”: study and policy on how the world could prepare for and adapt to the new disasters and dangers brought forth on a warming planet. Today, their research is more important than ever. Read the full story.
—Madeline Ostrander
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.
+ How to have a happier life, even when you’re living through bleak times (maybe skip the raisins on ice cream, though.)
+ If you’re loving Alien: Earth right now, why not dive back into the tremendously terrifying Alien: Isolation game?
+ The first freaky images of the second part of zombie flick 28 Years Later have landed.
+ Anthony Gormley, you will always be cool.