The Download: introducing the Nature issue

MIT Technology Review has released its Nature Issue, a deep dive into the intersection of technology and the natural world. The issue confronts the reality that human influence now reaches every corner of Earth—from microplastics in rainforest wildlife to artificial light in the Arctic Ocean. It questions what nature even means in this context, examining phenomena like birds that can't sing, wolves that aren't wolves, and grass that isn't grass. The issue also includes new fiction by renowned author Jeff VanderMeer, exploring the meaning of life under Arctic ice and on distant worlds.

Beyond the Nature Issue, the newsletter highlights several other key developments. It introduces the concept of LLMs+—the next generation of large language models that will be cheaper, more efficient, and more powerful, building on the success of ChatGPT. A new study in Nature Energy suggests fusion power may not become cheap, estimating cost declines of only 5-15% per capacity doubling. Other notable stories include Trump signaling openness to reversing the Anthropic ban, SpaceX planning to manufacture its own GPUs, Tencent unveiling its first flagship AI model, and a Sony ping-pong robot beating elite human players using reinforcement learning.