Hard Tech

Collage of a close-up human eye and abstract digital graphics symbolizing artificial vision with lines and light effects on a vibrant orange and black background.
Brain
Brain implant for “artificial vision” is still working after 2 years
A new type of brain implant technology has given a man with total blindness a kind of “artificial vision.”
Kristin Houser
Two men standing near a computer monitor, with one man wearing an EEG cap and pointing at the screen and the other looking at him
Brain
“Universal” BCI lets anyone play games with their minds
A specially trained “decoder” slashes the time it takes a brain-computer interface (BCI) to read a user’s mind.
Kristin Houser
A person holding a complex, 3d-printed metamaterial with a lattice structure
Engineering
3D-printed “metamaterial” is stronger than anything in nature
Australian scientists used an advanced 3D printing technique to create a super strong, super lightweight new “metamaterial.”
Kristin Houser
a split screen of two people on the left, and a close-up of a laptop with a chess game on the screen on the right.
Neuroscience
First person with a Neuralink brain implant reveals how he uses it
Kristin Houser
a colorful microscope image that looks like several long, thin fins rising from a flat surface
Inventions
3D processors could lead to a new era in wireless communication
Kristin Houser
A stylized illustration of a disassembled microchip against a colorful radial background, symbolizing high speed computing.
Computer Science
Startup accelerates progress toward light-speed computing
Zach Winn | MIT News Office
An image of an eye with implantable solar cells.
Medicine
Implantable solar cells could one day help restore vision
Kristin Houser
An image of a person holding a device in front of an image of a neuron.
Neuroscience
Elon Musk’s Neuralink has implanted its first device in a human being
Robert Chapman-Smith
an image of the laser weapon firing a red beam at an object in the sky
Military
UK’s “DragonFire” laser weapon downs its first drones
Kristin Houser
A person is holding a box with a graphene semiconductor chip in it.
Computer Science
New graphene semiconductor could revolutionize electronics
Kristin Houser
A pair of tweezers are holding the transparent brain implant
Brain
This “supermaterial” created a transparent brain implant
Kristin Houser
A close up of a piece of silver metal.
Engineering
Gallium: The liquid metal that could transform soft electronics
Kurt Kleiner | Knowable Magazine
A piece of glass sitting on top of a leaf.
Inventions
Why scientists are making transparent wood
Jude Coleman | Knowable Magazine