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.
Europe’s drone-filled vision for the future of war
Last spring, 3,000 British soldiers deployed an invisible automated intelligence network, known as a “digital targeting web,” as part of a NATO exercise called Hedgehog in the damp forests of Estonia’s eastern territories.
The system had been cobbled together over the course of four months—an astonishing pace for weapons development, which is usually measured in years. Its purpose is to connect everything that looks for targets—“sensors,” in military lingo—and everything that fires on them (“shooters”) to a single, shared wireless electronic brain.
Eighty years after total war last transformed the continent, the Hedgehog tests signal a brutal new calculus of European defense. But leaning too much on this new mathematics of warfare could be a risky bet. Read the full story.
—Arthur Holland Michel
This story is from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review magazine. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive it once it lands.
MIT Technology Review Narrated: How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet
Stardust Solutions believes that it can solve climate change—for a price.
The Israel-based geoengineering startup has said it expects nations will soon pay it more than a billion dollars a year to launch specially equipped aircraft into the stratosphere. Once they’ve reached the necessary altitude, those planes will disperse particles engineered to reflect away enough sunlight to cool down the planet, purportedly without causing environmental side effects.
But numerous solar geoengineering researchers are skeptical that Stardust will line up the customers it needs to carry out a global deployment in the next decade. They’re also highly critical of the idea of a private company setting the global temperature for us.
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 Amazon has been accused of listing products without retailers’ consent
Small shop owners claim Amazon’s AI tool sold their goods without their permission. (Bloomberg $)
+ It also listed products the shops didn’t actually have in stock. (CNBC)
+ A new feature called “Shop Direct” appears to be to blame. (Insider $)
2 Data centers are a political issue
Opposition to them is uniting communities across the political divide. (WP $)
+ Power-grid operators have suggested the centers power down at certain times. (WSJ $)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Things are looking up for the nuclear power industry
The Trump administration is pumping money into it—but success is not guaranteed. (NYT $)
+ Why the grid relies on nuclear reactors in the winter. (MIT Technology Review)
4 A new form of climate modelling pins blame on specific companies
It may not be too long until we see the first case of how attribution science holds up in court. (New Scientist $)
+ Google, Amazon and the problem with Big Tech’s climate claims. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Meta has paused the launch of its Ray-Ban smartglasses 
They’re just too darn popular, apparently. (Engadget)
+ Europe and Canada will just have to wait. (Gizmodo)
+ It’s blaming supply shortages and “unprecedented” demand. (Insider $)
6 Sperm contains information about a father’s fitness and diet
New research is shedding light on how we think about heredity. (Quanta Magazine)
7 Meta is selling online gambling ads in countries where it’s illegal
It’s ignoring local laws across Asia and the Middle East. (Rest of World)
8 AI isn’t always trying to steal your job
Sometimes it makes your toy robot a better companion. (The Verge)
+ How cuddly robots could change dementia care. (MIT Technology Review)
9 How to lock down a job at one of tech’s biggest companies
You’re more likely to be accepted into Harvard, apparently. (Fast Company $)
10 Millennials are falling out of love with the internet
Is a better future still possible? (Vox)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“I want to keep up with the latest doom.”
—Author Margaret Atwood explains why she doomscrolls to Wired.
One more thing
Inside the decades-long fight over Yahoo’s misdeeds in China
When you think of Big Tech these days, Yahoo is probably not top of mind. But for Chinese dissident Xu Wanping, the company still looms large—and has for nearly two decades.
In 2005, Xu was arrested for signing online petitions relating to anti-Japanese protests. He didn’t use his real name, but he did use his Yahoo email address. Yahoo China violated its users’ trust—providing information on certain email accounts to Chinese law enforcement, which in turn allowed the government to identify and arrest some users.
Xu was one of them; he would serve nine years in prison. Now, he and five other Chinese former political prisoners are suing Yahoo and a slate of co-defendants—not because of the company’s information-sharing (which was the focus of an earlier lawsuit filed by other plaintiffs), but rather because of what came after. Read the full story.
—Eileen Guo
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.)
+ It’s time to celebrate the life and legacy of Cecilia Giménez Zueco, the legendary Spanish amateur painter whose botched fresco restoration reached viral fame in 2012.
+ If you’re a sci-fi literature fan, there’s plenty of new releases to look forward to in 2026.
+ Last week’s wolf supermoon was a sight to behold.
+ This Mississippi restaurant is putting its giant lazy Susan to good use.