A malware infection can have serious consequences like spam advertising, personal data theft, or the loss of important files. Effective malware removal can help prevent these worst-case scenarios by identifying and isolating threats like adware, spyware, and ransomware before they take down your system. Thankfully, default operating system (OS) and system protection against cyberthreats is improving all the time. This doesn't mean you shouldn't consider downloading a trustworthy, secure malware removal app for keeping your PC and other devices clean. We have found the best software solutions available in 2025.What is the best malware removal software right now?I tested the best malware removal software to find the tools that detect threats like potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) and ransomware on your device and remove them before they wreak havoc. Also: Best VPS hosting service 2025My top recommendation is Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, which scans your device in real-time and on-demand. It can then identify and disinfect or quarantine files and applications deemed malicious or compromised by malware. Plans start at $25 per year. You could also check out Malwarebytes, another of my favorites, which has solid threat protection capabilities.  Read on to explore my top picks for the best malware removal software solutions in the market today. Sort by All The best malware removal software of 2025 Show less View now at Bitdefender Bitdefender is well-known in the antivirus space and a solid choice for malware removal on Windows and macOS. Why we like it: Antivirus Plus detects all kinds of malware including ransomware that could compromise your files and backups. It will either disinfect or quarantine compromised items. You can turn on real-time protection and/or run manual scans of your system, high-risk locations, or specific files. Review: Bitdefender Total SecurityIn addition to malware removal, Bitdefender offers anti-phishing protection, an anti-tracker for maintaining your privacy as you browse, and a VPN. However, you're limited to 200MB of traffic daily unless you upgrade to a Premium or Ultimate plan. Note that Antivirus Plus for Windows has a handful of additional features like Wi-Fi security assessments, a file shredder, and performance settings that add value for Windows users.Who it's for: Bitdefender is a great one-size-fits-all malware removal solution with excellent security features and should suit the majority of home users. It also scores well on independent lab tests for Windows and Mac operating systems. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus -- branded as Antivirus for Mac -- is the basic paid tier priced at $25 for one device or $30 for three devices, due to its frequent discounts.Who should look elsewhere: Bitdefender does have free versions available for Windows and macOS that offer basic antivirus scanning, but they are more limited in scope. If you want a free solution, explore my other recommendations. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus features: On-access and on-demand scanning | Live customer support | Anti-phishing and anti-tracking features  Pros Real-time and manual scans Ransomware protection Thorough malware detection and removal Cons Windows version has more features than macOS Limited VPN on cheaper plans Bitdefender is well-known in the antivirus space and a solid choice for malware removal on Windows and macOS. Why we like it: Antivirus Plus detects all kinds of malware including ransomware that could compromise your files and backups. It will either disinfect or quarantine compromised items. You can turn on real-time protection and/or run manual scans of your system, high-risk locations, or specific files. Review: Bitdefender Total SecurityIn addition to malware removal, Bitdefender offers anti-phishing protection, an anti-tracker for maintaining your privacy as you browse, and a VPN. However, you're limited to 200MB of traffic daily unless you upgrade to a Premium or Ultimate plan. Note that Antivirus Plus for Windows has a handful of additional features like Wi-Fi security assessments, a file shredder, and performance settings that add value for Windows users.Who it's for: Bitdefender is a great one-size-fits-all malware removal solution with excellent security features and should suit the majority of home users. It also scores well on independent lab tests for Windows and Mac operating systems. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus -- branded as Antivirus for Mac -- is the basic paid tier priced at $25 for one device or $30 for three devices, due to its frequent discounts.Who should look elsewhere: Bitdefender does have free versions available for Windows and macOS that offer basic antivirus scanning, but they are more limited in scope. If you want a free solution, explore my other recommendations. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus features: On-access and on-demand scanning | Live customer support | Anti-phishing and anti-tracking features  Read More Show Expert Take Show less Show less View now at Malwarebytes Malwarebytes protects your system from threats like Trojans, botnets, adware, spyware, crypto-miners, and potentially unwanted programs and modifications (PUPs and PUMs). Why we like it: Malwarebytes protects against ransomware, exploits, brute force attacks, and tampering on Windows. On macOS, it blocks apps from developers suspected of releasing malware. Review: MalwarebytesUsers on both systems can add the Browser Guard extension to Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to detect and block malware, third-party ads and trackers, and scams on the web. If you upgrade to the Plus plan for $45 annually, you also get a built-in VPN. Who it's for: Anyone who wants protection for both operating systems and mobile. The app is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and quarantines any threats it detects that need reviewing, deleting, or restoring. Malwarebytes' free tier allows manual scans, while its paid plans can run scheduled scans alongside real-time protection that detects and blocks threats.Malwarebytes offers a 14-day trial of Plus, after which you can downgrade to the free tier. Its paid plans are on the pricey side relative to the features offered, but the app is easy to use and performs well. Malwarebytes' free plan with on-demand scanning can also be a backup to other built-in or third-party antivirus tools. Who should look elsewhere: This is a useful set-and-forget antivirus. If you want more control over protection and advanced features, you may want to explore my other recommendations. Also: Best remote access software 2025Malwarebytes features: On-access, scheduled, and on-demand screening | Browser Guard extension | VPN (on Plus and Ultimate plans | Multi-platform  Pros Easy-to-navigate interface Solid free version Thorough malware detection and removal Cons No ransomware or exploit protection on MacOS Malwarebytes protects your system from threats like Trojans, botnets, adware, spyware, crypto-miners, and potentially unwanted programs and modifications (PUPs and PUMs). Why we like it: Malwarebytes protects against ransomware, exploits, brute force attacks, and tampering on Windows. On macOS, it blocks apps from developers suspected of releasing malware. Review: MalwarebytesUsers on both systems can add the Browser Guard extension to Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to detect and block malware, third-party ads and trackers, and scams on the web. If you upgrade to the Plus plan for $45 annually, you also get a built-in VPN. Who it's for: Anyone who wants protection for both operating systems and mobile. The app is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and quarantines any threats it detects that need reviewing, deleting, or restoring. Malwarebytes' free tier allows manual scans, while its paid plans can run scheduled scans alongside real-time protection that detects and blocks threats.Malwarebytes offers a 14-day trial of Plus, after which you can downgrade to the free tier. Its paid plans are on the pricey side relative to the features offered, but the app is easy to use and performs well. Malwarebytes' free plan with on-demand scanning can also be a backup to other built-in or third-party antivirus tools. Who should look elsewhere: This is a useful set-and-forget antivirus. If you want more control over protection and advanced features, you may want to explore my other recommendations. Also: Best remote access software 2025Malwarebytes features: On-access, scheduled, and on-demand screening | Browser Guard extension | VPN (on Plus and Ultimate plans | Multi-platform  Read More Show Expert Take Show less Show less View now at Avast Avast is well-known in the security industry, making it one of the top antivirus programs available to consumers. Why we like it: Avast One Essential is a free malware scanning and removal product available for Windows and macOS that comes with a whole suite of features to keep your system clear of threats. It also scores highly on independent lab tests. Also: The best password manager for families: Expert tested and reviewedAvast One scans your files on access for malware and offers options for scheduled and on-demand scans. The app quarantines any detected threats for further action. You also get a firewall, ransomware protection, network vulnerability reports, web traffic scans, and a VPN. It's limited to 5GB of traffic per week. Who it's for: If you're looking for a free malware removal solution, this is for you. But beware: Avast often attempts to upsell you within the app. Otherwise it's an excellent choice for comprehensive protection at no cost.  Who should look elsewhere: It's an excellent app, despite the free version's limits. Still, you could also look at Avast's premium subscriptions for additional protection, starting from $3 month. Avast One Essential features: On-access, scheduled, and on-demand scanning | Multi-platform | VPN (limited)  Pros Clean, user-friendly app Comprehensive features at no cost Firewall, network scanner, and ransomware protection Cons Strong upsell efforts in app Avast is well-known in the security industry, making it one of the top antivirus programs available to consumers. Why we like it: Avast One Essential is a free malware scanning and removal product available for Windows and macOS that comes with a whole suite of features to keep your system clear of threats. It also scores highly on independent lab tests. Also: The best password manager for families: Expert tested and reviewedAvast One scans your files on access for malware and offers options for scheduled and on-demand scans. The app quarantines any detected threats for further action. You also get a firewall, ransomware protection, network vulnerability reports, web traffic scans, and a VPN. It's limited to 5GB of traffic per week. Who it's for: If you're looking for a free malware removal solution, this is for you. But beware: Avast often attempts to upsell you within the app. Otherwise it's an excellent choice for comprehensive protection at no cost.  Who should look elsewhere: It's an excellent app, despite the free version's limits. Still, you could also look at Avast's premium subscriptions for additional protection, starting from $3 month. Avast One Essential features: On-access, scheduled, and on-demand scanning | Multi-platform | VPN (limited)  Read More Show Expert Take Show less Show less View now at ESET ESET is another digital security provider that scores well on independent antivirus tests.Why we like it: Its Home Security software can detect threats and clean them from Windows and macOS systems. You get real-time and on-demand scanning with various customization options. In addition, ESET will identify and quarantine viruses, ransomware, spyware, and other malware threats. Also: The best free VPNs: Expert testedWho it's for: Anyone who wants in-depth, high-quality antivirus scans first, and other features second. ESET doesn't have a fully free anti-malware program beyond its 30-day trial period. It does offer a free on-demand scanner for Windows that detects and removes malware. While there is no real-time protection, it can back up other security tools on your system. The Essential package costs $48 per year and includes a firewall, anti-spam protection, and other advanced privacy and security features. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is cheaper at $40 per year but only includes basic antivirus for Windows. The ESET Ultimate costs a hefty $144 per year, but it's the only tier with a VPN and browser privacy features. Who should look elsewhere: Anyone using other anti-malware tools. I tested ESET Home Security Essentials, packaged as ESET Cyber Security on macOS and ESET Internet Security on Windows. I found that it's not the most intuitive to install or use, especially with its more granular settings, and it doesn't play nicely with other anti-malware systems. If you want an option that is easier to operate, consider an entry-level solution. ESET Home Security Essential features: On-access and on-demand scanning | Multi-platform | Live customer support Pros Comprehensive malware protection and removal Advanced firewall and network security features Cons Not the most user-friendly Pricey ESET is another digital security provider that scores well on independent antivirus tests.Why we like it: Its Home Security software can detect threats and clean them from Windows and macOS systems. You get real-time and on-demand scanning with various customization options. In addition, ESET will identify and quarantine viruses, ransomware, spyware, and other malware threats. Also: The best free VPNs: Expert testedWho it's for: Anyone who wants in-depth, high-quality antivirus scans first, and other features second. ESET doesn't have a fully free anti-malware program beyond its 30-day trial period. It does offer a free on-demand scanner for Windows that detects and removes malware. While there is no real-time protection, it can back up other security tools on your system. The Essential package costs $48 per year and includes a firewall, anti-spam protection, and other advanced privacy and security features. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is cheaper at $40 per year but only includes basic antivirus for Windows. The ESET Ultimate costs a hefty $144 per year, but it's the only tier with a VPN and browser privacy features. Who should look elsewhere: Anyone using other anti-malware tools. I tested ESET Home Security Essentials, packaged as ESET Cyber Security on macOS and ESET Internet Security on Windows. I found that it's not the most intuitive to install or use, especially with its more granular settings, and it doesn't play nicely with other anti-malware systems. If you want an option that is easier to operate, consider an entry-level solution. ESET Home Security Essential features: On-access and on-demand scanning | Multi-platform | Live customer support Read More Show Expert Take Show less Show less View now at Emsisoft I recommend the Emsisoft Emergency Kit for people wanting a fast, easy-to-use, free malware cleanup tool. Why we like it: The app's user-friendly design makes it abundantly clear where to conduct an on-demand scan. The main Overview tab consists of four sections, and the option at the far left lets you perform either a Quick Scan, a more in-depth Malware Scan, or a Custom Scan.Also: How to encrypt any email in Outlook, Gmail, and other popular servicesWhatever you select, Emsisoft will immediately scan your computer's files for malicious software and quarantine suspicious files. This process can take a while depending on how much is saved on your machine. In my experience, the longest scan took almost 20 minutes, but rest assured, the app is going through every nook and cranny. Who it's for: Anyone who wants a rapid scanning tool, especially a portable one. I like that Emsisoft's Emergency Kit doesn't require installation on your device. You could, for example, run it on a USB drive and receive the same experience. Who should look elsewhere: Emsisoft's software doesn't offer other forms of protection such as a firewall. It's simply a scanning tool, and a good one at that, but if you want additional layers of security, look elsewhere. Also: Best business password managersEmsisoft Emergency Kit features: On-demand scanning | Works from a USB | Compatible with Windows  Pros Portable software User-friendly app Great cleanup tool Cons Windows only Offers no other protection I recommend the Emsisoft Emergency Kit for people wanting a fast, easy-to-use, free malware cleanup tool. Why we like it: The app's user-friendly design makes it abundantly clear where to conduct an on-demand scan. The main Overview tab consists of four sections, and the option at the far left lets you perform either a Quick Scan, a more in-depth Malware Scan, or a Custom Scan.Also: How to encrypt any email in Outlook, Gmail, and other popular servicesWhatever you select, Emsisoft will immediately scan your computer's files for malicious software and quarantine suspicious files. This process can take a while depending on how much is saved on your machine. In my experience, the longest scan took almost 20 minutes, but rest assured, the app is going through every nook and cranny. Who it's for: Anyone who wants a rapid scanning tool, especially a portable one. I like that Emsisoft's Emergency Kit doesn't require installation on your device. You could, for example, run it on a USB drive and receive the same experience. Who should look elsewhere: Emsisoft's software doesn't offer other forms of protection such as a firewall. It's simply a scanning tool, and a good one at that, but if you want additional layers of security, look elsewhere. Also: Best business password managersEmsisoft Emergency Kit features: On-demand scanning | Works from a USB | Compatible with Windows  Read More Show Expert Take Show less What is the best malware removal software? Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is our pick for the best overall malware removal software because it provides comprehensive and reliable protection against threats across platforms at a reasonable price. The other four malware removal options on this list also offer excellent protection with various features worth considering. Best malware removal softwareOn-access scansMulti-platformFree tier Notable featuresBitdefender Antivirus Plus✓✓✓Anti-phishing and anti-tracking, live supportMalwarebytes✓✓✓Ransomware protection (Windows), Browser GuardAvast One Essential✓✓✓Firewall, network scanner, ransomware protectionESET Home Security Essential✓✓xFirewall, anti-spam protectionEmsisoft Emergency Kitxx✓Portable, works from a USB Show more Which malware removal software is right for you? Choose this malware removal software…If you want…Bitdefender Antivirus PlusAll-around antivirus protection that effectively detects and removes malware. Bitdefender Antivirus provides real-time protection and fliexlble scanning options. MalwarebytesEffective, user-friendly malware detection and removal. Malwarebytes also provides a range of protective services, including browser protection and a VPN.Avast One EssentialComprehensive protection and malware removal at no cost. The free tier is limited, but it will certainly help you handle malware detection and removal tasks.ESET Home Security EssentialA robust, highly customizable anti-malware program. While it's not the best option for beginners, if you are tech savvy, this software could be the best option for you. Emsisoft Emergency KitA basic scanner that can double as a backup to your other Windows antivirus/anti-malware tools. It's portable, too, which can be handy in sticky situations.  Show more Factors to consider when choosing malware removal software When selecting the best malware removal for you, I recommend comparing the following factors: Scan types: Some malware removal tools will automatically scan items on your device for malware each time they are downloaded, opened, or executed. This is known as on-access scanning. Others will scan only on demand or manually. If you want real-time protection that you don't have to think about, consider a tool with on-access scans. Price: You don't necessarily need to pay for malware removal. Free tools like Avast One Essential and secondary scanners from Emsisoft and Malwarebytes do a solid job detecting and quarantining threats. However, a paid program may provide more features or customization options. Additional features: If you're just looking for malware removal, a more straightforward program or secondary scanner may be all you need. However, some software has extra features to protect your device such as firewalls or VPNs.  Show more How we test malware removal To select the best malware removal tools, we identified programs from reputable security companies. We then looked at independent test results and went hands-on to compare features, performance, and user experience. We conducted most of our testing on MacOS Sequoia 15.1.1 except for Emsisoft, which we ran on Windows 11. Note: The Windows version of most malware removal programs has additional features that are unavailable on MacOS.  Show more FAQs on malware removal software How does malware removal work? Once anti-malware software has detected a threat, it attempts to stop that threat from wreaking further havoc on your system. In some cases, it can disinfect files and delete malware. In others, the software will quarantine the files until users assess and manually remove the threat.  Show more What is the difference between antivirus and anti-malware? Antivirus and anti-malware are two names for the same thing. Traditionally, antivirus software protects against known security threats, but as threats evolve, so do the programs that fight them. Most current antivirus software stands up to more sophisticated malware like spyware, rootkits, and ransomware. In addition, cloud-based programs can be frequently updated as threats emerge. Malware removal is part of anti-malware, and paid antivirus, along with some free plans, typically offers on-access or real-time protection. Alternatively, you can use an on-demand scanner that will detect and clean up any threats that are present.  Show more Do I have to pay for malware removal? Major operating systems have built-in protection against malware. Windows Defender, for example, does a fine job of catching and removing threats, especially if you follow security best practices on your device. A handful of third-party antivirus alternatives with malware removal are also available for free. You can upgrade to a premium paid tier if you need or want additional features like a firewall or VPN.  Show more Are there any alternative malware removal software options to consider?Many antivirus solutions on the market can detect and remove malware. If the options listed above don't fit your needs, you can try these others below  Latest updates In ZDNET's latest update, we performed substantial copy and layout changes. Show more Further ZDNET Tech Coverage Smartphones Smartwatches Tablets Laptops TVs Other Tech Resources ZDNET Recommends

The orbits of a potential dwarf planet called 2017 OF201 and the dwarf planet SednaTony Dunn A potential dwarf planet has been discovered in the outer reaches of our solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune. Its presence there challenges the existence of a hypothetical body known as Planet 9 or Planet X. Sihao Cheng at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and his colleagues first detected the object, known as 2017 OF201, as a bright spot in an astronomical image database from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile. Advertisement 2017 OF201 is about 700 kilometres across – big enough to qualify as a dwarf planet like Pluto, which has a diameter about three times as big. The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical units (AU) away from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is. Because 2017 OF201’s average orbit around the sun is greater than that of Neptune, it is what’s known as a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It passes through the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy objects in the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune. The researchers looked back over 19 observations, taken over seven years by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, to determine that the closest 2017 OF201 gets to the sun – its perihelion – is 44.5 AU, which is similar to Pluto’s orbit. The furthest it gets from the sun is 1600 AU, way outside the solar system. Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month. Sign up to newsletter This far-flung orbit may be the result of an encounter with a giant planet, which ejected the candidate dwarf planet out of the solar system, say the researchers. “It’s a really cool discovery,” says Kevin Napier at the University of Michigan. The object would go so far outside the solar system that it could be interacting with other stars in the galaxy just as strongly as it interacts with some of the planets in our solar system, he says. The orbits of many extreme TNOs seem to cluster in a specific orientation. This has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system contains a ninth planet hidden in the Oort cloud, a vast cloud of icy rocks encircling the solar system. The idea is that Planet 9’s gravity pushes the TNOs into their specific orbits. But the orbit of 2017 OF201 doesn’t fit this pattern. “This object is definitely an outlier to the observed clustering,” says team member Eritas Yang at Princeton University. Cheng and his colleagues also modelled simulations of the object’s orbit, and how it might interact with Planet 9. “In the one with Planet X, the object gets ejected after a couple of hundred million years, and without Planet X, it stays,” says Napier. “Certainly, this is not evidence in favour of Planet 9.” But until there is more data, the case isn’t closed, says Cheng. “I hope Planet 9 still exists, because that’ll be more interesting.” The candidate dwarf planet takes roughly 25,000 years to complete an orbit, which means it spends only about 1 per cent of its time close enough to Earth for us to detect it. “These things are really hard to find because they’re faint, and their orbits are so long and skinny that you can only see them when they’re really close to the sun, and then they immediately head right back out and they’re invisible to us again,” says Napier. That means there might be hundreds of such objects out there. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, due to go online later this year, will look deeper into space and will potentially detect many more objects like this, which should tell us more about them – and whether Planet 9 actually exists. Reference:arXiv DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2505.15806 Topics:planets

Trace amounts of precious metals found in volcanic rock appear to come from the Earth's inner core. Credit: Deposit Photos Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Contrary to conspiracy theories, the Earth’s core isn’t hollow. The dense, hot ball instead contains a stew of precious metals including platinum, ruthenium, and pretty much all of the planet’s gold. As lucrative as that sounds, there’s essentially no way humanity will ever access this natural treasure chest buried beneath more than 1,850  feet of solid rock. But according to recent discoveries made at volcanoes in Hawai’i, trace amounts of some of those coveted metals are seeping up from the planet’s deepest reaches. “When the first results came in, we realized that we had literally struck gold,” Nils Messling, a geochemist at Göttingen University, said in a statement. “Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into Earth’s mantle above.” Messling and collaborators explained their findings in a study published on May 21 in the journal Nature. The team recently detected trace amounts of the precious metal ruthenium while analyzing volcanic rock samples collected across the islands of Hawai’i. More specifically, they noted the unexpected presence of the ruthenium isotope, ¹⁰⁰Ru. “Unexpected” is the key word there. While ¹⁰⁰Ru does exist in Earth’s mantle, it’s slightly more abundant inside of the core—alongside 99.999 percent of the planet’s gold and other precious metals. That’s because during the planet’s formation about 4.5 billion years ago, some of the ruthenium that is locked inside Earth’s core originated from a different source than the small amount found in the mantle today. The discrepancies between these two forms of ruthenium is so slight that the equipment used by geologists to study these isotopes hasn’t been able to tell the two apart. However, researchers at Göttingen University in The Netherlands recently developed new isotopic analysis methods that allowed them to do just that. In differentiating between these two types of the same isotope, the team discovered that some of Hawai’i’s volcanic basalts contain an unusually high ¹⁰⁰Ru signal meaning it must have originated from near the core-mantle-boundary.   The ramifications are significant: Earth’s core, once thought inaccessible, is ejected at least small amounts up towards the surface during volcanic eruptions. “We can now also prove that huge volumes of super-heated mantle material—several hundreds of quadrillion metric tons of rock—originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to Earth’s surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii,” added study co-author Matthias Wilbold. The question now isn’t if this unexpected process happens—it’s a question of if and when it’s happened in the past. “Our findings open up an entirely new perspective on the evolution of the inner dynamics of our home planet,” added Messling.

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesMicrosoft has quietly implemented a policy blocking employee emails containing the words “Palestine,” “Gaza,” or “genocide” on its internal Exchange servers, according to No Azure for Apartheid, a group of pro-Palestine Microsoft employees. The automated filter, which silently prevents such emails from reaching recipients was first detected on Wednesday—just after Microsoft’s Build developer conference faced repeated disruptions by the activist group.Microsoft has been rocked by internal dissent over its collaboration with the Israeli military and government amid the ongoing assault on Gaza. The company has faced disruptions to its events, including protests from employees over its provision of cloud services and other critical infrastructure used by the Israeli military.Now, the company appears to be tightening its grip on internal discourse. The terms “Israel” and “P4lestine” do not trigger a block, the group said. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Last week, Microsoft attempted to do damage control over its alleged involvement in the genocide. Ahead of the annual Build event, which is aimed at developers and tech enthusiasts from all over the world, the company issued a report claiming that an internal investigation found that Microsoft’s operations did not cause harm to civilians in Gaza.Microsoft’s provision of technology to the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MOD) was first reported by Drop Site News, alongside The Guardian and the magazine +972, based on a trove of internal documents. The reports revealed that Microsoft actively pursued contracts with the Israeli defense ministry, offering them tailored proposals and significant discounts on cloud and AI services. These deals, negotiated and escalated over months, positioned Microsoft as a key technology provider during Israeli military operations in Gaza.Microsoft did not dispute the authenticity of the documents or the reporting, but days before its major annual events released a statement saying that it conducted an internal review and “found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people.” According to internal documents and emails reviewed by Drop Site, however, just days after the October 7, 2023 attack and the start of Israeli offensive in Gaza, Microsoft started pitching to the Israeli military, anticipating major military spending. Over the next few months, Israeli military became one of Microsoft’s top 500 global customers.On Monday, No Azure for Apartheid said, an employee who disrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote at the flagship Build conference was fired. On Tuesday, during a speech by Jay Parikh, head of CoreAI, a worker shouted, “Jay! My people are suffering! Cut ties with Israel! No Azure for apartheid! Free, free Palestine!” before being swiftly removed by security.Leave a comment

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. The data center boom in the desert In the high desert east of Reno, Nevada, construction crews are flattening the golden foothills of the Virginia Range, laying the foundations of a data center city.Google, Tract, Switch, EdgeCore, Novva, Vantage, and PowerHouse are all operating, building, or expanding huge facilities nearby. Meanwhile, Microsoft has acquired more than 225 acres of undeveloped property, and Apple is expanding its existing data center just across the Truckee River from the industrial park. The corporate race to amass computing resources to train and run artificial intelligence models and store information in the cloud has sparked a data center boom in the desert—and it’s just far enough away from Nevada’s communities to elude wide notice and, some fear, adequate scrutiny. Read the full story. —James Temple This story is part of Power Hungry: AI and our energy future—our new series shining a light on the energy demands and carbon costs of the artificial intelligence revolution. Check out the rest of the package here. A new atomic clock in space could help us measure elevations on Earth In 2003, engineers from Germany and Switzerland began building a bridge across the Rhine River simultaneously from both sides. Months into construction, they found that the two sides did not meet. The German side hovered 54 centimeters above the Swiss one. The misalignment happened because they measured elevation from sea level differently. To prevent such costly construction errors, in 2015 scientists in the International Association of Geodesy voted to adopt the International Height Reference Frame, or IHRF, a worldwide standard for elevation.Now, a decade after its adoption, scientists are looking to update the standard—by using the most precise clock ever to fly in space. Read the full story. —Sophia Chen Three takeaways about AI’s energy use and climate impacts —Casey CrownhartThis week, we published Power Hungry, a package all about AI and energy. At the center of this package is the most comprehensive look yet at AI’s growing power demand, if I do say so myself. This data-heavy story is the result of over six months of reporting by me and my colleague James O’Donnell (and the work of many others on our team). Over that time, with the help of leading researchers, we quantified the energy and emissions impacts of individual queries to AI models and tallied what it all adds up to, both right now and for the years ahead. There’s a lot of data to dig through, and I hope you’ll take the time to explore the whole story. But in the meantime, here are three of my biggest takeaways from working on this project. Read the full story.This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. MIT Technology Review Narrated: Congress used to evaluate emerging technologies. Let’s do it again. Artificial intelligence comes with a shimmer and a sheen of magical thinking. And if we’re not careful, politicians, employers, and other decision-makers may accept at face value the idea that machines can and should replace human judgment and discretion. One way to combat that might be resurrecting the Office of Technology Assessment, a Congressional think tank that detected lies and tested tech until it was shuttered in 1995. 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 OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI startupThe former Apple design guru will work with Sam Altman to design an entirely new range of devices. (NYT $)+ The deal is worth a whopping $6.5 billion. (Bloomberg $)+ Altman gave OpenAI staff a preview of its AI ‘companion’ devices. (WSJ $)+ AI products to date have failed to set the world alight. (The Atlantic $) 2 Microsoft has blocked employee emails containing ‘Gaza’ or ‘Palestine’Although the term ‘Israel’ does not trigger such a block. (The Verge)+ Protest group No Azure for Apartheid has accused the company of censorship. (Fortune $) 3 DOGE needs to do its work in secretThat’s what the Trump administration is claiming to the Supreme Court, at least. (Ars Technica)+ It’s trying to avoid being forced to hand over internal documents. (NYT $)+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review) 4 US banks are racing to embrace cryptocurrencyAhead of new stablecoin legislation. (The Information $)+ Attendees at Trump’s crypto dinner paid over $1 million for the privilege. (NBC News)+ Bitcoin has surged to an all-time peak yet again. (Reuters) 5 China is making huge technological leapsThanks to the billions it’s poured into narrowing the gap between it and the US. (WSJ $)+ Nvidia’s CEO has branded America’s chip curbs on China ‘a failure.’ (FT $)+ There can be no winners in a US-China AI arms race. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Disordered eating content is rife on TikTokBut a pocket of creators are dedicated to debunking the worst of it. (Wired $) 7 The US military is interested in the world’s largest aircraftThe gigantic WindRunner plane will have an 80-metre wingspan. (New Scientist $)+ Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review) 8 How AI is shaking up animationNew tools are slashing the costs of creating episodes by up to 90%. (NYT $)+ Generative AI is reshaping South Korea’s webcomics industry. (MIT Technology Review) 9 Tesla’s Cybertruck is a flopSorry, Elon. (Fast Company $)+ The vehicles’ resale value is plummeting. (The Daily Beast) 10 Google’s new AI video generator loves this terrible jokeWhich appears to originate from a Reddit post. (404 Media)+ What happened when 20 comedians got AI to write their routines. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “It feels like we are marching off a cliff.” —An unnamed software engineering vice president jokes that future developers conferences will be attended by the AI agents companies like Microsoft are racing to deploy, Semafor reports. One more thing What does GPT-3 “know” about me?One of the biggest stories in tech is the rise of large language models that produce text that reads like a human might have written it.These models’ power comes from being trained on troves of publicly available human-created text hoovered up from the internet. If you’ve posted anything even remotely personal in English on the internet, chances are your data might be part of some of the world’s most popular LLMs.Melissa Heikkilä, MIT Technology Review’s former AI reporter, wondered what data these models might have on her—and how it could be misused. So she put OpenAI’s GPT-3 to the test. Read about what she found. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + Don’t shoot the messenger, but it seems like there’s a new pizza king in town ($)+ Ranked: every Final Destination film, from worst to best.+ Who knew that jelly could help to preserve coral reefs? Not I.+ A new generation of space archaeologists are beavering away to document our journeys to the stars.

A few months back, Serene Industries made waves in the mechanical keyboard world with the Icebreaker – a striking, brutalist-inspired keyboard milled from a solid block of aluminum. Now, the company is back with a refined take on the concept: the Cleaver, a more minimalist yet equally bold keyboard designed to bring industrial design sensibilities into the modern workspace and your home. Created by Denis Agarkov, the Cleaver continues Serene Industries’ tradition of monolithic design while pushing both form and function further. While the Icebreaker showcased an assertive and angular silhouette, the Cleaver dials back some of that raw visual weight. It sheds the prominent aluminum overhangs and edges, resulting in a cleaner, more office-friendly profile – yet it remains unmistakably brutalist, with sharp geometry and a cohesive color palette that evokes architectural concrete forms. Despite its sleeker appearance, the Cleaver is a feat of precision engineering. The chassis is CNC-milled from a single block of aluminum, and the internal components are encased in a custom overmolded silicone core. This silicone isn’t just there for aesthetics – it plays multiple functional roles: it acts as a sound dampener, provides grip via integrated non-slip feet, and protects the internal electronics by completely enclosing them. The silicone itself contributes to the keyboard’s unique acoustics and tactility. Hidden cavities beneath the non-slip feet help shape the typing sound while also creating a subtle suction effect that improves stability on your desk. These carefully considered details speak to Serene’s philosophy of obsessive design refinement. One of the most defining features of the Cleaver is its use of Hall Effect sensors in combination with magnetic switches. Originally developed in the mid-20th century and once used in early IBM terminals, Hall Effect keyboards have seen a resurgence in premium mechanical designs for their durability and responsiveness. Unlike traditional mechanical switches that rely on physical contact between metal parts, Hall Effect switches detect key presses magnetically. Each key has a small magnet, and when it’s pressed, the magnet’s movement alters the magnetic field, which is then detected by the Hall Effect sensor on the PCB. This contactless mechanism allows for smoother, more consistent actuation and drastically reduces wear over time. Because of this non-contact design, Serene was able to take an unconventional step: submerging the electronics entirely in silicone. Not only does this improve sound and tactile feedback, it also provides dust and splash resistance while maintaining structural integrity. The Cleaver also introduces a reimagined set of keycaps – each milled from aluminum and laser-perforated with pinpoint precision. Every character on the keyboard is rendered through a grid of tiny holes – 1,204 in total across the entire keyset – allowing RGB backlighting to shine through in a unique, diffused glow. As expected from a modern enthusiast board, the Cleaver supports hot-swappable switches and interchangeable keycaps, giving users room to experiment with the typing experience and visual customization. Two colorways are available at launch: a silver “clear” finish reminiscent of the original Icebreaker, and a matte black version that lends itself to more understated or minimal desk setups. Connectivity is handled via a durable USB-C port located discreetly on the back – chosen for its ruggedness and its role in the overall sealed design. There’s no wireless functionality here, and that’s by design. Serene Industries has chosen to focus purely on reliability and uncompromising build quality. At $850, Cleaver isn’t just a casual purchase. But in a world of high-end mechanical keyboards, it represents a statement piece where design, engineering, and performance meet. Cleaver is available at serene.industries. Photography courtesy of Serene Industries.

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowWe all know there is no Mission: Impossible without Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) ultimately saving the world from a nuclear disaster, a bombing, or anything some nutcase came up with that day. He is the central figure, one whom an entire universe revolves around. But, it would be a shame if you watched years of Mission: Impossible films and didn’t realize that it’s truly the cast of characters around Hunt that make him who he is, and thusly, made this franchise what it has become.Hunt would’ve been dead years ago if Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) weren’t opening prison doors for him, or monitoring the security systems inside the world’s most secure buildings. Beyond their operational importance, villains like Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and August Walker (Henry Cavill) give powerhouse performances while also pushing Hunt to the edge of his limits. Some of the best lines are uttered by people other than Hunt. And the emotional stakes of each film typically are from these side characters.In honor of the unsung heroes, here are the most irreplaceable supporting characters in Mission: Impossible history.Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 21List slides19. Rick Meade (Aaron Paul) List slides19. Rick Meade (Aaron Paul) Image: Paramount PicturesAaron Paul was in Mission: Impossible? Yes, I’ve seen every movie multiple times and still have that reaction sometimes. A weaselly slacker-looking version of him briefly appears as the brother of Julia Meade-Hunt (Michelle Monaghan) at her engagement party to Hunt. His main contributions are to appear slovenly next to Hunt and unintentionally aid in her kidnapping. The energy that would make him famous as Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman is tightly bottled up and kept under wraps for his few lines of dialogue. -Ethan GachPrevious SlideNext Slide3 / 21List slides18. Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)List slides18. Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)Image: Paramount PicturesOne of the biggest missed opportunities of the Mission: Impossible franchise is abandoning Ethan Hunt’s most charismatic teammate ever in Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). In the underrated Mission: Impossible III, he avoided gunfire and the blades of gigantic wind turbines while piloting a rescue helicopter with the same cool he displays while charming angry drivers in a traffic stop he’s created as a diversion with the smoothest Italian you’ll ever hear in this franchise. Was he memorable? Yes. But, since Ethan and his team went on to thwart bigger threats without him, he wasn’t what you’d call an essential part of the franchise.Previous SlideNext Slide4 / 21List slides17. Mission Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins)List slides17. Mission Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins)Image: Paramount PicturesA virtuoso acting talent such as Sir Anthony Hopkins being near the bottom of any movie list has nothing to do with his performance and everything do with his character’s utility. Appearing briefly in Mission: Impossible II as the sly and wise Mission Commander Swanbeck, Hopkins’s standout scene with Cruise is one of the coolest mission briefings in the history of the franchise. You can feel the confidence Swanbeck exhibits when he tells Hunt, a man who previously broke into Langley, “This is not Mission Difficult, Mr. Hunt. It’s Mission: Impossible.” Alas, Hopkins’ talents were wasted on a character so replaceable he was only used for one scene.Previous SlideNext Slide5 / 21List slides16. Jane Carter (Paula Patton)List slides16. Jane Carter (Paula Patton)Image: Paramount PicturesDitching MI3's JV squad of expendables, Ghost Protocol put Paula Patton in the shoes of operative Jane Carter, a woman who’s out for revenge against the hitwoman who killed her partner. The movie doesn’t give her a lot to work with but she matches Cruise’s energy with a physical performance that sees her go toe-to-toe with assassin Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux) assassin on the 130th floor of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and seduce feisty telecoms billionaire Brij Nath (Anil Kapoor). She completed the mission with full marks but failed to leave much of a memorable impression on the series beyond that. - Ethan GachPrevious SlideNext Slide6 / 21List slides15. Franz Krieger (Jean Reno)List slides15. Franz Krieger (Jean Reno)Image: Paramount PicturesI’ve always felt that any globe-hopping espionage movie that lacks a grizzled Frenchman is missing something, that certain je ne sais quoi. Maybe that’s because I first fell in love with spy movies in the ’90s thanks to the one-two punch of 1996’s Mission: Impossible and 1998’s Ronin. As Mission: Impossible’s Franz Krieger, although we’re initially meant to think he’s a basically good member of Ethan Hunt’s new crackerjack team, he feels like bad news from the beginning and only confirms our suspicions before the end. Reno skillfully gives off just enough of a sleazy vibe to set off our alarm bells, and his presence makes us wary of possible threats to Ethan not just from outside the team, but from within it as well. Most importantly, though, with Reno’s presence in the mix, it gives the film that authentic espionage movie flavor, the stuff of cigarette-smoke-filled safehouses, narrow European streets, and potential treachery lurking around every corner. — Carolyn PetitPrevious SlideNext Slide7 / 21List slides14. Max Mitsopolis (Vanessa Redgrave)List slides14. Max Mitsopolis (Vanessa Redgrave)Image: Paramount PicturesIn order to clear his name and identify the real mole in the original Mission: Impossible, Ethan must track down an enigmatic figure known only as Max with whom the mole had dealings. Given that Max is a shadowy and powerful arms dealer, we might be expecting a Keyser Söze type—a menacing, larger-than-life underworld kingpin who you feel would just as soon put a bullet in your head as let you walk away from a meeting alive. So it’s a wonderful surprise when the hood is pulled from Ethan’s head at his first meeting with Max and we instead see the great Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Max as enigmatic, yes, but also effervescent—a woman who can both fix Ethan with a cold intellectual stare as she asks him probing questions and gush about how much she adores his brazen confidence. Redgrave gives Max tremendous depth; she’s fiercely intelligent, deeply private (“I don’t have to tell you what a comfort anonymity can be in my profession; it’s like a warm blanket.”), and not without warmth herself. She establishes in that very first film that this franchise’s take on the world of international intrigue won’t just trot out the usual stereotypes for its villains but will offer something smarter and more surprising—figures whose power comes not from their skills with firearms or the ruthless deployment of violence but from their intellect and ability to negotiate with others to secure what they want. — Carolyn PetitPrevious SlideNext Slide8 / 21List slides13. John Musgrave (Billy Crudup)List slides13. John Musgrave (Billy Crudup)Image: Paramount PicturesYou can usually see a double cross coming a mile away in Mission: Impossible. Not when John Musgrave is silently mouthing instructions only a restrained Hunt can understand, and before he slips him a knife to set himself free. With Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s overwhelmingly dastardly performance as Owen Davian distracting us, and Laurence Fishburne’s ambiguously snarly depiction of IMF director Theodore Brassel misdirecting us, Crudup’s slick performance slipped his nefarious intentions through our detection like a snake in the grass. Without Crudup, Mission: Impossible III is predictably one-dimensional, and the outstanding torture scene fake-out with a captured Hunt and his wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) has less of a punch. Musgrave is the logic behind the madness, and also an essential part of the film. He just isn’t as integral to the franchise as the 12 characters ahead of him.Previous SlideNext Slide9 / 21List slides12. Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton)List slides12. Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton)Image: Paramount PicturesMission: Impossible II doesn’t work without Thandie Newton being seductive while maintaining her agency, and being cunning without being unrealistically fearless. As Nyah Nordoff-Hall, she’s a professional thief who carries the emotional weight of a pretty emotionless action flick featuring more gunfire than kisses. Nyah held her own whether she was feigning attraction to a psychopathic capitalist looking to profit off killing people with the Chimera virus, or she was dangerously flirting with Ethan Hunt by racing cars with him along a cliff. Few characters not named Ethan Hunt mean as much to any Mission: Impossible movie working as Nyah Nordoff-Hall.Previous SlideNext Slide10 / 21List slides11. Solomon Lane (Sean Harris)List slides11. Solomon Lane (Sean Harris)Image: Paramount PicturesSolomon Lane is probably the smartest Mission: Impossible villain ever. The rogue MI6 agent disillusioned with the global power structure was always one step ahead of Ethan Hunt, an agent so capable, he’d previously infiltrated both Langley and the Vatican without being detected. From the moment he appeared onscreen as the man who’s infiltrated Hunt’s mission delivery system and trapped him, we knew we were witnessing a rare villain. He framed the IMF, manipulated CIA double-agent August Walker (Henry Cavill), and formed the shadowy Syndicate of former agents. Beyond being evil, he sounded evil, with a gravelly whisper that made every threat feel like a dark premonition. He was so good at being bad that he was the villain for two separate Mission: Impossible movies, making him one of the most invaluable baddies in the franchise’s history.Previous SlideNext Slide11 / 21List slides10. Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne)List slides10. Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne)Image: Paramount PicturesTo be honest, IMF director Theodore Brassel would’ve made this list simply for uttering the two coldest sentences I’ve ever heard in a Mission: Impossible movie. With Ethan Hunt strapped to a gurney after being suspected of going rogue and getting IMF agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) killed, Brassel can see the disdain shooting out of Hunt’s eyes and doesn’t blink in the face of it. Instead he tells him, “You can look at me with those judgmental, incriminating eyes all you want. But, I bullshit you not: I will bleed on the flag to make sure the flag stays red.” Even as a one-off in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Fishburne’s incredible performance as Brassel made him a character you could never forget. Without him, Mission Impossible 3 wouldn’t be what it was.Previous SlideNext Slide12 / 21List slides9. Julia Meade-Hunt (Michelle Monaghan)List slides9. Julia Meade-Hunt (Michelle Monaghan)Image: Paramount PicturesYou can’t possibly think you can replace the only woman to ever make globe-trotting, death-defying secret agent Ethan Hunt settle down for even a second. Julia’s irresistible appeal had a man known for jumping off motorcycles and escaping car explosions helping with a dinner party like a suburban dad with a license to kill. Depending on how you view Ilsa Faust, Julia is arguably the most important woman in Hunt’s life, and thus the most important woman in this male-dominated action film franchise. She’s Hunt’s emotional weak point, one that Owen Davian presses on to bring him out of hiding in Mission: Impossible III, the only person Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) goes out of his way to train to be a spy, and one of the main reasons the water supply of a third of the world’s population wasn’t poisoned in Fallout. Beyond that, Michelle Monaghan plays her with a grounded realism that makes her the most relatable character in a movie franchise full of people meant to be extraordinary in the best and worst ways. Without Monaghan’s performance as Julia Meade-Hunt, Ethan Hunt would be nothing more than a means to an end for the audience. With her, he’s a fully formed man with stakes beyond the mission he chose to accept.Previous SlideNext Slide13 / 21List slides8. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny)List slides8. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny)Image: Paramount PicturesThe screenplay for 1996’s Mission: Impossible was co-written by David Koepp and Chinatown scribe Robert Towne, and while I have no way of knowing exactly which elements of the script each was responsible for, I’ve always suspected that it was Towne who made the character of Kittridge so memorable. If any character in Mission: Impossible speaks with the kind of hard-boiled language that made 1974's Chinatown a neo-noir classic, it’s Eugene Kittridge. Kittridge is a higher-up at the IMF who believes Ethan is a mole and a traitor, and he will seemingly do just about anything, including making life much more difficult for Hunt’s family, to get him to surrender. At one point, he coldly tells Ethan that “dying slowly in America can be a very expensive proposition” and later, he pragmatically informs a subordinate that “everybody has pressure points. You find something that’s personally important to him, and you squeeze.” But it’s more than the great dialogue he gets to spout that makes Kittridge so compelling; it’s the performance by Henry Czerny, who plays Eugene as a tense, tightly coiled bureaucrat whose ruthless dedication to following the letter of institutional procedure has blinded him to Ethan’s innocence and humanity. After his knockout appearance in the first film, Kittridge disappeared for decades, finally resurfacing in Dead Reckoning, though he didn’t have any moments that reminded us the crackling tension he and Hunt generated when they butted heads way back in 1996. Here’s hoping Final Reckoning rectifies that. — Carolyn PetitPrevious SlideNext Slide14 / 21List slides7. William Brandt (Jeremy Renner)List slides7. William Brandt (Jeremy Renner)Image: Paramount PicturesOut of everyone who’s been on Ethan Hunt’s team, there have only been two who I felt could match his tactical skills: Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and William Brandt, played by Jeremy Renner. His spy skills are so embedded into the core of who he is that when he was pretending to be an analyst, he instinctively ripped a gun out of Hunt’s hand and pointed it at him quicker than you could sneeze. Without him, Hunt would’ve been captured by the CIA when he was on the run in Rogue Nation and the entire fake meeting to intercept a nuclear launch control codebook would’ve failed in Ghost Protocol. Outside of Hunt, he’s the only person who can both play the bureaucracy game, explaining to the government why the IMF is essential when the need arises, and get his hands dirty by beating up terrorists. To put it plainly, William Brandt isn’t someone you can replace easily.Previous SlideNext Slide15 / 21List slides6. August Walker (Henry Cavill) List slides6. August Walker (Henry Cavill) Image: Paramount PicturesThe man jumped out of a plane and got knocked unconscious by a bolt of lightning, all to keep his double agent cover intact. How the hell do you replace someone like that? On the right day, August Walker is the second most villainous character in Mission: Impossible history for his mixture of unflinching stoicism and charismatic yet radicalized ideological thinking. First off, he’s probably the only villain in the entire series that physically pushed Hunt to the limit in a fight across multiple rooftops. Secondly, he fools multiple government officials and agents whose entire jobs are to be intelligent. Lastly, he might be the single most handsome person to ever step foot on a Mission: Impossible set, which makes his dastardly double cross so jarring to some. He’s also the central antagonist in the greatest Mission: Impossible stunt ever. His presence only lasted one movie, but his impact will never be forgotten.Previous SlideNext Slide16 / 21List slides5. Jim Phelps (Jon Voight)List slides5. Jim Phelps (Jon Voight)Image: Paramount PicturesJon Voight’s Jim Phelps is the only character in the Mission: Impossible films to be directly carried over from the television series that inspired it, though on the show, as played by Peter Graves, Phelps was never anything less than virtuous and dedicated to the job. This let the film subvert the expectations of viewers in 1996, who wouldn’t have anticipated that the noble Phelps would be revealed as the double-crossing villain behind the deaths of nearly every member of Ethan’s team. Jon Voight plays both sides of the coin to perfection, believably projecting the seasoned, fatherly veteran in the opening scenes before everything goes sideways, and then making us understand how Phelps could have fallen so far and grown so disillusioned with the institutions to which he’s given so much of his life after Ethan puts the pieces together. Though it’s been nearly 30 years since that fateful betrayal, it remains the most memorable and emotionally affecting plot twist reveal in the entire series. One gets the sense that it haunts Ethan still, that perhaps part of what spurs him on to be such an extraordinary agent is having witnessed firsthand, in the fall of Jim Phelps, what he might become if he were to stop prioritizing other people’s lives over his own. —Carolyn PetitPrevious SlideNext Slide17 / 21List slides4. Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson)List slides4. Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson)Image: Paramount PicturesNo one has provided a better foil for Hunt, or a better match for the gravity well around Cruise’s onscreen presence, than Rebecca Ferguson. Her double-crossing femme fatale Ilsa Faust consistently keeps everyone off balance, bringing an undercurrent of chaos and intrigue to every scene she’s a part of. Ferguson also managed to go three movies without ever fading into the background as simply another prop to assist in Cruise’s one-man action star show. She’s the cold, unbending edge the series sometimes lacks, and the only person who managed to consistently keep up with Cruise and often outpace him. It’s a crime she won’t be back for Final Reckoning. - Ethan GachPrevious SlideNext Slide18 / 21List slides3. Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman)List slides3. Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman)Image: Paramount PicturesLet’s get this out of the way: Owen Davian is the greatest villain in Mission: Impossible history, and Mission: Impossible III is criminally underrated. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a maniac with an air of inevitability. He rarely gets flustered, and always speaks with the calm, self-assured tone of a doctor that already knows that all of your options for survival are in their hands. The opening scene alone, in which he threatens to shoot Ethan’s wife in front of him and isn’t the least bit persuaded by Hunt’s trained trickery, is the most intense scene in all of Mission: Impossible. He made you believe he was going to find Hunt’s wife and make her bleed. He made you believe he was going to escape seemingly impenetrable law enforcement custody. He made you believe he was real. That is the highest honor any actor can receive. The late Phillip Seymour Hoffman turned Mission: Impossible III into an acting masterclass.Previous SlideNext Slide19 / 21List slides2. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) List slides2. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) Image: Paramount PicturesPegg’s Benji Dunn and his nervous wit feel so integral to the DNA of Mission: Impossible now that it’s hard to believe the character wasn’t even introduced until MI3. From the lab to the field, Pegg’s perfect comedic timing and effortless guilelessness give every increasingly bonkers scheme and highwire stunt the all-important “oh my god I can’t believe we’re doing this!” sidekick energy. He’s the innocent, wide-eyed Kombucha face to Ving Rhames’ exhausted eye-roll and Tom Cruise’s winning smile. From MI5's “A minute ago you were dead!” to casually telling Hunt to jump off a cliff in Dead Reckoning, Pegg can turn from traumatic shock to deadpan Brit on a dime. No matter how bad the writing gets, it always works when it’s coming out of Pegg’s mouth. - Ethan GachPrevious SlideNext Slide20 / 21List slides1. Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames)List slides1. Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames)Image: Paramount PicturesLuther Stickell is the rock-solid and dependable foundation of the Mission Impossible franchise, showing up in every film. Whenever Ethan needs help unlocking a secure door or hacking a mainframe, Luther is there to do the job and make a few jokes. It’s clear that Luther deeply trusts Ethan and likewise, Ethan sees Luther as probably his closest ally and confidant. Plus, it’s pretty awesome to be friends with one of the coolest dudes around. -Zack Zwiezen

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. The data center boom in the desert In the high desert east of Reno, Nevada, construction crews are flattening the golden foothills of the Virginia Range, laying the foundations of a data center city. Google, Tract, Switch, EdgeCore, Novva, Vantage, and PowerHouse are all operating, building, or expanding huge facilities nearby. Meanwhile, Microsoft has acquired more than 225 acres of undeveloped property, and Apple is expanding its existing data center just across the Truckee River from the industrial park.The corporate race to amass computing resources to train and run artificial intelligence models and store information in the cloud has sparked a data center boom in the desert—and it’s just far enough away from Nevada’s communities to elude wide notice and, some fear, adequate scrutiny. Read the full story. —James Temple This story is part of Power Hungry: AI and our energy future—our new series shining a light on the energy demands and carbon costs of the artificial intelligence revolution. Check out the rest of the package here. A new atomic clock in space could help us measure elevations on Earth In 2003, engineers from Germany and Switzerland began building a bridge across the Rhine River simultaneously from both sides. Months into construction, they found that the two sides did not meet. The German side hovered 54 centimeters above the Swiss one. The misalignment happened because they measured elevation from sea level differently. To prevent such costly construction errors, in 2015 scientists in the International Association of Geodesy voted to adopt the International Height Reference Frame, or IHRF, a worldwide standard for elevation. Now, a decade after its adoption, scientists are looking to update the standard—by using the most precise clock ever to fly in space. Read the full story. —Sophia Chen Three takeaways about AI’s energy use and climate impacts —Casey Crownhart This week, we published Power Hungry, a package all about AI and energy. At the center of this package is the most comprehensive look yet at AI’s growing power demand, if I do say so myself. This data-heavy story is the result of over six months of reporting by me and my colleague James O’Donnell (and the work of many others on our team). Over that time, with the help of leading researchers, we quantified the energy and emissions impacts of individual queries to AI models and tallied what it all adds up to, both right now and for the years ahead. There’s a lot of data to dig through, and I hope you’ll take the time to explore the whole story. But in the meantime, here are three of my biggest takeaways from working on this project. Read the full story.This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. MIT Technology Review Narrated: Congress used to evaluate emerging technologies. Let’s do it again. Artificial intelligence comes with a shimmer and a sheen of magical thinking. And if we’re not careful, politicians, employers, and other decision-makers may accept at face value the idea that machines can and should replace human judgment and discretion. One way to combat that might be resurrecting the Office of Technology Assessment, a Congressional think tank that detected lies and tested tech until it was shuttered in 1995. 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 OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI startup The former Apple design guru will work with Sam Altman to design an entirely new range of devices. (NYT $)+ The deal is worth a whopping $6.5 billion. (Bloomberg $)+ Altman gave OpenAI staff a preview of its AI ‘companion’ devices. (WSJ $)+ AI products to date have failed to set the world alight. (The Atlantic $)2 Microsoft has blocked employee emails containing ‘Gaza’ or ‘Palestine’ Although the term ‘Israel’ does not trigger such a block. (The Verge)+ Protest group No Azure for Apartheid has accused the company of censorship. (Fortune $) 3 DOGE needs to do its work in secret That’s what the Trump administration is claiming to the Supreme Court, at least. (Ars Technica)+ It’s trying to avoid being forced to hand over internal documents. (NYT $)+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)4 US banks are racing to embrace cryptocurrency Ahead of new stablecoin legislation. (The Information $)+ Attendees at Trump’s crypto dinner paid over $1 million for the privilege. (NBC News)+ Bitcoin has surged to an all-time peak yet again. (Reuters)5 China is making huge technological leaps Thanks to the billions it’s poured into narrowing the gap between it and the US. (WSJ $)+ Nvidia’s CEO has branded America’s chip curbs on China ‘a failure.’ (FT $)+ There can be no winners in a US-China AI arms race. (MIT Technology Review)6 Disordered eating content is rife on TikTokBut a pocket of creators are dedicated to debunking the worst of it. (Wired $) 7 The US military is interested in the world’s largest aircraftThe gigantic WindRunner plane will have an 80-metre wingspan. (New Scientist $) + Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)8 How AI is shaking up animationNew tools are slashing the costs of creating episodes by up to 90%. (NYT $) + Generative AI is reshaping South Korea’s webcomics industry. (MIT Technology Review)9 Tesla’s Cybertruck is a flop Sorry, Elon. (Fast Company $)+ The vehicles’ resale value is plummeting. (The Daily Beast)10 Google’s new AI video generator loves this terrible joke Which appears to originate from a Reddit post. (404 Media)+ What happened when 20 comedians got AI to write their routines. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “It feels like we are marching off a cliff.” —An unnamed software engineering vice president jokes that future developers conferences will be attended by the AI agents companies like Microsoft are racing to deploy, Semafor reports. One more thing What does GPT-3 “know” about me?One of the biggest stories in tech is the rise of large language models that produce text that reads like a human might have written it. These models’ power comes from being trained on troves of publicly available human-created text hoovered up from the internet. If you’ve posted anything even remotely personal in English on the internet, chances are your data might be part of some of the world’s most popular LLMs.Melissa Heikkilä, MIT Technology Review’s former AI reporter, wondered what data these models might have on her—and how it could be misused. So she put OpenAI’s GPT-3 to the test. Read about what she found.We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Don’t shoot the messenger, but it seems like there’s a new pizza king in town 🍕 ($)+ Ranked: every Final Destination film, from worst to best.+ Who knew that jelly could help to preserve coral reefs? Not I.+ A new generation of space archaeologists are beavering away to document our journeys to the stars.

Honeybees may use an electric sense to locate nectar-rich flowersproxyminder/Getty Images Electric signals from power lines discourage bees from landing on nearby flowers, and there is growing concern that this so-called “electric pollution” could be causing widespread disruption to insect behaviour. Alongside bumblebees, honeybees have been shown to detect and respond to airborne electric fields – which are often caused by static electricity in the natural world – detected through hairs or antennae. Research has shown that honeybees use electro-reception as a form of communication, and both honeybees and bumblebees are thought to use it to locate nectar-rich flowers. Read more…

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. The data center boom in the desert In the high desert east of Reno, Nevada, construction crews are flattening the golden foothills of the Virginia Range, laying the foundations of a data center city. Google, Tract, Switch, EdgeCore, Novva, Vantage, and PowerHouse are all operating, building, or expanding huge facilities nearby. Meanwhile, Microsoft has acquired more than 225 acres of undeveloped property, and Apple is expanding its existing data center just across the Truckee River from the industrial park.The corporate race to amass computing resources to train and run artificial intelligence models and store information in the cloud has sparked a data center boom in the desert—and it’s just far enough away from Nevada’s communities to elude wide notice and, some fear, adequate scrutiny. Read the full story. —James Temple This story is part of Power Hungry: AI and our energy future—our new series shining a light on the energy demands and carbon costs of the artificial intelligence revolution. Check out the rest of the package here. A new atomic clock in space could help us measure elevations on Earth In 2003, engineers from Germany and Switzerland began building a bridge across the Rhine River simultaneously from both sides. Months into construction, they found that the two sides did not meet. The German side hovered 54 centimeters above the Swiss one. The misalignment happened because they measured elevation from sea level differently. To prevent such costly construction errors, in 2015 scientists in the International Association of Geodesy voted to adopt the International Height Reference Frame, or IHRF, a worldwide standard for elevation. Now, a decade after its adoption, scientists are looking to update the standard—by using the most precise clock ever to fly in space. Read the full story. —Sophia Chen Three takeaways about AI’s energy use and climate impacts —Casey Crownhart This week, we published Power Hungry, a package all about AI and energy. At the center of this package is the most comprehensive look yet at AI’s growing power demand, if I do say so myself. This data-heavy story is the result of over six months of reporting by me and my colleague James O’Donnell (and the work of many others on our team). Over that time, with the help of leading researchers, we quantified the energy and emissions impacts of individual queries to AI models and tallied what it all adds up to, both right now and for the years ahead. There’s a lot of data to dig through, and I hope you’ll take the time to explore the whole story. But in the meantime, here are three of my biggest takeaways from working on this project. Read the full story.This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. MIT Technology Review Narrated: Congress used to evaluate emerging technologies. Let’s do it again. Artificial intelligence comes with a shimmer and a sheen of magical thinking. And if we’re not careful, politicians, employers, and other decision-makers may accept at face value the idea that machines can and should replace human judgment and discretion. One way to combat that might be resurrecting the Office of Technology Assessment, a Congressional think tank that detected lies and tested tech until it was shuttered in 1995. 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 OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI startup The former Apple design guru will work with Sam Altman to design an entirely new range of devices. (NYT $)+ The deal is worth a whopping $6.5 billion. (Bloomberg $)+ Altman gave OpenAI staff a preview of its AI ‘companion’ devices. (WSJ $)+ AI products to date have failed to set the world alight. (The Atlantic $)2 Microsoft has blocked employee emails containing ‘Gaza’ or ‘Palestine’ Although the term ‘Israel’ does not trigger such a block. (The Verge)+ Protest group No Azure for Apartheid has accused the company of censorship. (Fortune $) 3 DOGE needs to do its work in secret That’s what the Trump administration is claiming to the Supreme Court, at least. (Ars Technica)+ It’s trying to avoid being forced to hand over internal documents. (NYT $)+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)4 US banks are racing to embrace cryptocurrency Ahead of new stablecoin legislation. (The Information $)+ Attendees at Trump’s crypto dinner paid over $1 million for the privilege. (NBC News)+ Bitcoin has surged to an all-time peak yet again. (Reuters)5 China is making huge technological leaps Thanks to the billions it’s poured into narrowing the gap between it and the US. (WSJ $)+ Nvidia’s CEO has branded America’s chip curbs on China ‘a failure.’ (FT $)+ There can be no winners in a US-China AI arms race. (MIT Technology Review)6 Disordered eating content is rife on TikTokBut a pocket of creators are dedicated to debunking the worst of it. (Wired $) 7 The US military is interested in the world’s largest aircraftThe gigantic WindRunner plane will have an 80-metre wingspan. (New Scientist $) + Phase two of military AI has arrived. (MIT Technology Review)8 How AI is shaking up animationNew tools are slashing the costs of creating episodes by up to 90%. (NYT $) + Generative AI is reshaping South Korea’s webcomics industry. (MIT Technology Review)9 Tesla’s Cybertruck is a flop Sorry, Elon. (Fast Company $)+ The vehicles’ resale value is plummeting. (The Daily Beast)10 Google’s new AI video generator loves this terrible joke Which appears to originate from a Reddit post. (404 Media)+ What happened when 20 comedians got AI to write their routines. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “It feels like we are marching off a cliff.” —An unnamed software engineering vice president jokes that future developers conferences will be attended by the AI agents companies like Microsoft are racing to deploy, Semafor reports. One more thing What does GPT-3 “know” about me?One of the biggest stories in tech is the rise of large language models that produce text that reads like a human might have written it. These models’ power comes from being trained on troves of publicly available human-created text hoovered up from the internet. If you’ve posted anything even remotely personal in English on the internet, chances are your data might be part of some of the world’s most popular LLMs.Melissa Heikkilä, MIT Technology Review’s former AI reporter, wondered what data these models might have on her—and how it could be misused. So she put OpenAI’s GPT-3 to the test. Read about what she found.We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Don’t shoot the messenger, but it seems like there’s a new pizza king in town 🍕 ($)+ Ranked: every Final Destination film, from worst to best.+ Who knew that jelly could help to preserve coral reefs? Not I.+ A new generation of space archaeologists are beavering away to document our journeys to the stars.