Scott Kirsner

One teen uses AI to fix his car while another fears it will "stunt cognitive development" of future generations A teen focus group reveals divided opinions, with some embracing AI tools for studying while others worry about the environment and future job prospects.

How do teenagers feel about the arrival of the AI age?

I assembled a focus group of eight Massachusetts teens to get their take. Here's what they said in our group text:

www.masslive.com/news/2025/12... #AI #education — via @masslive.bsky.social

Rent a robot for $18 an hour? Watertown startup Tutor Intelligence raised $34 million for robots that can stack 14 boxes per minute and work around the clock.

The new robot warehouse worker from Tutor Intelligence won’t work for minimum wage.

But pay it $18 an hour, and it will uncomplainingly pick up boxes and plunk them onto wooden pallets — three shifts a day, with no breaks

www.masslive.com/business/202... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Mass. dad creates magazine celebrating adult Lego builders as artists The new magazine, Bricka, launches a print edition next week, and its founder says that Lego creations can be art.

Launching next month: A new print mag for adults who love LEGO...

www.masslive.com/news/2025/11... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Exclusive | AI Music Platform Suno Valued at $2.45 Billion The startup has raised $250 million and says annual revenue has reached $200 million.

Big #AI funding round for a Cambridge startup.... with some coming from NVIDIA Ventures

www.wsj.com/business/med...

Can this Mass. startup solve the riddle of fusion power? Fusion power's big advantages would be that it’s a virtually limitless source of electricity that doesn’t add carbon to the atmosphere, and has lower safety risks compared to traditional nuclear react...

Can this startup solve fusion? Fusion power doesn’t pump carbon into the atmosphere, and has fewer safety risks compared to traditional nuclear reactors.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems — and its investors – think we're on the cusp...

www.masslive.com/news/2025/11... — via @masslive.bsky.social

This startup is creating the future of board games with a hybrid digital-physical device The startup Board just started selling a $500 product that blends physical game pieces, family-friendly games, and a flat-screen display. The company's chief creative officer is based in Massachusetts...

Most people have amassed a shelf full of board games somewhere in their home. But what if the next game you buy is the last one you’ll ever need?

That’s the promise behind Board, a new startup aiming to reinvent family game night.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/11... — via @masslive.bsky.social

MIT Living Lab shows humanoid robots still struggle with basic tasks Massachusetts robotics entrepreneurs focus on specialized machines, while West Coast companies pour billions into humanoid development despite current limitations demonstrated at MIT.

What can a humanoid robot actually do in the real world?

Here's what I saw last week on a visit to MIT's new Living Lab...

www.masslive.com/news/2025/11... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Does Boston have to be the city where fun goes to die? Will two toymakers, the LEGO Group and Hasbro, leave the fun behind when they relocate from Connecticut and Rhode Island to Boston?

We love our statues in Boston, as long as they represent historic figures who are now dead and preferably on horseback.

But erect something fun that might wind up in someone’s Instagram feed? That’s just not our jam.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/10... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Amid a tough year for biotech, these Mass. companies just raised $1B Companies working on new medicines to treat obesity and a new approach to using artificial intelligence in science labs are giving the biotech industry some much-needed good news.

Some sudden sprouts of hope in #biotech, with $1 billion in new funding announced last week by just two Boston-area startups, Kaleira Therapeutics in Waltham and Lila Sciences in Cambridge.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/10... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Could this Massachusetts startup change how baseball teams spend millions? Infinite Sky, a Boston-based company, uses AI to analyze video and assess baseball pitchers' command, helping teams make smarter recruitment and salary decisions.

As Major League Baseball barrels toward the World Series later this month, one Massachusetts startup has been rooting for the teams using its technology.

Founded in 2021, Infinite Sky uses AI to analyze video from baseball games...

www.masslive.com/news/2025/10... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Say goodbye to the Mass. clean energy boom. But a comeback may be in the offing Massachusetts' clean energy sector faces a turbulent week as feds pull $466M in grants. Emily Reichert, chief executive of the Mass. Clean Energy Center explains what happens next.

The Sec. of Energy came to MA to visit to a fusion reactor startup with @massgovernor.bsky.social. And then his Department cut $466 million of grants in the state. What gives? I spoke with Emily Reichert of the Mass. Clean Energy Center:

www.masslive.com/news/2025/10... — via @masslive.bsky.social

AI isn’t killing jobs yet, but it’s making the job hunt weird Unemployment is trending up in Massachusetts. Is AI the cause? Here are what job candidates and tech experts say is happening.

You probably can’t say you’ve experienced the strangeness of the job market in 2025 until you have submitted to an interview with an AI human resources “agent."

www.masslive.com/news/2025/10... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs Medications that prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures were invented with government funding. At research universities, that money is now canceled or in jeopardy.

Great piece on @washingtonpost.com:

The Post "examined the history of six important drugs invented over the past few decades. In each case, crucial steps in the development of the medication came from taxpayer-funded research at universities now at risk of losing federal support."

wapo.st/4q1M3ly

Are there reasons to be optimistic about the Mass. economy? Yes and no While recent surveys find that business leaders in the Bay State are pessimistic, and are having trouble getting access to capital, some see reasons for optimism.

On a rainy morning in Roxbury this week, the annual economic outlook breakfast organized by Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) did not serve up an especially sunny forecast for the future.

5 insights from the event:

www.masslive.com/news/2025/09... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Why these tech founders are building ghost ships that could transform naval warfare Startups in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are developing a new class of uncrewed ships — and raising millions from investors. Could one of them become the Waymo of the waves?

What’s behind a surge in funding recently for startups in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that want to design and build ships?

Two words: uncrewed vessels.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/09... — via @masslive.bsky.social

The race to quantum computing supremacy runs through Boston Local startup QuEra attracts major investment from NVIDIA, highlighting the city's growing influence in the global competition to build computers that could crack current encryption systems.

NVIDIA just placed a bet on this Boston startup building quantum computers.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/09... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Why Boston's most hated neighborhood is actually its most misunderstood success story With Hasbro's arrival marking another milestone, Boston's most criticized neighborhood continues to prove its critics wrong by building a diverse, dynamic community.

With Hasbro moving in soon, I thought it was time to ask: maybe we should stop dissing the Seaport?

www.masslive.com/boston/2025/... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Opinion | We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself

From Sputnik to 2025: this country became a scientific superpower over seven decades. How quickly will we destroy that?

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o... — via @nytimes.com

Is this major Mass. tech company quietly shifting to San Francisco? With its annual conference held in San Francisco and a CEO based in that city, what does it mean to be headquartered in Mass. these days?

A lot of things started to change at HubSpot in 2023.

In January, the company opened up an SF office. Then, it announced that an SF-based executive would be taking over as CEO. This week, the annual Inbound conference happens... in SF.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/09... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Georgia Tech Is Teaching Other Universities a Fundraising Lesson — via @wsj.com + @nidhisubs.bsky.social

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Biotech slump: US risks losing its industry crown to China, Mass. leaders say MassBio report shows venture capital investment declining to 2017 levels as industry leaders compare the situation to America's loss of semiconductor manufacturing.

A new report from MassBio finds shrinking employment in both manufacturing and research and development jobs — and that data doesn’t yet include 2025 layoffs in the biotech biz. Here's what industry veterans say about what's happening...

www.masslive.com/news/2025/08... — via @masslive.bsky.social

Live, from Boston Harbor, it’s ‘Survivor: Life Sciences Edition’ As China rises and other global cities aggressively court biotech talent, Massachusetts faces a "contracting moment" that has executives concerned about the future of innovation.

More than 500 young life sciences entrepreneurs arrived on one of the Boston Harbor islands this week. While they were there for the annual Nucleate Alumni Summit, the vibe was a cross between a summer camp for geniuses and an episode of the reality show “Survivor.”

www.masslive.com/news/2025/08...

Looking forward to moderating this conversation tonight (Aug 12th) at the Harvard Book Store, with the author of "Boston and the Making of a Global City."

www.harvard.com/event/james-...

Meet the Massachusetts-made boat that never needs gassing up James Worden, who built solar-powered race cars at MIT, now aims to revolutionize maritime transportation with his innovative TruSolar boat, while continuing his late wife's legacy.

Checking out a new solar-powered boat that can cruise along at 6 mph on only the sun's rays. The creator is an MIT alum who helped start the solar car racing team at the university.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/08... — via @masslive.bsky.social

A Boston tech company says its wristbands can estimate blood pressure. The FDA’s not so sure Scott Kirsner, a columnist from our editorial partner MassLive, joins WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss the feud.

And here's the @wbur.org segment about this story, which aired today (8/8): www.wbur.org/news/2025/08...

Groundbreaking Harvard study — funded by the NIH — finds that lithium reverses brain aging.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/06/m...

Key paragraph at the end of this @bostonglobe.com piece by Kay Lazar:

Can Boston startup Whoop win its face-off with the FDA? Whoop is betting on political connections and wellness claims to keep its blood pressure monitoring feature, despite FDA warnings of potential fines and product seizures.

The Boston wearables startup Whoop got a warning letter from the FDA about its latest device. Its CEO was in DC earlier this year meeting with Trump cabinet member Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who oversees the FDA.

How will this play out?

www.masslive.com/news/2025/08... — on @masslive.bsky.social

This is a good effort by Mass. Gov. Maura Healey... *IF* it gets funding. Trying to use $400 million of state money to preserve R&D jobs and early science, and counter severe federal cuts in the billions.

www.mass.gov/news/governo...

Cambridge startup’s sleep apnea pill shows promising results Apnimed's experimental drug reduced breathing interruptions by nearly 46.8% in clinical trials, offering a potential alternative to CPAP machines for millions of people.

Does a Cambridge startup have a pill that can treat sleep apnea?

Last week, Apnimed, a little-known pharma startup founded in 2017, announced encouraging results from its clinical trial of a new drug. Six things you should know about it, via @masslive.bsky.social:

www.masslive.com/news/2025/07...

MIT Innovation HQ shuts down after 12 years due to budget cuts Federal research funding reductions led to the closure of the engineering school program, which had fostered cross-disciplinary collaboration since 2013.

Innovation will likely not stop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, one program designed to foster it was shut down last week after 12 years in existence.

www.masslive.com/news/2025/07... — scoop on @masslive.bsky.social