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Scientists are using LEGO bricks to build everything from bioprinters to microscopes—increasing the accessibility of science in the process.

Is the person in these two videos real—or is she a deepfake? If you guessed that she’s a deepfake, you’re correct. But if these videos fooled you, don’t be discouraged. With bodies that move and hands that wave, deepfakes just got a whole lot more realistic. Read more about how these hyperrealistic AI avatars are made: https://trib.al/FJd9oa1

Take a look behind the controls of a new way to create video-game characters that engage with players in unique, ever-changing ways.

Humanity has long sought to tame wood into something more predictable. Sawmills manufacture lumber from trees selected for consistency. Wood is then sawed into standard sizes and dried in kilns to prevent twisting, cupping, or cracking. Generations of craftsmen have employed sophisticated techniques like dovetail joinery, breadboard ends, and pocket flooring to keep wood from distorting in their finished pieces. But wood is inherently imprecise. Its grain reverses and swirls. Trauma and disease manifest in scars and knots. Instead of viewing these natural tendencies as liabilities, Achim Menges, an architect and professor at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, sees them as wood’s greatest assets.

"Supershoes" are dividing the elite running community. Most major brands offer multiple versions of "supershoes," high-performance footwear that help athletes run more efficiently (and therefore faster). Since 2020, runners wearing so-called advanced footwear technology have broken all road and outdoor track world records in distances from 5,000 meters to the marathon—a concentration unlike any in the sport’s modern history. But critics say these shoes place too much emphasis on gear at the expense of runners’ ability.

In an in-depth interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai predicts: “This will be one of the biggest things we all grapple with for the next decade.” https://trib.al/WOqjTnF

Generative AI has taken the world by storm. In many ways the buzz around it right now recalls the early days of the internet: there’s a sense of excitement and expectancy—and a feeling that we’re making it up as we go. The technology's future—and ours—will be shaped by what we do next. Here are six unresolved questions to bear in mind as we watch the generative-AI revolution unfold. https://trib.al/zKATRPW

Deepfakes are proliferating online thanks to advances in generative AI. Join MIT Technology Review reporters and editors on July 9 for a fascinating discussion on the rise of deepfakes including the risks they pose and some interesting positive uses. Register for free today ⬇️⬇️⬇️

What's Next in Tech is MIT Technology Review's free LinkedIn newsletter. In this week's edition, discover how generative AI is reinventing video games and what it means to play.

Modern forms of coding make most websites feel like commercial transactions. The HTML energy movement aims to bring back the joys of the early days. https://trib.al/s6hKdkT