The Download: biotech’s future and cheaper, cleaner steel

MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 features nine biotech pioneers, showcasing a reprogramming therapy that restores vision, brain electrodes modeled on Japanese art, a personalized gene-editing cure for a rare disease, and AI-designed viruses for drug discovery and pollution cleanup. Founder Laureen Meroueh proposes a single-step furnace that turns iron ore into liquid steel with natural gas, cutting emissions by at least 50% and lowering costs about 25% versus traditional coal-based steelmaking.