# MIT Technology Review’s The Download asks what comes after carbon removal’s boom [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/mit-technology-review-s-the-download-asks-what-comes-after-a530f5b7) MIT Technology Review’s October 24, 2025, edition of The Download says the carbon removal sector is facing a reckoning after years of growth. James Temple reports that companies have shut down, downsized or pivoted, venture investments have flagged, and the sector has made little progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious plans. Experts warn that the sector is entering a turbulent business trough; the newsletter asks where it will go after a painful clearing-out cycle. Jessica Hamzelou describes an AI-powered smartphone app being used to assess pain. The newsletter says such tools could help doctors and caregivers, particularly when caring for people unable to communicate how they feel, but are far from perfect. It also raises questions about how people experience, communicate and treat pain. The newsletter does not provide the full stories’ evidence or explain how the app measures pain, so its performance and practical effects remain unknown. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: Oct 24, 2025 (2025-10-24T12:10:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-11T13:18:24.696Z. First observed: 2026-11-02T23:32:01.162Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-02T23:33:20.522Z. - [The Download: carbon removal’s future, and measuring pain using an app](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on November 2, 2026; originally published October 24, 2025. The newsletter summarizes and links to full stories; the retrieved text does not provide their supporting evidence or details of the app’s performance. ## Open question If the carbon removal sector undergoes the painful clearing-out cycle the newsletter describes, where will it go from there? ## Source-stated James Temple’s newsletter section says the carbon removal sector is facing a reckoning after years of growth, with companies closing, downsizing or changing direction and venture investments flagging. > After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated The newsletter says the sector has made little progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious carbon-sequestration plans and reports experts’ warning that it is entering a turbulent business trough. > the collective industry hasn’t made a whole lot more progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious plans to sequester a billion tons of carbon dioxide by this year. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated Jessica Hamzelou’s section describes an AI-powered smartphone app being used to assess how much pain a person is in. > Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app is being used to assess how much pain a person is in. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated The newsletter says pain-assessment tools could help doctors and caregivers, especially with people who cannot tell others how they feel, but are far from perfect. > They could be especially useful in the care of people who aren’t able to tell others how they are feeling. > But they are far from perfect. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: cd64531d-a358-e9c8-3bca-63453ddebdc2. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-11T13:14:08.933Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model, second\_opinion\_categorical. Observation: 127d5cdbf58f548dff9eae6d11051dd65e212101f172c9a5eccb30692a3a2514. Source text hash: a6552553533125ad11e34e36bf28c9ac73654308f289cb6937f7c224b1f54073. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-11T13:18:24.696Z MIT Technology Review’s October 24, 2025, edition of The Download says the carbon removal sector is facing a reckoning after years of growth. James Temple reports that companies have shut down, downsized or pivoted, venture investments have flagged, and the sector has made little progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious plans. Experts warn that the sector is entering a turbulent business trough; the newsletter asks where it will go after a painful clearing-out cycle. Jessica Hamzelou describes an AI-powered smartphone app being used to assess pain. The newsletter says such tools could help doctors and caregivers, particularly when caring for people unable to communicate how they feel, but are far from perfect. It also raises questions about how people experience, communicate and treat pain. The newsletter does not provide the full stories’ evidence or explain how the app measures pain, so its performance and practical effects remain unknown. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: Oct 24, 2025 (2025-10-24T12:10:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-11T13:18:24.696Z. First observed: 2026-11-02T23:32:01.162Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-02T23:33:20.522Z. - [The Download: carbon removal’s future, and measuring pain using an app](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on November 2, 2026; originally published October 24, 2025. The newsletter summarizes and links to full stories; the retrieved text does not provide their supporting evidence or details of the app’s performance. ## Open question If the carbon removal sector undergoes the painful clearing-out cycle the newsletter describes, where will it go from there? ## Source-stated James Temple’s newsletter section says the carbon removal sector is facing a reckoning after years of growth, with companies closing, downsizing or changing direction and venture investments flagging. > After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated The newsletter says the sector has made little progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious carbon-sequestration plans and reports experts’ warning that it is entering a turbulent business trough. > the collective industry hasn’t made a whole lot more progress toward Running Tide’s ambitious plans to sequester a billion tons of carbon dioxide by this year. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated Jessica Hamzelou’s section describes an AI-powered smartphone app being used to assess how much pain a person is in. > Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app is being used to assess how much pain a person is in. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source-stated The newsletter says pain-assessment tools could help doctors and caregivers, especially with people who cannot tell others how they feel, but are far from perfect. > They could be especially useful in the care of people who aren’t able to tell others how they are feeling. > But they are far from perfect. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/24/1126569/the-download-carbon-removals-future-and-measuring-pain-using-an-app/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: cd64531d-a358-e9c8-3bca-63453ddebdc2. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-11T13:14:08.933Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model, second\_opinion\_categorical. Observation: 127d5cdbf58f548dff9eae6d11051dd65e212101f172c9a5eccb30692a3a2514. Source text hash: a6552553533125ad11e34e36bf28c9ac73654308f289cb6937f7c224b1f54073. ### uncertain — 2026-11-11T13:14:08.933Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: cd64531d-a358-e9c8-3bca-63453ddebdc2 attribution — uncertain: This is a newsletter issue with its own commentary, so it counts as one piece. Temple and the publisher are credited correctly. However, the reading says 'Jessica Hamzelou describes an AI-powered smartphone app.' In the source, the app reporting is Deena Mousa's print-magazine story, which Hamzelou's section summarizes. Smallest repair: state that Hamzelou's section summarizes Deena Mousa's print story about the app. > Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app is being used to assess how much pain a person is in. summary — uncertain: The reading is mostly faithful, but essential context is missing for a non-specialist. It never explains what carbon removal is. It also names Running Tide's 'ambitious plans' without identifying Running Tide as an aquaculture company that shut down last summer or stating the plan: a billion tons of CO2 by this year. Readers cannot judge the gap from that. The source's 'hype phase is over' framing is also dropped. Smallest repair: briefly define carbon removal and state Running Tide's shutdown and its billion-ton goal. > Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down its operations last summer date — pass: The reading's October 24, 2025 matches the UTC day of originalPublished (2025-10-24T12:10:00Z). The dateModified value precedes publication, so no later edit is indicated. The reading uses no post-publication events, the clearing-out cycle is framed as the source's open question, and no archive disclosure is needed for a publisher page. support — pass: Each claim is source-stated and its excerpt matches the text. 'Little progress' fairly paraphrases 'hasn't made a whole lot more progress'. The pain-tool benefits are kept conditional ('could help') and paired with 'far from perfect'. The stated unknowns about the app's evidence and performance are accurate limitations. > The app, and other tools like it, could help doctors and caregivers. media — pass: No media was selected and no verified candidates were supplied, so there is nothing to misidentify. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/a530f5b734ec28b871c396fc42a356acf4e3784b45e300336a9479eb1cb931a0/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/mit-technology-review-s-the-download-asks-what-comes-after-a530f5b7.json)