DTN 028: Fusion is having a moment
DTN 028: Fusion is having a moment
Plus: A new cancer drug shows promise eliminating all solid tumors, building solar cells from moon dust, LK99 replication, artificial gravity, a new private space station, and more.
Welcome to The Deep Tech Newsletter, a weekly exploration of the business, science, and engineering behind the world’s most important frontier technologies.
The Big Picture
Fusion Is Having a Moment
“Virtually unlimited fusion energy appears to be, if not right around the corner, at least within hailing distance. Last December, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility finally succeeded in forcing the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium to undergo a self-sustained fusion reaction. It was an encouraging advancement, though not exactly a breakthrough. NIF’s small net energy gain didn’t factor in the energy it took to fire up the 192 ultraviolet lasers that initiated the reaction, which lasted “for the briefest blink of a moment.” While there are lessons to be learned from NIF’s successes and failures, laser-based inertial confinement fusion doesn’t yet provide a practical path to commercial-scale power generation.” (IEEE Spectrum)
Can You Decode an Alien Message?
“To ponder the question and practice decoding an extraterrestrial epistle, an artist-led team has created a mock message from the stars to test us Earthlings. On May 24 the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter beamed the note from Mars toward Earth. Three observatories detected the transmission 16 minutes later: the Medicina Radio Observatory in Bologna, Italy; the Allen Telescope Array in northern California; and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The message, though written for humans by humans, was as nonanthropocentric as one could hope for, perhaps the most alien missive the world had ever received.” (Scientific American)
Successful room temperature ambient-pressure magnetic levitation of LK-99
“Recently, Sukbae Lee et al. reported inspiring experimental findings on the atmospheric superconductivity of a modified lead apatite crystal (LK-99) at room temperature. They claimed that the synthesized LK-99 materials exhibit the Meissner levitation phenomenon of superconductors and have a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) higher than 400 K. Here, for the first time, we successfully verify and synthesize the LK-99 crystals which can be magnetically levitated with larger levitated angle than Sukbae Lee's sample at room temperature. It is expected to realize the true potential of room temperature, non-contact superconducting magnetic levitation in near future.” (arXiv)
WE’RE HIRING
We’re looking for writers and editors to join our team. You’ll have a front row seat for the future and tell the stories of the world’s most innovative deep tech startups. Learn more on our website or drop us a line: careers@hausb.io
Deep Tech News
Taming the Flame of Aging: Key Pathway for Chronic Inflammation Revealed
IBM and NASA deploy open-source geospatial AI foundation model on Hugging Face
Two Big Nuclear Regulatory Milestones for Idaho NuScale SMR Project
Electrified cement could turn houses and roads into nearly limitless batteries
Voyager and Airbus will operate Starlab private space station via ‘transatlantic joint venture’
Archer Aviation snags eVTOL purchase contract from US Air Force worth up to $142M
Peer Review
Novel liquid metal nanoparticles for cancer photoimmunotherapy synthesized
Cancer pill AOH1996 shows promise in annihilating all solid tumours
New drug delivery system containing RNA therapy can target cancer cells in bone marrow
Using AI to accurately quantify the amount of entanglement in a system
Research team achieves near-perfect light absorption in atomic-scale material
Progress Reported On Proton Batteries, With Green Hydrogen Bonus
Funding x M&A
Inworld AI raises new round at $500M valuation for AI game characters
Tenstorrent, a Toronto-based computing company focused on building computers for AI, raised $100M
Chemify, a startup digitizing chemistry, raised a $43M Series A
Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a decarbonization solutions startup for the cement, steel, and mining industries, raised a $26M Series A
Ground segment services provider for satellite operators Leaf Space raised a $22M Series B
Miscellanea
Why This AI Moment May Be the Real Deal / Senate Votes to Let People Who’ve Used Marijuana Work at Intelligence Agencies / Most cars still cost more to charge than to fill up with gas / 200k Compromised OpenAI Credentials Available for Purchase on the Dark Web / Google Street View driver crashes after 100 MPH chase, police say / Who are the worlds biggest landowners / If the world were coming to an end, what would be the most ethical way to rebuild humanity off-planet? / The Secret Life of the Cables That Run the Internet / Which Is More Dangerous: Outer Space or the Deep Sea? / Boston Dynamics’ Founder on the Future of Robotics
a digital agency built for the future.
Haus Biographics is a digital agency in NYC that specializes in marketing and communications for deep tech organizations. Check out our website, follow us on Twitter, or say hello@hausb.io
