DTN 082: DeepMind wins Nobel Prize for AlphaFold
Plus: Air Force's mysterious spaceplane prepares for a novel maneuver, Taiwan's electricity problem, lunar material science, NOAA drops scientist’s ashes into the eye of a hurricane, and more.
AI wins another Nobel, this time in Chemistry: Google DeepMinders Hassabis and Jumper awarded for AlphaFold
“A trio of scientists consisting of Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google’s AI division DeepMind, as well as John Jumper, Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and David Baker of the University of Washington have been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work in predicting and developing new proteins. The DeepMinders won for AlphaFold 2, an AI system launched in 2020 capable of predicting the 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences. Meanwhile, Baker won for leading a laboratory where the 20 amino acids that form proteins were used to design new ones, including proteins for ‘pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors,’ according to the Nobel committee’s announcement.” (VentureBeat)
AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who warned of X-risk, wins Nobel Prize in Physics
Sonair takes a cue from dolphins to build autonomous 3D vision without lidar
The US military’s X-37B spaceplane is preparing for a “novel space maneuver”
Google identifies low noise “phase transition” in its quantum processor
SpaceX’s next Starship launch—and first catch—could happen this weekend
Taiwan makes the majority of the world’s computer chips. Now it’s running out of electricity
The now-demolished Agbogbloshie Scrapyard in Accra, Ghana, once received about 15,000 tons of electronic waste each year, making it one of the largest e-waste processing sites in Africa.
Ghana has become a major dumping ground for the world's electronic waste. Thousands of workers, many of them young climate migrants from Ghana's impoverished Upper East region, make a precarious living by salvaging valuable metals from this e-waste, often exposing themselves to toxic chemicals and hazardous conditions while earning around $60 per week. While this informal recycling economy provides crucial income for many families, it comes with severe environmental and health consequences as toxic materials leach into soil and water, forcing some communities to relocate due to poisonous fumes from burning electronics. (via NPR)
Potatoes are better than human blood for making space bricks, scientists say
Solar desalinization system from MIT needs no grid connection or battery backup
Dynamic environmental control for more efficient vertical farming
AI and quantum mechanics team up to accelerate drug discovery
Quantum communication: Using microwaves to efficiently control diamond qubits
Octopus suckers inspire new tech for gripping objects underwater
SpaceX alums are working to raise a hefty $550M first deep tech fund
Venture studio Diagram expands into climate tech with oversubscribed $58M fund
MiLaboratories gets $10M for a platform play to accelerate genomic research
Amazon backs carbon capture startup Paebbl in $25M round as governments commit billions to the tech
KoBold Metals, which uses AI to help find critical minerals for the energy transition, raises $491M
Impulse Space lands Space Force contract for “tactically responsive” orbital operations
Flying taxi startup Lilium faces insolvency if not able to "immediately" raise more capital
Gropyus, a startup that prefabricates buildings using robots, raised a $109M round
Blue Energy, a startup building modular nuclear power plants in shipyards, raised a $45M Series A
Suki, an AI technology for healthcare, raised a $70M Series D
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