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- DTN 057: Artificial vision next frontier for brain implants
DTN 057: Artificial vision next frontier for brain implants
Plus: Rocket-powered boxing glove for space debris, Jupiter's life-sustaining moon, luxury balloon rides to space, and more.
"All of it goes back to the question: where will all the carbon come from? Ultimately what we’re about is taking advantage of the sugar that’s just lying around and demonstrating that this is a structurally better way to do things. It’s not the end of petrochemistry, it’s the future of agribusiness. And like I said: people need to start thinking about the new Standard Oil. I think they’ll realize it looks quite a bit like GB."
The Big Picture
“Bussard is one of a small number of blind individuals around the world who have risked brain surgery to get a visual prosthesis. In Spain, researchers at Miguel Hernández University have implanted four people with a similar system. The trials are the culmination of decades of research.There’s interest from industry, too. California-based Cortigent is developing the Orion, which has been implanted in six volunteers. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is also working on a brain implant for vision. In an X post in March, Musk said Neuralink’s device, called Blindsight, is ‘already working in monkeys.’ He added: ‘Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision.’” (Wired)
Deep Tech News
NASA has greenlit plans to send a giant drone to Saturn’s largest moon
Dark is building a rocket-powered boxing glove to push debris out of orbit
Space tourism balloon startup unveils ‘luxury’ capsule design
This US startup makes a crucial chip material and is taking on a Japanese giant
RocketStart test fusion-enhanced in-space propulsion process
CATL unveils Tesla Megapack competitor, claims zero degradation and more capacity
NASA unveils probe bound for Jupiter’s possibly life-sustaining moon
Space Force tees up new ‘responsive space’ mission from Rocket Lab and True Anomaly
JPEG of the Week
Photonic crystals are the key to the brightest semiconductor laser ever, a tiny ultrabright device capable of melting steel. This groundbreaking laser owes its exceptional brightness to the unique properties of photonic crystals, which enable it to generate an unprecedented level of focused light energy.
Over the past couple of decades, a team at Kyoto University has been developing a new type of semiconductor laser that surpasses the brightness limitations of its conventional counterparts. Called the photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser, or PCSEL (pronounced "pick-cell"), this innovative device has recently been fabricated to achieve brightness levels comparable to gas and fiber lasers, making it capable of quickly slicing through steel. The team has also proposed a design for a PCSEL that is 10 to 100 times brighter than current models. Such devices have the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing and automotive industries, and could even open the door to exotic applications like inertial-confinement nuclear fusion and light propulsion for spaceflight. (via IEEE Spectrum)
Peer Review
Funding x M&A
Dutch cultivated meat startup secures €40M for ‘world’s kindest burger’
Dutch deep tech fund for photonics startups reaches €75M after second close
SOSV founder says climate investing is a ‘war effort’ as firm closes $306M fund
Space startups are licking their lips after NASA converts $11B Mars mission into a free-for-all
Samsung awarded $6.4B CHIPS Act grant to build 'semiconductor ecosystem' in Texas
Qureight raises $8.5M to use AI to speed up the $92B clinical trials market
Chevron leads $45M investment in carbon removal company Ion Clean Energy
Cobot announces $100M Series B and reveals exclusive details about its non-humanoid robots
DOE announces $75M to advance desalination and water reuse tech
Spiber, a Japanese biomanufacturing startup, raised $86.5M in funding from existing shareholders
Captura, a direct ocean capture company, raised a $5.3M Series A extension
Sustainable insulation startup CleanFiber raised a $28M Series B
OpenAI-rival Mistral AI is in talks to raise several hundred million dollars at a $5B valuation
GA Drilling, a startup specializing in deep geothermal drilling, raised $15M in funding
Miscellanea
Hollywood talent agency CAA tests AI clones / Future of Humanity Institute shuts down / The US now has an actual plan to connect clean energy to the grid / $10M to gold disguised as machine parts seized from cargo plane / Roman chariots responsible for the size of space shuttle booster rockets / House votes to extend - and expand - a major US spy program / US drug shortages reach record high with 323 meds now in short supply / James Dean, founding director of NASA art program, dies at 92 / If alien life is found, how should scientists break the news? / Millions of gamers advance biomedical research by helping to reconstruct microbial evolutionary histories / NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station / A town that kept its nuclear bunker a secret for three decades / Japanese police arrest man for tampering with Pokémon Violet save data / Dune ornithopters flap their blades in the wrong plane for vertical takeoff
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