DTN 092: Fusion Power Plant Coming to Virginia

Commonwealth Fusion Systems to Build Power Plant in Virginia

• SpaceX, startup Vast ink deal for astronaut trips to the International Space Station

• Waymo still doing better than humans at preventing injuries and property damage

• U.S. scientists brace for looming government shutdown

• Can the US power industry meet AI’s steep energy demands?

• Canon-backed Japanese startup suffers another rocket failure

• NASA postpones return of stranded Starliner astronauts to March

• Digital twins of human organs are here. They’re set to transform medical treatment

• Focused Energy buys two of the world’s most powerful lasers for its fusion quest

• Sam Altman-backed nuclear startup Oklo lands massive data center power deal, with caveats

• Waymo is sending autonomous vehicles to Japan for first international tests

• China orbits first Guowang Internet satellites, with thousands more to come

• Lithium-ion battery pack prices drop to record low of $115/kWh

• The startup aiming to remove forever chemicals from EV batteries

• Cutting through the climate tech hype and looking for profit

Researchers at Columbia University have developed a multi-organ-on-a-chip system to study how space radiation affects human health, specifically looking at bone marrow, cardiac muscle, and liver tissue. Their study found that prolonged radiation exposure had more significant effects than acute exposure, particularly on bone marrow stem cell differentiation and heart muscle function. The research identified 58 genes affected by protracted radiation, which could help develop protective measures for astronauts and enable personalized "astronaut-on-chip" platforms to study individual responses to space radiation. (via Phys.org)

• Scientists steer the development of stem cells to regenerate and repair organs

• Team presents first demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy internet cables

• Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology

• New physics sim trains robots 430,000 times faster than reality

• Researchers achieve near-unity quantum efficiency in 2D photon emitters

• Thin-film tech makes nuclear clocks a 1,000 times less radioactive and more affordable

• Ultraprocessed foods high in seed oils could be fueling colon cancer risk

• Qcells solar factory in Georgia gets $1.45B loan guarantee

• Novonix secures $755M DOE loan for Tennessee synthetic graphite facility

• Korea pledges $38B to shore up its critical supply chains

• Lerer Hippeau files to a raise Fund IX

• Deep Sky secures $40M grant from breakthrough energy catalyst

• Borealis Biosciences raises additional $30M in Series A financing

• Energy Revolution Ventures’ $18M fund lays a bet on ‘new chemistry’ startups in energy and hydrogen

• German startup behind electric ‘microliner’ lands €14M cash runway

• FastWave Medical raises $19M in funding

• Vantis Vascular closes $10M in Series B-1 funding

• Engineered Arts restructures with $10M to create humanoid robots

• Slip Robotics snags $28M for its bots that can load a truck in five minutes

• T-robotics secures $5.4M seed funding

• SandboxAQ raises more than $300M in funding

• Menlo Ventures and Anthropic have picked the first 18 startups for their $100M fund

• BlueQubit raises $10M to take Quantum software into real-world applications

• iRobot co-founder’s new home robot startup hopes to raise $30M

• G2 Ventures Partners is raising $750M for a third fund

• Liquid AI raises $250M in round led by AMD

• Precision Neuroscience, a brain-computer interface startup, raised a $102M Series C

• CleanCapital, a power producer focused on distributed clean energy, raised a $145M round

• AI search engine startup Perplexity raised a $500M round at a $9B valuation

• Backflip, a startup using AI to generate 3D designs, raised a $30M Series A

• Fervo Energy, a geothermal development startup, raised a $135M round

• Mantis Robotics, a physical AI robotic automation startup, raised $5M

US city tells residents to stop sticking googly eyes on its statues / Cannabis pollen dispersal across the United States / HAM radio operators receive signals from Voyager 1 on Dwingeloo telescope / Engineering Lucid Dreams Could Improve Sleep and Defuse Nightmares / The quickly disappearing web / Silicon Valley’s Secondary Markets Are Bigger Than Ever / The Public Distrusts Scientists’ Morals, Not Their Science / Wildfires Are Threatening Astronomy, and the Worst Is Yet to Come / Academic writing is getting harder to read—the humanities most of all / Congress Again Fails to Limit Scope of Spy Powers in New Defense Bill / Elon Musk Taps Loyalists to Boost Staffing for DOGE Effort / Solving renewable energy’s sticky storage problem / Craig Wright Found in Contempt of Court Over Bitcoin Creation Claims / We’re about to fly a spacecraft into the Sun for the first time / The next generation of neural networks could live in hardware / Drone Flight Bans Extended to New York Critical Infrastructure / A Third Person Has Received a Transplant of a Genetically Engineered Pig Kidney / The Human Brain Operates at a Stunningly Slow Pace / You can now call 1-800-CHATGPT / Could Inducing Lucid Dreams Treat Insomnia and Nightmares? / RIP 'climate tech'? / Space Florida to discuss secretive $1.8 billion Cape Canaveral launch site project / Possible ban on Chinese-made drones dismays U.S. scientists / Hackers Can Jailbreak Digital License Plates to Make Others Pay Their Tolls and Tickets / Unabomber’s Dark Views on Technology Reemerge in Health-Care Executive’s Killing / ‘LIfe-Changing’ Psychedelic, for When Life Is Ending / NYC wants you to stop taking traffic cam selfies, but here's how to do it anyway / Where It Isn’t Christmas Until the City Shoots Lasers at 20,000 Crows