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- DTN 117: Waymos on Fire
DTN 117: Waymos on Fire
Plus: First large-scale error-free quantum computer, AI hurricane forecasting, rebooting dead human brains, stratospheric airships, illegal AI therapy bots, and more.
“If you can ship raw materials and learn how to make things in-situ you achieve incredible cost advantages. But beyond that, you can build structures that are just impossible to put inside a rocket.”
“IBM announced detailed plans today to build an error-corrected quantum computer with significantly more computational capability than existing machines by 2028. It hopes to make the computer available to users via the cloud by 2029.
The proposed machine, named Starling, will consist of a network of modules, each of which contains a set of chips, housed within a new data center in Poughkeepsie, New York. “We’ve already started building the space,” says Jay Gambetta, vice president of IBM’s quantum initiative.”
Rebooting dead human brains, biotech seeks to reinvent drug testing work
Brain implant lets man with ALS speak and sing with his ‘real voice’
Fervo Energy drills 15,000', 520 F geothermal well in 16 drilling days
Quantum uncertainty shouldn’t stop investors from making the right bet
Google DeepMind just changed hurricane forecasting forever with new AI model
A person uses a skateboard to break windows on a Waymo taxi during protests Sunday. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
During a protest in downtown Los Angeles against immigration raids by the Trump administration, several Waymo autonomous taxis were vandalized and set on fire. Protesters slashed tires, smashed windows, and spray-painted anti-ICE messages before torching three of the vehicles. The clashes prompted a heavy police response and warnings about toxic fumes from burning lithium-ion batteries. (via Los Angeles Times)
Unprecedented optical clock network lays groundwork for redefining the second
A quantum random access memory based on transmon-controlled phonon routers
Gyromagnetic zero-index metamaterials enable stable light vortices for advanced optical control
Novel nanopore sensing platform paves way for solid-state, label-free DNA sequencing technologies
Scientists achieve precision activation of quantum defects in diamond
Carbon nanotubes replace metal coils for ultra-lightweight electric motors
Magnetic microrobot mechanically mixes microscopic materials
Scientists successfully edit oat DNA using for first time, enabling climate-resilient crops
First on-chip photonic qubit enables GKP states for error correction at room temperature
Filtering terrestrial contamination in the search for alien signals
Quantum navigation device uses atoms to measure acceleration in 3D
Oxide catalysts that sustain themselves could lead to self-healing reactors
AI-designed waveguides pave the way for next-generation photonic devices
Physicists set new world record for qubit operation accuracy
Polymers gain fire resistance and sustainability with light-powered chemical upgrade
Nonreciprocal light speed control achieved using cavity magnonics device
US engineers create self-healing robot skin that detects, seals, and resets
SpliceBio gets $135M shortly after starting its first gene therapy clinical trial
Sorcerer (YC S24) raises $3.9M to launch more weather balloons
Multiverse Computing raises $215M for tech that could radically lower AI costs
Autonomous vehicle company Coco Robotics raises $80M in funding
Enterome raises $19M in funding to develop OncoMimics immunotherapies to treat cancer
Parallel Bio raises $21M in Series A funding for human-first drug discovery
Electromagnetic spectrum company VectorWave raises $2.5M in funding
Nominal raises $75M in Series B funding for real-time testing of physical systems
Kumulus Water raises $3.5M in seed funding to turn air into clean drinking water
Muon Space closes $146M Series B funding for mission-optimized satellite constellations
Aethero raises $8.4M in funding for space-grade computers and autonomous satellite platforms
Microbiome medicine company, 32 Biosciences, raises $6M in funding
Fusion energy company Proxima Fusion raises €130M in Series A funding
Wandercraft raises $75M for acceleration of AI-powered humanoid robotics and exoskeletons
Standard Nuclear raises $42M in funding for TRISO fuel production for advanced reactors
Sustainable chemical company New Iridium raises $2.65M in seed funding
Fervo Energy lands $206M in financing to build massive geothermal power plant
Bedrock Ocean dredges up $25M to map the seafloor with robots
Qualcomm to acquire semiconductor firm Alphawave Semi for $2.4B
Mosanna Therapeutics raises $80M in Series A funding for obstructive sleep apnea treatments
Climate tech company Beewise raises $50M in Series D financing
Mitra Chem is raising $50M for its cheaper, domestic battery materials
IonQ acquires Oxford Ionics for $1.07B as quantum space continues to sizzle
Quantum Space raises $40M to advance development of its Ranger spacecraft
Waymo pauses service in downtown LA neighborhood where they're getting lit on fire / The bleach community is ready for RFK Jr. to make their dreams come true / 'Bitcoin baby' soon to be a teenager / Three steps to stopping killer asteroids / An experimental new dating site matches singles based on their browser histories / Air traffic control in the US still runs on Windows 95 and floppy disks / AI therapy bots are conducting 'illegal behavior,' digital rights organizations say / Why Bell Labs worked / Tool to identify poisonous books developed by University of St Andrews / A blacklisted American magician became a hero in Brazil / The hunt for Marie Curie's radioactive fingerprints in Paris / They travel the world–and cheat death–for license plates / Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft – and people are paying anyway / A dark adtech empire fed by fake CAPTCHAs / A new problem that only quantum computing can solve / China carefully assembling a deep-sea mining strategy / Epic effort to ground physics in math opens up the secrets of time / Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z bio and health strategy, steps down / A man rebuilding the last Inca rope bridge / Object firing signals at Earth every 44 minutes / Anthropic’s AI-generated blog dies an early death / TSA working on haptic tech to 'feel' your body in virtual reality / Inside the secret meeting where mathematicians struggled to outsmart AI / First map made of a solid’s secret quantum geometry / The clumps of brain cells that can play Pac-Man / Little-known cells might be key to human brain’s massive memory / Crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong is ready to invest in CRISPR baby tech / Disney, Comcast sue AI image generator Midjourney / The Pentagon disinformation that fueled America’s UFO mythology