- The Deep Tech Newsletter
- Posts
- DTN 126: Deep Sea Desalination
DTN 126: Deep Sea Desalination
Plus: Taiwan’s weakening silicon shield, mind-reading brain implants, San Francisco's robot fight club, inside NVIDIA's research lab, and more.

“The competition is really about changing the conversation from ‘quantum computers will eventually solve everything’ to ‘here’s exactly how quantum computers can solve this specific important problem, and here’s what we need to build to make it happen.’”

“From Cape Town to Tehran to Lima to Phoenix, dozens of cities across the globe have experienced water shortages recently. And in the next five years the world’s demand for fresh water could significantly outpace supply, according to a United Nations forecast. Now several companies are turning to an unexpected source for a solution: the bottom of the ocean.”

US embeds trackers in AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China, sources say
NASA has sparked a race to develop the data pipeline to Mars
Brain device that reads inner thoughts aloud inspires strategies to protect mental privacy
Anduril opens solid rocket motor factory amidst ongoing chemical chokepoint
Fuel constraints impact uptake of autonomy in orbit, colonel says
Intuitive Machines to build its own lunar communications satellites
Chinese launch startup unveils autonomous rocket recovery ship
Department of Energy announces initial selections for new reactor pilot program
How the FAA’s new BVLOS proposal could unlock the next phase of US drone operations


Screenshot of the video demo that showcases new AI-powered tool of potential use in quantum computers
A research team created a cartoon video of Schrödinger’s cat to illustrate a breakthrough system for rapidly rearranging thousands of atoms, a critical step toward building quantum computers, which rely on qubits for their computational power. In the video, each yellow dot represents one of 549 rubidium atoms being precisely moved within an array just 230 microns wide. The atoms fluoresce in response to a laser, allowing their positions to be tracked in real time. To efficiently guide the atoms to their target locations, the researchers developed an AI model that calculates the optimal laser path on the fly. The process is extremely fast—the video is slowed down by a factor of 33—and highly scalable: the system currently handles up to 2,024 atoms, with the potential to scale to thousands more. (via Science)

Cornell researchers develop invisible light-based watermark to detect deepfakes
Advancing semiconductor interconnects for next-gen transistors
Optical magnetometer measures magnetic field direction for the first time
Bioelectrosynthesis platform enables switch-like, precision control of cell signaling
Energy-efficient ultracompact laser reduces light loss in all directions
Thin films, big science: chemists expand imaging possibilities with new X-ray material
Fruit fly study achieves first transfer of behavior between species through single gene manipulation
Engineered telomerase RNA and polygenic scores reveal new insights into telomere biology
Graphene capacitors achieve rapid, high-depth modulation of terahertz waves
AI-designed DNA repair templates improve gene editing precision
AI automatically designs optimal drug candidates for cancer-targeting mutations
Quantum dot technique improves multi-photon state generation
Powerful form of quantum interference paves the way for phonon-based technologies
Self-assembling nanoparticles at room temp could transform drug delivery

Fertility startup Gameto raises $44M to fund phase 3 study of stem cell IVF therapy
Tony Robbins’ and Peter Diamandis’ longevity company Fountain Life raises $18M
Life sciences investor Portal Innovations eyes $100M seed fund
Celestial AI raises $255M to solve the scalability demands of modern AI infrastructure
Claros raises $10M for its suite of environmental solutions that address PFAS destruction
VC firm Hatteras closes $200M for life sciences as it reaches 100th investment
India-based electric motorcycle startup, Ultraviolette, raises $21M in funding
Squint raises $40M Series B for its manufacturing intelligence platform
Biotech startup Tahoe Therapeutics raises $30M to build AI models of living cells

Illinois bans use of artificial intelligence for mental health therapy / What is the Luhn Algorithm? The math behind secure credit card numbers / Christian militants are using Instagram to recruit—and becoming influencers in the process / The AI was fed sloppy code. It turned into something evil / Deepfake whales could be a key conservation tool / Leaked Meta AI rules show chatbots were allowed to have romantic chats with kids / How a once-tiny research lab helped Nvidia become a $4 trillion-dollar company / Tor: how a military project became a lifeline for privacy / Someone keeps stealing, flying, fixing and returning this man's 1958 Cessna / Dial-up internet to be discontinued / Why insurers worry the world could soon become uninsurable / Optimizing my sleep around Claude usage limits / Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers and desktop computers / Engineer teams up with renowned poet to encode poetry into a 'deathless bacterium' / Lifetime odds of dying from asteroid impact contextualized in study / What does Palantir actually do? / Meet the early-adopter judges using AI / What will convince investors to bet on the martian frontier? / The real space pipeline runs through collegiate rover and rocket challenges / The computer science dream has become a nightmare / Next-Gen heart patch may revolutionize heart repair / Breakthrough smart plastic: self-healing, shape-shifting, and stronger than steel / Inside San Francisco’s robot fight club / The perfectly fine, already-paid-for satellites Trump wants to destroy in a fiery atmospheric reentry