NASA report says more science and less stigma are needed to understand UFOs
“NASA said Thursday that the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unidentified flying objects are perceived. The space agency released the findings after a yearlong study into UFOs. In its 33-page report, an independent team commissioned by NASA cautioned that the negative perception surrounding UFOs poses an obstacle to collecting data. But officials said NASA’s involvement should help reduce the stigma around what it calls UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena. “We want to shift the conversation about UAPs from sensationalism to science,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. He promised an open and transparent approach.” (Associated Press)
U.S. cancels or curtails half of its Antarctic research projects due to housing shortage
“This summer NSF decided to cancel or curtail 67—more than half—of the 131 projects and activities funded for the 2023–24 austral summer after concluding it couldn’t provide them with the necessary logistical support. The housing shortage is part of a triad of factors generating a perfect storm that is battering the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), long regarded as the best in the world. One element, the COVID-19 pandemic, shut down most research for 2 years and then, when cases spiked, severely disrupted the 2022–23 season. The pandemic, in turn, has stretched out a $500M renovation project at McMurdo, reducing the number of available beds for both scientists and those who provide them with essential logistical support. Simultaneously, the rising cost of providing that support has forced NSF, which operates the research program for the U.S. government, to curtail the scope and duration of projects its program managers have already approved. The resulting dysfunction poses a significant risk to the endeavors of hundreds of Antarctic scientists.” (Science)
China Poised To Surpass The U.S. As The World’s Top Nuclear Power Producer
“The U.S. still leads the world in nuclear power production with a 30.3% global share, but U.S. nuclear power production growth has been almost zero over the past decade. That will finally change this year, as Southern Company’s Vogtle Unit 3 successfully achieved commercial operation earlier this year, with Unit 4 on track for late 2023/early 2024 completion. These are the first nuclear reactors built from scratch in the U.S. in more than thirty years. However, China is the fastest-growing major nuclear energy producer, more than tripling its nuclear power generation over the past decade. At the current growth rate, China will surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest nuclear power producer within a decade.” (Forbes)
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.
- DOD Advances X-Energy Mobile Nuclear Microreactor as Second Project Pele Design
- Virgin Galactic notches fourth spaceflight in four months
- U.K.’s ‘high-risk, high-reward’ research agency starts to take shape
- Panel calls for giant boost to space station research
- US astronaut sets record for stint in space
- Sony develops energy harvesting module from electromagnetic wave noise
- The U.S. Launches First Funds For A New Type Of Clean Energy: Underground Hydrogen
- Wave Energy Gets Ready for a Big First
- New ionic materials boost hydrogen fuel cell efficiency
- Floating sea farms: A solution to feed the world and ensure freshwater by 2050
- Physicists create powerful magnets to de-freeze quantum computing
- A novel approach for removing microplastics from water
- Team develops technique for building DNA-based programmable gate arrays
- Mini space thruster that runs on water
- Researchers use carbon capture and utilization technology to recycle industrial carbon dioxide
- CRISPR used to ‘reprogram’ cancer cells into healthy muscle in the lab
- Physicists Create Elusive Particles That Remember Their Pasts
- First AI-based control method for vanadium redox flow batteries
- UK deep tech gets another boost with new $100M SCVC fund out of Bristol
- French gigafactory scaleup Verkor raises record €850m equity round
- Defence startup Helsing raises €209m in Series B round
- Open Cosmos, a UK satellite startup focused on sustainability, raises $50M
- Battery recycling heats up with Ascend Elements’ $542M Series D
- Mighty Buildings raises $52M to build 3D-printed prefab homes
- Generate:Biomedicines, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, raised a $273M Series C
- UBQ Materials, a climate tech developer, raised $70M
- Arialys Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on advancing therapeutics for autoimmune neuropsychiatry, raised a $58M seed
- Sonera, a neural data company, raised an $11M seed
- Kuano, a drug discovery startup combining quantum mechanics with AI, raised a $2.3M seed
- Lyten, a lithium-sulfur battery startup, raised a $200M Series B
- ROME Therapeutics, a biotech company looking to use the dark genome to develop medicines, raised a $72M Series B
- Delft Circuits, a Dutch quantum computing startup, raised $6.7M
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