Hypersonic Weapons — Who Has Them and Why It Matters
“Hypersonic weapons are so fast, their speed can change the surrounding air molecules. They can carry a nuclear warhead, fly low and be hard to detect. They’re at the center of escalating competition between the US on one side and Russia and China on the other. And their use in combat has raised alarms. Ukraine claimed that Russia used a hypersonic missile to attack Kiev in early 2024. It’s not just the world’s military powers that seek to elicit awe with a hypersonic arsenal: Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim that the missile they used to hit central Israel Sept. 15 was hypersonic, though the Israeli military disputed that.” (Bloomberg)
- Chinese overcapacity is crushing the global steel industry
- Google and Muon Space join forces to continuously scan the Earth for wildfires
- SiFive unveils RISC-V chip design for high-performance AI workloads
- Phlair’s carbon sucking technology could lower direct air capture’s costs
- CATL launches ultra-high-energy-density EV bus battery that lasts ~1M miles
- Synthetic mini-motor: Researchers convert chemical energy into rotational energy at the supramolecular level
- Study sheds light on trade-off between noise and power in nanoscale heat engines
- Quantum tech breakthrough could enable precision sensing at room temperature
- Researchers develop new method for delivering RNA and drugs into cells
- Using sunlight to turn greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals
- Researchers build AI model database to find new alloys for nuclear fusion facilities
- Optimism fuels national productivity and innovation
- ZeroAvia completes $150M Series C financing, including investments from Airbus and AA
- Reverion is making manure out of other biogas power plants and now has $62M to play with
- Every fusion startup that has raised over $300M
- Intuitive Machines lands $4.8B NASA contract to build Earth-moon communications infrastructure
- Microsoft, BlackRock to launch $30B fund to invest in data centers, power for AI
- Ursa Major nabs $12.5M from US Navy, DoD for 3D-printed rocket motors
- DeepMind AI drug discovery spinout Isomorphic Labs issues £182M in new shares
- Headline raises $865M growth fund — and is eyeing defence and pharma startups
- Tidal Metals sees seawater as the solution to a critical mineral shortage, backed by recent $8.5M seed funding
- Hydrogen startup funding continues to boom
- NATO’s first quantum tech investment goes to Southampton startup Aquark Technologies
- Lightium, a Swiss photonics startup, raised a $7M seed round
- Pentagon doles out $269M for military chip research
Second-gen Starlink satellites leak 30 times more radio interference, threatening astronomical observations / Iran successfully launches indigenous Chamran 1 satellite into space / Is Tor still safe to use? / Walkie talkies explode across Lebanon a day after pager explosions / Why is it so hard to go back to the moon? / Hezbollah hand-held radios explode, killing three, one day after pager blasts / Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn / US House votes to bar new DJI drones / Twelve sentenced for violent home invasion robberies to steal cryptocurrency / Dropped Cheetos Could Have Triggered Ecosystem Chaos in Largest US Cave Chamber / Shrinking the economy won’t save the planet / There are more than 120 AI bills in Congress right now