“Regardless of whether any of these efforts will actually translate into clinical reality, the quest to synthesize and even improve on blood has taught us volumes about it. “What I cannot create, I do not understand,” the theoretical physicist Richard Feynman famously scribbled on his Caltech blackboard. In the process of trying and failing to mimic the magic that takes place in the human body, researchers have answered questions they wouldn’t otherwise have thought to ask, learning about everything from the role of nitric oxide in the body to the particular choreography of chemical signals that trigger the release of platelets from their mother cells. ‘The more we figure out about how it works inside our body, the more practical it is to make it outside of the body,’ Wattendorf said. ‘We are truly in a golden era of understanding blood.’”
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.
- Missile Defense Agency asks industry for American ‘Iron Dome’ concepts
- Going Nuclear: Why AI Will Lead the Next Energy Transition
- Quantum teleportation used to distribute a calculation
- What a return to supersonic flight could mean for climate change
- Space companies can dock satellites in orbit, but can they navigate the Pentagon?
- Could this startup’s compact nuclear reactors revolutionize cancer detection?
- E-fuels startup will make diamonds before powering jet planes
Researchers at Tufts University have successfully grown humanlike “teeth” in mini pigs by combining pig and human tooth cells on scaffolds created from pig tooth pieces. The bioengineered structures represent a promising alternative to traditional dental implants, as they can develop hard tissue layers like cementum and dentin, and potentially integrate with a person’s gums and jaw. Unlike titanium implants, which can cause bone damage and bacterial infections, these lab-grown teeth aim to more closely mimic natural tooth development. After implanting the tooth fragments in six mini pigs, the researchers found that the structures began growing similarly to healthy adult teeth. While not yet perfect, the scientists are optimistic about eventually creating functional biological tooth substitutes for human tooth replacement. (via MIT Technology Review)
- Biochar’s carbon storage potential undervalued due to outdated assessment methods, study finds
- Novel quantum-classical computing scheme for designing light-sensitive compounds could accelerate material discovery
- Researchers develop first-of-its-kind quantum gate
- Next-generation mRNA vaccine delivery system uses biodegradable polymers
- Quantum simulator combines digital and analog modes to calculate physical processes with unprecedented precision
- Nanomachines loaded with wine ingredients overcome gene therapy challenges
- New AI hardware on the horizon thanks to electrically programmable spintronic device
- Scientists recode the genome for programmable synthetic proteins
- Nanomaterials are emerging as a powerful tool for coastal oil spill cleanup
- BioSonics spectroscopy can ‘listen’ to the sounds made by individual viruses
- World’s first scalable, connected, photonic quantum computer prototype developed
- Kombucha-derived bioink developed for personalized tissue repair
- Quantum light technique doubles spectroscopy sensitivity, revealing hidden signals
- AI technique predicts Hall thruster power for spacecraft with high accuracy
- Measuring light sail performance in the lab
- EU pumps over $1B into next-gen military innovations
- South Korea plans $23B fund to support battery and biotech
- Urban Sky raises $30M for stratospheric balloons
- Tensive raises €14M for bio-absorbable breast implant
- Australian biotech AdvanCell nabs $112M Series C for radiopharmaceuticals
- Enduro Genetics raises €12M to expand its bioproduction platform
- Smart grid startup Ionate raises $17M Series A
- Hitachi Ventures raises $400M fund to invest in everything from fusion to AI
- Miist Therapeutics raises $7M in funding for inhaled medicines
- Nuclear reactor and fuel tech company X-energy closes upsized $700M Series C-1 financing
- Drone defense startup Hidden Level Inc. raises $100M from DFJ, Lockheed
- Genvax Technologies, a startup bringing advances in RNA vaccine production to animal health, closes Series Seed Plus round
- Guo’s Conviction Partners adds Mike Vernal as GP, raises $230M fund
- Genetics testing startup Nucleus Genomics raised a $14M Series A
- REEV, a medtech startup developing intelligent, lightweight wearable robotics, raised a $9.2M round
Government agency removes spoon emoji from work platform amid protests / NASA Plans Twitch Stream From ISS / Could Earthquake Sensors Help Detect Falling Space Junk? / These Robots Are Recovering Dumped Explosives From the Baltic Sea / Ontario Cancels Starlink Deal, Bars US Firms From Government Contracts / USPS Halts All Packages From China, Sending the Ecommerce Industry Into Chaos / Elon Musk’s presidency is just getting started / AI and Palantir are reshaping how we fight crime / Add “fucking” to your Google searches to neutralize AI summaries / Over 90% of U.S. airport towers are understaffed, data shows / El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender after failed experiment / Google erases promise not to use AI technology for weapons or surveillance / CIA offers buyouts to entire workforce / Thailand cuts power and internet to areas of Myanmar to disrupt scam gangs / A16Z hires acquitted former Marine Daniel Penny as an investor / Rocket junk has a 1 in 4 chance per year of entering busy airspace, study suggests / The Poetry Fan Who Taught an LLM to Read and Write DNA / Study explores compound’s potential to enhance THC for pain treatment / Trump orders cause chaos at science agencies / The deeptech company builder with a flavour of YC coming to the UK / Inside the Bust That Took Down Pavel Durov—and Upended Telegram / 22-year-old math wiz indicted for alleged DeFI hack that stole $65M / Federal Workers Sue to Disconnect DOGE Server / SETI researchers double-check 1 million objects for signs of alien signals / Exploring quantum mechanics in photosynthesis: Insights into energy transfer in plants / Two space startups have merged to create the next generation of telescopes / Chatbot Software Begins to Face Fundamental Limitations / Hidden images in Jackson Pollock paintings may have been intentional, argues study / Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies