“In many ways, Pilgrim’s work and vision underscore just how drastically unprepared we are for the looming — or, perhaps, already arrived — era of biological chaos. BioWatch’s unplugged sampling kiosks, easy access to lethal agents, and the continuing possibility of someone cooking up in their proverbial bedroom something far worse than COVID-19 all paint a fuzzy but ominous picture of our starkly apparent vulnerabilities. Jake, instead of feeling resigned to the glacial pace of theoretical research and horse-blinders-narrowed scope of traditional biotech pipelines, wants Pilgrim to attack these issues head-on with tangible, field-deployable solutions. While its relationship with the DoD is still informal, if Pilgrim is able to use the DoD as a launchpad, the company could shortcut bureaucratic holdups and get to the part where we start making supersoldiers and bringing the interface of Plague Inc. to life (before we start living in the latter’s live gameplay).”
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.
- Military vehicles to get mixed reality windshields controlled by human eyes
- NASA examining options for another Starliner test flight
- Weather modification ban bill advances in Florida Senate
- Deep-Sea miners are set to dig for critical minerals, even if rules aren’t done
- Five Chinese satellites engage in ‘dogfighting’ drills in Space: US officials
- Investors flock to robotics startups after years of setbacks
- Synchron’s brain-computer interface now has Nvidia’s AI
- After 9 months in space, stranded NASA astronauts return home
- World’s first carbon capture plant powered directly by wind planned
- Alphabet spins off laser-based internet project Taara from ‘moonshot’ unit
- Satellite launch kicks off a new effort to monitor wildfires from space
- Ex-ArianeGroup CEO backs Pangea to build 3D-printed aerospike rocket engines
- Irish startup Equal1 unveils world’s first silicon-based quantum computer
- Space supply chain gaps: Propulsion, hardened electronics and laser links
- Google and Muon Space launch a new satellite to battle wildfires
The US and South Korea conducted joint military exercises featuring robot dogs (Q-UGVs) to practice tunnel warfare tactics, specifically targeting scenarios that could involve North Korea’s underground networks. The drills demonstrated how these quadrupedal robots can gather intelligence and provide combat support in confined underground spaces without risking human lives. This training appears to be influenced by lessons from the Gaza conflict, where Hamas used extensive tunnel systems, as military officials express concerns about similar strategies potentially being employed on the Korean Peninsula. (via The Defense Post)
- Next-generation water satellite maps seafloor from space
- Upgraded CRISPR tool enables more seamless gene editing and improved disease modeling
- Concept for interstellar object encounters developed, then simulated using a spacecraft swarm
- A Dyson swarm made of solar panels would make Earth uninhabitable, suggests study
- Nuclear fusion fuel without toxic mercury
- Detecting nuclear radiation at greater distances
- Extracting DNA from the air – DNA evidence of human occupancy in indoor premises
- Universal RNA barcoding system for tracking gene transfer in bacteria created
- Synthesized molecular rings could improve efficiency and flexibility of displays, solar cells and transistors
- Researchers advance substrate engineering pathways to improve power electronics
- Surprisingly, some Dyson spheres and ringworlds can be stable
- A “biohybrid” robotic hand built using real human muscle cells
- Cancer nanotech nurtures sustainable agriculture innovation
- Magnetic microalgae: Tiny swimmers are on a mission to become robots
- Cardiac Dimensions raises $53M in Series E financing for minimally invasive treatments for heart failure and functional mitral regurgitation
- Perplexity AI in early falks for funding at $18B value
- Brainomix raises £14M for AI-powered imaging solution for stroke, lung fibrosis
- Samsung life science fund invests $10M in C2N Diagnostics
- Maxion Therapeutics raises $72M in series A, advancing MAX-001
- Sofinnova raises €165M for new early-stage biotech fund
- Arbor raises $74M amid genetic medicine’s funding slump
- Brain.space secures $11M in funds for brain data platform
- Nuclear fusion company Novatron Fusion Group closes €10MSeries A1 funding round
- Noble Gas Systems receives $4.2M in Series B funding
- New $5M deep tech fund aims to lure founders from universities
- Latigo Biotherapeutics closes $150M in Series B financing
- Peregrine Energy Solutions closes $53M in preferred equity commitment
- DRUID AI, a Romanian conversational AI company, is raising a $50M Series C at a ~$300M valuation
- Robotics company Apptronik raised a $53M Series B
- AI agent infrastructure startup Arcade raised $12M
Who Owns Your Face? The Legal Fight for Identity In The Age of AI / North Korea launches new unit with a focus on AI hacking, per report / NASA defends decisions about astronauts, says they never were ‘stranded’ / A Livestreamed Tragedy on X Sparks a Memecoin Frenzy / Porn on Spotify Is Infiltrating the Platform’s Top Podcast Charts / A Crypto Billionaire’s Gamble to Replace the International Space Station / Satellite Internet Will Let Us Put AI in Everything / I create buildings from mushroom components / The Lost Art of Research as Leisure / ‘Space Advertising’ Draws Astronomers’ Opposition / Florida man eats feral pig meat, contracts rare biothreat bacteria / Scientific misconduct is on the rise. But what exactly is it? / Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth Aboard SpaceX Capsule / Last Year Waymo’s Autonomous Vehicles Got 589 Parking Tickets in San Francisco / Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture / Nvidia Says ‘the Age of Generalist Robotics Is Here’ / Race to name creatures of the deep as mining interest grows / Scientists study fish behavior during dyeing of the Chicago River for St. Patrick’s Day / DeepSeek, a National Treasure in China, is Now Being Closely Guarded / No one knows what the hell an AI agent is / Vibe Coding Explained / ‘More Than a Hint’ That Dark Energy Isn’t What Astronomers Thought /Could we store our data in DNA? /Applications closing March 31 for 90 Day Finn deep tech founder program