DTN 141: Genesis Mission

U.S. Launches Apollo-Style Mission to Harness AI and Big Data for Scientific Discovery

“On Monday President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at accelerating science using artificial intelligence, an effort dubbed the “Genesis Mission.”

The order frames the race for global technological dominance in AI as “comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project,” referring to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. The order comes at a moment when federal agencies have seen massive cuts to research grants and funding—and Trump’s order does not set out a defined budget for Genesis.

National security, scientific discovery and energy innovation are all highlighted as top priorities in the order, which states that federal scientific datasets such as those managed by NASA, the National Institutes of Health and other government science agencies will be critical to this work.” – Scientific American

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“The Fukuoka osmotic power plant uses the waste brine from the nearby desalination plant which, being highly concentrated, makes the osmosis work faster. And instead of using valuable fresh water from desalination, the plant is supplied with treated water from a sewage works.

The latest idea is based on osmosis, a natural process in which water will move from a place with lower concentration of, for example, salts, through a semipermeable membrane and into a more concentrated solution. This continues until both sides reach equilibrium.

Power can be made from this process because the volume of salty water increases as it is diluted with fresh water that passes through the membrane. Some of the resulting outflow of water from the saltier side is then tapped to drive a turbine to produce the electricity.

Osmotic power might one day provide useful base-load energy to coastal communities with an abundance of salty water, in areas like Australia and the Middle East. It could also help recover energy from desalination plants. Recent projects under way in Japan and France show how the technology is developing. (via The Economist)

• Physicists drive antihydrogen breakthrough at CERN
• Artificial ‘nose’ tells people when certain smells are present
• Humanoid robots reliably manipulate different objects with 87% success using new framework
• Tiny reconfigurable robots can help manage carbon dioxide levels in confined spaces
• Climate-friendly metals can come from deep-sea ores
• Cyanobacterial Pigments Advance Biomedicine Through Smarter Bioprocessing
• Artificial cartilage mimics natural flexibility with adjustable structure
• Carbon electrode enables 1-Wh-class stacked lithium-air battery with enhanced output and lifespan
• Direct approach can bond and debond 2D semiconductors without any glue-like materials
• Tactile sensors enable robots to carry unsecured loads
• Integrated photonic millimeter-wave radar chip developed for next-generation radar 6G networks
• Low-cost green hydrogen: New electrode design dramatically reduces wear in membrane electrolyzers
• Soft robots harvest ambient heat for self-sustained motion
• Interpretable machine learning to accelerate nanocatalyst discovery
• Soft hybrid material turns motion into power—without toxic lead

• Norwegian high-temperature heat pumps company Enerin raises €15M in Series A funding
• Earthmoving Autonomy Platform Gravis Robotics Raises $23M in Funding
• Molecule-maker Onepot.AI launches with $13M
• MindImmune Therapeutics Closes $10.2M Series A Extension; Brings Round Total to $30M
• X-Energy Reactor Company Closes $700M Series D Financing
• Phrontline Biopharma Raises $60M in Pre-A+ Financing
• Parallax Worlds, company building hyper-realistic simulations to stress-test robots before deployment, raises $4.9M in pre-seed and seed funding
• Flux Marine, a developer of electric propulsion technology for watercraft, raises $15M
• Strataphy, a company that focuses on how the world cools AI and industrial infrastructure, raises $6M seed
• Harmonic, an AI lab developing a mathematical superintelligence, raises $120M Series C
• Zetagen Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharma, closes over $12M Series B1
• Craig Crews, Mikael Dolsten raise $32M for Quarry Thera, a company advancing proximity-induced therapeutics based on molecular glues
• BioFiltro, a regenerative and nature-based wastewater treatment company receives $35M investment
• QSimulate, a quantum simulation technology company, raises $11M
• Cassidy Bio, a company developing AI-driven genomic foundation model, closes $8M Seed
• Flexion, an an intelligent software layer powering humanoid robots, raises $50M Series A
• Sorcero, an AI-powered intelligence platform for life sciences, raises $42.5M Series B
• AlixLabs, a semiconductor manufacturing solutions company, raises €14.1M Series A
• Sortera, an aluminum sorting company, raises $45M
• GramEye, an automated diagnostic devices company, raises ¥570M Series B
• Buildroid AI, a UAE-based robotics startup, raises $2M Pre-Seed
• Interface, an AI powered industrial safety platform, raises $3.5M Seed
• Cordance Medical, a medtech company leveraging ultrasound technology for brain disease treatment, raises $8M Seed
• Maritime Fusion, a fusion energy company developing reactors for maritime and off-grid applications, raises $4.5M Seed
• Dayra Therapeutics, a startup focused on developing oral macrocyclic peptides, secures $70M in funding

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