The Nanotechnology Revolution is Here/ Miracle Molecule for The Brain/ Augmented Reality Theater/ Jetpacks and The Enigma of Solo Flights
Massimo Portincaso
Founder & CEO at Arsenale Bioyards, Industrial Romantic and Antidisciplinarian Stoic
Another very intense week, so I’ll keep the introduction to the Antidisciplinarian very short. I wrote last week about “Furniture Music” and the fact that today 70% of the music market is made by old music… Last night I had the pleasure to have dinner in a very nice and somehow hip restaurant in Berlin Kreuzberg. This is still somehow the more alternative part of Berlin, compared to the more “mainstream hip” Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg.?
As we stepped into the restaurant we were welcomed by The Police and Roxanne (song from 1978) and the whole night only music from the 90s was played… to confirm what written last week, which continues to perplex me.
Changing topic: I was glad to see that people start noticing that the inorganic part of Nature Co-Design is happening, and it is going to have a huge impact. Specifically, the nanotechnology revolution has been years in the making and is now ready for prime time (see the first article of this week). One of my favorite companies in this space is Atlant3D, the winner of the Hello Tomorrow Challenge. By working with them, I am realizing in reality, and not only from my “theoretical analysis” how they have the potential to revolutionize so many sectors, printing at the atomic level.
Nanotechnology has been a tech buzzword ?for decades. Now, “quietly, the nanotech revolution is underway.” Nanotech has benefited smartphones, “airbags, cellphones, radar, inkjet printers, home projectors, and 5G.” And soon, it could help realize physicist ?Richard Feynman’s?1959 dream?of building “three-dimensional structures, one atom at a time.” Now, the goal of building “a system that resembles 3-D printing—at the atomic scale “may be within reach. According to ?Andrei Fedorov, Professor at GT, speaking of how Feynman’s prediction relates to his nanotech research:
“I say, ‘This is the vision,’ and then I say, ‘Sixty years later, we realized Feynman’s vision. It’s now in our hands.’”
News items:
Could microalgae be a big part of the answer to climate change and a more abundant (and greener) global food supply? Honda, Eneos, and 35 other Japanese companies have joined forces to find out. According to ?Tomohiro Fujita, CEO at Chitose: “Creating a business is within the realm of imagination. But we are creating an industry, which is something extraordinary.”
Could ?ISRIB,?a recently discovered molecule?that helps shut down the ?integrated stress response?- thought to have a devastating impact on memory and cognition - be the key to revolutionary treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and even “age-related cognitive decline?” ?Calico Labs?- the Alphabet subsidiary ?once described by Larry Page?as focused on “health, well-being, and longevity" - certainly thinks so. Calico licensed the molecule in 2015 and hired Carmela Sidrauski?- who did much of the original research on ISRB - as its Principal Investigator.
ISRIB has mostly been tested on “mice or human cells in a petri dish, but ?clinical trials?began last February. According to ?Arun Asok, a neuroscientist at Columbia and expert on memory, who is not involved in Calico’s research:
“We need to understand if there are side effects. But people are in need of drugs like this. This could help a huge number of people suffering from conditions where there aren’t many solutions right now.”
News items:
Data2vec?- a new algorithm developed by Meta AI - may unify self-supervised AI learning models and “train a neural network to recognize images, text, or speech.” According to ?Michael Auli, Research Scientist Director at Facebook AI Research: “We hope it will change the way people think about doing this type of work.”
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What will be the most “astonishing things to happen on the neobiological frontier in the coming” year??Neo.Life rounded up experts in neuroscience, genetics, biotech, psychedelics, and related fields to make an educated guess. The relatively short timeframe stymied several notable scientists, but predictions include the rise of premarital genetic counseling, California decriminalizing psychedelics, and non-molecular approaches to treating brain disorders. Additionally, according to ?David Sinclair, Professor at Harvard Medical School:
“Tens of billions of dollars will be invested in longevity research in a race to find molecules that reverse age.” And he predicts that in 2022, “the first drug to slow aging will enter the final stage of human clinical trials.”
News items:
Why do some species of ant and termite queens live for years or even decades when ordinary workers often live only a few months? Genetics doesn’t provide an answer, but scientists are getting closer to knowing what does.?
According to the NY Times: “The success of digital-only theater productions has been?one of the pandemic’s surprise silver linings,” and many of the most intriguing innovations are coming out of the UK. London’s National Theater launched its ?Immersive Storytelling Studio?in 2016, and its “brief is to see how live theater and new technologies can interact and intersect.” One of its most recent productions, an AR/VR/Desktop musical called ?All Kinds of Limbo, “feels like the glimmering of a new art form: somewhere between music video, video game, and live cabaret show.” According to ?Felix Barrett, co-founder and Artistic Director at immersive theater troupe ?Punchdrunk:
“We’re on the cusp of a new form of entertainment. It’s a new genre; it just hasn’t been named yet.”
News items:
Just because the virtual Mark Zuckerberg wore his typically mundane “black jeans, white sneaks, and a long-sleeve navy T-shirt” in that ?immersive Meta rebranding video?doesn’t mean that?you?can’t be fashion-forward in the metaverse. According to ?Daria Shapovalova, co-founder at digital fashion multi-brand retailer DressX, the metaverse could “create a new use case for clothing. [A way for] every person on the planet to wear couture.”
Author and humorist Dave Eggers interviews ?David Mayman?- Australian inventor of a functional jetpack and CEO at Y Combinator-backed ?Jetpack Aviation?- and discovers that people’s desire for solo flight may have been seriously overestimated. A flying enthusiast, Eggers takes one of the jetpacks for a test flight and finds himself underwhelmed:
“It is nothing like weightlessness. Instead, I feel my every pound, feel just how much thrust it takes to get me and this machine to levitate. As the jets howl and the kerosene burns, I hover, thinking that this is an astounding amount of noise and trouble to float 36 inches off the ground.”
News items:
Covid-19 “acted as a worldwide accelerator for the rollout of AI initiatives,” but governance and ethics have failed to keep pace. According to WEF: “Our only viable course is a practical and participatory ethic, which ensures transparency, ascribes responsibility and prevents AI being used in ways that dictate rules and potentially cause serious harms.”?