๐ฎ Roundups #43
๐ชโฝ๏ธ Galactic gas stations, ๐งช genetic design, ๐ฆ๐ฅ shrimp-inspired nuclear fusion, infrastructure for ๐๐ฌ web3 communities, and an interview with ๐ฐ๏ธ Varda Space
Every Friday I round up 5 technological advancements that give us a Glimpse into the future ๐ฎ After all, the future is already here, itโs just not evenly distributed.
This week on The Glimpse
If you missed it on Tuesday, I wrote about the rise of humanoid robots - our very own C-3POs. Why are humanoid robots so important to our economic future? What are the challenges to overcome? And which companies are best positioned to bring this future to life? I think youโll enjoy this deep dive into the world of humanoid robots!
Humanoid Robots | The Quasi-Infinite Economy
For as long as the StarWars nerds like me have dreamed of a future with our own personal C-3POs, it's never been much more than a pipe dream. Even if we could build a replica of C-3PO and make it walk or say something in his iconic worrisome voice, we were always limited by the ability of our C3POs to see the world and interact with it. That is... untilโฆ
๐ฎ Glimpse #1 โ The Galactic Gas Station
โIt could look something like this: in partnership with the US government, a private company โ letโs call it Regolift MegaCorp โ sends fuel-cell powered, tele-operated robots to the lunar poles to mine their icy regolith. There, they separate the ice from the soil, and electrolyze the ice to make hydrogen and oxygen, which when condensed into liquid form (LOX, LH2 respectively), can be used as propellent. Itโs potentially most valuable (useful) in orbit, so Regolift MegaCorp launches the propellant off the moon to an orbital outpost where clients can access it.โ
โWhite Pill, referencing this paper by Philip T. Metzger
๐ฎ Glimpse #2 โ A history of genetic design
Our ability to design biological systems is improving rapidly. In 40 years, the field went from modeling three genes in phage to building synthetic gene circuits with 76,000 bases of DNA. A brief history of genetic design, told in 7 experiments.
โAsimov
๐ฎ Glimpse #3 โ How a pistol shrimp inspired developments in nuclear fusion
โThe shrimp has one outsized claw that it can snap really fast to make a shockwave strong enough to stun its prey. This also produces bubbles,โ Hawker explains. โAs the shockwave passes over the bubbles, it makes them collapse, which releases energy in the form of bright flashes of light. A big part of my PhD was studying that process of cavity collapse with fusion in mind. I wondered whether it could be applied to generate power. The answer was โprobably notโ, but it did help us to set up simulations to see how the principle could be adapted for use inย fusion.โ
โDr. Nicholas Hawker, Raconteur
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๐ฎ Glimpse #4 โ Infrastructure for Web3 Communities
โThe future of decentralised collaboration and governance is here. The Jur Society dApp Beta is now live and we are whitelisting the very first founders.โ
โJur Society
๐ฎ Glimpse #5 โ Interview with Varda Space founders
Varda is building the flywheel of space manufacturing. Listen in!
Hope that gave you a little inspiration and wonder as you head into the weekend :)
โJacob โ๏ธ
โค๏ธ Show some love!
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