DTN 055: Converting electricity and air into natural gas

The Big Picture

Terraform Industries converts electricity and air into synthetic natural gas for the first time

“Instead of reducing humanity’s dependence on hydrocarbons — which is impossible or undesirable or both, depending on who you ask — Terraform Industries’ solution is to produce this resource, using electricity and air, via a system it calls the Terraformer. Today, the startup is announcing that it has commissioned a demonstrator Terraformer and produced synthetic natural gas for the first time.” (TechCrunch)

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Deep Tech News

• Artificial pancreas that pumps insulin into diabetes patients launches on NHS
• The hard lessons of Harvard’s failed geoengineering experiment
• NASA’s first moon buggy since Apollo: Here’s what we know so far
• To build a better AI supercomputer, let there be light
• Geoengineering test quietly launches salt crystals into atmosphere
• New NRC licensing road map aims to add clarity for advanced reactor applications
• This new solid-state battery cell claims to set industry records, could offer 1,300 miles range
• U.S. Department of Energy releases first ever federal blueprint to decarbonize America’s buildings sector
• US government funds pilot project for heated sand energy storage
• Three companies in the running for NASA’s next moon rover
• DCVC wanted to raise $500M for its first climate fund, but the market had other plans
• First-in-human implantation of bionic device to halt Crohn’s disease
• Cancer signs could be spotted years before symptoms, says new research institute
• MIT claims they’ve figured out how to make fusion energy practical

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JPEG of the Week

Once an offshore wind turbine’s tower is standing, the WindSpider crane is installed. The crane uses the tower as support to install other turbine components. Having the turbine tower as a support structure eliminates relative motion between the crane and the turbine. Its Dolly Crane, which slides up and down the cage, will lift and position the nacelle components, and WindSpider has also designed a Blade Tool, which also travels up and down, keeping the blade steady while the root end is connected to the turbine’s hub. Unlike conventional cranes, WindSpider’s self-erecting design has no weight or height limitations, so WindSpider says it will be robust in the most challenging and windy environments. It’s compatible with both fixed and floating wind turbines. (via Electrek)

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Peer Review

• New space mission aims to create solar eclipses on-demand with satellites
• Researchers propose non-aqueous manganese metal batteries
• MIT engineers design artificial reef to protect coastlines & marine species
• Scientists propose AI framework for mass-manufacturing of stem cells for regenerative medicine
• New green technology harvests energy from raindrops and humidity
• Messenger RNA technology shows first promise against a rare and deadly disease

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Funding x M&A

• Polar Night Energy secures €7.6M for sand battery that can heat a small town
• Alysm Energy, a lithium-free battery startup, raised $78M in a Series C
• ViaLase, a medtech building a femtosecond laser for glaucoma treatment, raised a $40M Series C
• Agritech startup BioConsortia raised a $15M round led by Otter Capital
• BurnBot, a startup providing mechanized vegetation management and fuel treatment solutions, raised a $20 Series A
• Renewable fuels startup Raven SR raised $15M in financing
• Virtual healthcare startup HealthArc raised a $5M growth round
• Obsidian Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech, raised a $160.5M Series C
• Alterome Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in precision oncology, raised a $132M Series B
• Diagonal Therapeutics, a biotech focusing on agonist antibodies, raised a $128M Series A
• Torus, a firm specializing in energy storage and management products, raised $67M
• OROS Labs, a materials tech company specializing in advanced thermal insulation, raised a $22M Series B
• Mission Zero, a developer of direct air capture technology, raised $27.5M in a Series A
• Nucleai, a spatial AI biomarker company, raised $14M
• Biolinq, a startup developing wearable biosensors to improve metabolic health, raised $58M in funding
• ION Clean Energy, a startup providing post-combustion point-source capture technology, raised $45M in funding
• Iceberg Data Lab, a startup measuring environmental data and providing environmental life cycle analysis, raised a $10M Series A

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Miscellanea

Can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis? / Japan has said goodbye to its life-sized gundam / A stealth attack came compromising the world’s computers / Pentagon calls for tighter integration between military and commercial space / Viagra could be a potent weapon against Alzheimer’s Disease / Up to a trillion cicadas are about emerge in the U.S. / Sensing diseases from space / Washington’s lottery forced to pull site after creating AI porn of lotto user / AI-generated sad girl with piano performs the text of the MIT License / Blind people can hear and feel April’s total solar eclipse with new technology / Citizen scientists invited to collect data for NASA during eclipse / X confirms plans for NSFW Communities / Microsoft and OpenAI plot $100B Stargate AI supercomputer / Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis gets UK knighthood for ‘services to artificial intelligence’ / Gen-Z is shunning college to take up traditional trades like welding, plumbing / Oregon governor signs bill decriminalizing drug possession into law / Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, 200 artists say AI poses threat to their livelihoods / The CIA’s Cold War plan to use stray cats as spies / Scientists put Tardigrade proteins into humans cells. Here’s what happened / Headless, dog-sized robot to patrol Alaska airport to prevent bird strikes / Mathematician who made sense of the universe’s randomness wins math’s top prize / Fraudulent studies are undermining the reliability of systematic reviews / Canada’s maple syrup reserve almost empty / A person who was in charge of OpenAI’s $175M fund appears to be fake / A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet from hell slowed Williams’ F1 cars for years / Self-driving semi-trucks are coming to America’s highways / First human case of avian flu in Texas / People liked AI art - when they thought it was made by humans / Demographics professor warns that by 2531, everyone in Japan will be named Sato / The Pirate Bay’s oldest torrent is now 20 years old / What would society look like if extreme wealth were impossible?

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