One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.
— Leo Tolstoy
🧠 Technology
Driverless trucks chalk up delivery milestone
Autonomous driving firm Aurora hit a major milestone by launching its first commercial driverless trucking route in Texas. After years of testing with safety drivers, Aurora’s semi-truck drove itself from Dallas to Houston hauling freight – with no one behind the wheel. The company amassed over 3 million autonomous miles to prove the system’s safety, and last month it finally pulled the human driver and completed multiple flawless runs. CEO Chris Urmson described cruising at 65 mph in the back of the cab as “surreal” yet notably uneventful, which is exactly what you want in freight transport. Aurora now plans to expand these driver-out routes to more hubs (Phoenix and El Paso) by year’s end, inching the trucking industry closer to an autonomous future.
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Quantum computer cracks the “unsolvable”
D-Wave’s latest quantum computing experiment achieved a feat long dreamed of in tech – solving a real-world problem that would stump even the most powerful supercomputer. In a peer-reviewed Science paper, D-Wave researchers demonstrated they could simulate a complex magnetic material in minutes, a task that would take a classical supercomputer an estimated millions of years (and more electricity than the world uses in a year!) This is being hailed as the first practical proof of “quantum supremacy,” where a quantum machine definitively outperforms classical machines on a useful task. The company’s specialized annealing quantum computer, using over 1,000 superconducting qubits, essentially accomplished in moments what was previously impossible, a “Holy Grail” moment for the field. It’s a reminder that breakthroughs in how we process information can help tackle complex problems – including climate modeling and materials science – that are beyond the reach of ordinary computers.
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Cement Battery Turns Buildings into Power Banks
Researchers have created a novel cement-based battery that could turn entire buildings into giant energy storage units. A team in France and Spain developed a cement-like geopolymer (derived from heated clay called metakaolin) that doubles as a solid-state battery when infused with special ingredients. By mixing metakaolin with a liquid electrolyte solution and embedding zinc (Zn) and manganese dioxide (MnO₂) electrodes, they produced a durable paste capable of supporting a building’s structure and storing electricity. The prototype “battery cement” achieved an energy density of about 3.3 watt‑hours per liter, meaning a building constructed with it could store substantial energy in its walls. Just as importantly, the material’s mildly acidic chemistry avoids the clogging reactions that plagued earlier attempts at concrete batteries, allowing it to be fully rechargeable. If further refined to improve durability (managing moisture and material stress), this technology could let future houses and bridges serve as their own large-scale batteries – seamlessly capturing and releasing renewable energy as part of the structure itself.
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🌿 Health
Custom gene edit saves infant’s life
In a world-first for personalized medicine, doctors at Penn Medicine and CHOP created a bespoke CRISPR therapy to treat a baby with a rare, fatal genetic disorder. The infant, nicknamed KJ, was born with a metabolic disease so unique that traditional medicine had no cure. In just six months, scientists developed an on-demand gene-editing solution tailored to his DNA and delivered it via a one-time infusion. At a little over six months old, KJ received the CRISPR treatment – and early results are extraordinarily positive. He’s shown no adverse effects, his symptoms have improved, and he’s now thriving off medications that once kept him alive.This landmark case (published in NEJM) opens the door for “N-of-1” genetic cures, where editing the genomes of patients with previously untreatable diseases could become rapid and routine.
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Eyes really are windows to the soul
New research confirms that humans can communicate complex information using only their eyes. In the study, participants could reliably detect subtle shifts in each other’s gaze that signaled intentions or feelings, even without a single word spoken. Scientists have long suspected we transmit messages through eye contact (hence phrases like “speaking with your eyes”), but this work offers concrete evidence of that silent language. The findings, led by McGill University, suggest our brains interpret tiny eye movements to infer what someone else is thinking – an ability likely honed over millennia of social interaction. Beyond marveling at this silent form of communication, the insight could help us understand conditions like autism, where reading eye cues can be different, ultimately guiding more empathetic forms of connection.
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Genomic revolution accelerates past $100B
Gene editing and sequencing technologies are converging into a booming ecosystem poised to transform health care. Analysts note that with the first CRISPR-based therapy approved in 2023 (for sickle cell disease) and many more genomic medicines on the way, the genomics sector is projected to exceed $100 billion in market size by 2030. But the impact goes far beyond rare diseases or niche applications. As Dr. Eric Topol points out, genome editing is arguably the most consequential biomedical breakthrough of our era – already being tested against cancers and heart disease – and what starts with rare conditions today will become the foundation for treating common diseases tomorrow. In short, the tools to rewrite DNA are scaling up. In the not-so-distant future, our grandchildren might consider routine gene editing as normal as taking daily vitamins, ushering in an era where we proactively eliminate diseases and perhaps extend healthy lifespans.
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🌌 Science
Nuclear Fusion Powers Forward with World’s Most Powerful Magnet
A major milestone was reached this month by the ITER project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which successfully completed and tested the most powerful magnet on Earth: the central solenoid. This magnet is critical to the fusion process, as it will help contain the plasma where fusion reactions occur – reactions that mimic the power of the Sun. Fusion energy is often dubbed the "holy grail" of clean energy because it could provide virtually limitless power with no carbon emissions and minimal waste. While the ITER reactor is not expected to go online until the 2030s, this step signals tangible momentum in the race against climate change.
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Sailing into stranger seas
Seasoned sailors are noticing that weather at sea is becoming more unpredictable in the era of climate change. A recent firsthand account in Nautilus magazine describes how even with cutting-edge forecast models and routing software, a yacht crew was caught off-guard by ferocious storms that didn’t behave as expected. The voyage through the warming Atlantic Gulf Stream saw weather defy the predictions – a pattern of sudden gales and chaotic waves attributed to climate-driven shifts. Warmer oceans are turbocharging storms, throwing the old maritime wisdom into disarray. Despite satellites and supercomputers, sailors now find they must rely on intuition and adaptability as much as on instruments. As one meteorologist noted, computer models handle big weather systems well, but climate change is injecting new volatility that makes local, sudden events harder to anticipate. The takeaway: humanity’s technological “sails” must be paired with respect for nature’s power, especially as that power grows less predictable.
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Europe’s Colossal Carbon Storage Ship Launches
Europe has unveiled a massive new carbon transport ship – recently christened Carbon Destroyer 1 – to help capture and bury industrial CO₂ emissions beneath the sea. Built in the Netherlands through a partnership between INEOS Energy and Dutch shipowner Royal Wagenborg, this first-of-its-kind vessel can carry about 400,000 tons of liquefied CO₂ per year from land-based capture sites to an offshore storage location in the Danish North Sea. There, the CO₂ will be injected roughly 1.8 kilometers under the seabed into depleted oil and gas reservoirs for permanent storage. The ship features advanced cooling and pressurization systems to safely transport the gas, and it’s a key element of Denmark’s Project Greensand, which aims to establish the EU’s first full-scale carbon capture and storage network. Supporters say this approach offers a viable way to slash heavy industries’ greenhouse emissions by locking away carbon deep underground – a significant step toward Europe’s climate goals.
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Did you read…? Anne-Laure Le Cunff latest post on how to become the scientist of your own life. “By treating business and investment decisions as experiments, our fear of failure can turn into curiosity about what we might discover.”
Did you hear…? All the magical talk from about magic this week, Tom Morgan, River Kenna to name a few. We got ourselves a tiger on the loose and it is hungry for the truth 🐅
Did you see…?AltoVolvo newest delivery - the Sigma with autonomous flight capabilities, offering point-to-point air mobility without the need for traditional piloting skills.
✨ Spotlight
The mantis shrimp - a creature so visually advanced that it can detect polarized light and see a spectrum far beyond what humans can perceive. While we have three types of color receptors (red, green, blue), the mantis shrimp has twelve — and possibly more. Their compound eyes can move independently, analyze light in ways we barely understand, and even detect cancerous tissue due to their polarization sensitivity.
In a time when our relationship with nature is often framed in terms of control or protection, animals like the mantis shrimp remind us of what we don’t know. They show us that intelligence and adaptation exist in countless forms, many invisible to our limited perception.
Closing the loop with yet another from Tolstoy until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
xxx
FusionNote
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