Techno-Optimist #5
NASA finds a possible exo-Venus, Star Trek predicts the future again, a lot of medical miracles, Voyager 1 phones home, drones are used to herd cattle…and a lot more!
Welcome to the fifth edition of Techno-Optimist, and hello to the 40 new readers looking for news and commentary on space, science, and technology without the negative bias so common these days.
Alright, we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive in.
"Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish."
—Michelangelo
Possible exo-Venus found. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a world between Earth and Venus in size, orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 12, just 40 light years away. The planet, named Gliese 12b, completes an orbit around its star every 12.8 days and receives about 85% of the energy that Venus gets from the Sun. What makes this discovery intriguing is its potential to help us learn whether terrestrial (small, rocky) planets around red dwarf stars can retain their atmospheres. While Gliese 12 is currently quiet, red dwarf stars are known to often be “magnetically active, resulting in frequent, powerful X-ray flares.” It’s very possible the star was more active in the past, stripping away any atmosphere present on orbiting planets. If Gliese 12b still has an atmosphere, it could also help us learn about the differences between our world and Venus, and “teach us a lot more about the habitability pathways planets take as they develop.” (NASA)
New discovery on Venus, and breakthrough materials for science there. A fresh analysis of data collected by the Magellan spacecraft, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1992, strongly suggests recent—even current—volcanic activity on the planet. Researchers utilized the old radar mapping to look for lava flows, and found indicative features in two large regions. Magellan conducted three scan cycles of Venus, and the team observed changing surface features between the scans, best explained “as new lava flows that took place during the Magellan mission.” Upcoming missions to Venus such as VERITAS, Envision, and DAVINCI are planned for the late 2020s or early 2030s—but none include a rover. That’s understandable due to the harsh condition on the Venusian surface, but new materials being developed could help make future Venus rovers possible.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recently created a computer memory storage device capable of functioning for hours at temperatures of 1,112 °F (600 °C), even hotter than the surface of Venus. This builds on recent work in Japan, where diamond-based transistors were developed to operate under similar conditions. Together, these advances pave the way for remarkable scientific exploration on the most extreme planetary surface in the Solar System. (Phys.org) (Live Science)
Star Trek predicts the future once again. From cell phones to sliding doors, Star Trek has often exemplified science fiction preceding science fact. A staple of all Star Trek shows is the tricorder, a multipurpose scanning device providing information on almost anything it’s pointed at. While we haven’t hit that tech level yet ourselves, a new device that can be plugged into your smartphone is close. It can be used for the “portable analysis of DNA and other biological molecules,” enabling “on-site analysis of environmental samples such as water/metagenomics samples, real time species ID for analysis of food, timber, wildlife or even unknown samples…”
Even more incredible in the show is the way injuries are healed, usually by waving a device over the wound—no surgery as we know it today needed. A hint of that future could be realized by an external device that helps restores some movement to paralyzed individuals by delivering “two different types of electrical pulses through the skin—no surgery required.” For now it aids in restoring movement to the fingers and hands, not walking; but to those suffering spinal cord injury any improvement is huge. Beyond improving hand functioning, “the paralyzed participants also felt less pain, had fewer struggles with breathing, and slept better.” (@cremieuxrecueil) (Oxford Nanopore Technologies) (Singularity Hub)
We live in an age of miracles. It often feel like we’re at a point where technological miracles are becoming commonplace. We can harness the energy of atoms, climb out of our planet’s gravity well, and engineer our crops to feed over 8 billion people. But there’s a lot more coming down the pike, especially when it comes to medicine.
Organ rejection is one of the biggest problems our healthcare system faces, which exacerbates the already critically shortage of organs. This rejection is often due to antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), where the body attacks the transplanted organ as foreign. While immunosuppressive treatments help, they cause other problems including increased susceptibility to infections and cancer—and it doesn’t work indefinitely. That could soon change, with an international clinical study showing that a monoclonal antibody called felzartamab—originally developed as an immunotherapy for multiple myeloma—is safe and highly effective at reversing AMR in kidney transplant patients. A larger Phase 3 study is being planned, and it’s very possible felzartamab could be used to combat rejection in other organs, and even in xenotransplants from genetically modified pigs.
Medical implants such as pacemakers are becoming more common, but the body often recognizes them as foreign and attacks them, causing fibrosis (scar tissue) which can interfere with the implant’s functioning. Engineers at MIT have now developed an adhesive hydrogel that “prevents the formation of tissue that disrupts the functioning of devices like pacemakers.” In a nutshell, this hydrogel acts as invisibility cloak around the implant, concealing it from the body’s immune system. (Medical Xpress) (Interesting Engineering)
Space
It looks like our old friend Sunspot AR3664 is back again. Well almost back. The Sun takes 27 days to rotate, and AR3664 hasn’t yet made it around into view, but a large X-2.9 flare was detected on May 27th from off the Sun’s southeastern limb, exactly where we’d expect the massive sunspot to be, so it’s likely the same one. We should know soon, as it’s projected to be facing Earth again by June 6th. (Space.com) (Newsweek)
In the first edition of Techno-Optimist, I told you how our most distant robotic explorer Voyager 1 was experiencing some technical difficulties—unable to send coherent information back to Earth. Incredibly, the spacecraft has been mostly fixed, and has resumed sending scientific data to us from its current distance of about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away. Just to give you an idea of the distance, it takes light 22 ½ hours to reach Voyager 1, and another 22 ½ hours for a return signal to reach us. Two more interments are still being worked on. (@coreyspowell) (NASA)
A few launch updates: Blue Origin returns to space after a two year pause, taking 6 people to the final frontier aboard one of its New Shepard rockets—including 90 year old former Air Force pilot Ed Dwight, now the oldest person to go to space. Boeing’s Starliner was supposed to launch today, but was scrubbed due to what appears to be a glitch with the computer ground launch sequencer. It’s possible it could launch tomorrow (June 2nd). SpaceX is aiming for a June 5th launch for its fourth Starship test flight, pending FAA approval. The goal will be to get further than last time, with the main Starship vehicle hopefully surviving reentry, and the Super Heavy booster making a soft landing in the ocean. (Phys.org) (NASA) (Ars Technica)
An AI program has just discovered over 27,000 previously missed asteroids in old pictures of the night sky. The researchers behind the project hope to eventually find and track millions of asteroids around the Solar System, including any that could pose a hazard to Earth. (Space.com)
South Korea has launched its own version of NASA. While the near term goal of the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) is “to build up the country’s commercial launch and satellite capabilities,” the South Korean government “has also tasked the agency with landing spacecraft on the Moon by 2032, on Mars by 2045, and fostering leading edge science.” (Science)
While lots of different camera technologies are used to photograph the night sky, there’s a special need for ones that can reliably detect miniscule levels of light—down to single photons—while operating with extremely low noise levels. Meaning that they correctly record the amount of light from a faint object without injecting light or interference from other sources into the picture. Superconducting cameras fit the bill, but have traditionally been limited in their resolution. A new machine may change that with 400,000 pixel resolution, and able to detect faint signals “across a broad spectrum, from ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths.” (SciTechDaily)
Using helioseismology data, [sidebar: helioseismology “is the study of the interior of the Sun from observations of the vibrations of its surface”] a new study indicates that the top 5-10% of the Sun is where its magnetic fields are generated—not deep in its interior as previously thought. If this idea is borne out by further observations, it will be interesting to see whether it’s characteristic of how all stars work, or whether it’s only Sun-like ones. (Nature) (@ExploreCosmos_) (Phys.org)
AI, Energy, Engineering, & Physics
A new shock absorbing shape has been created by a mostly autonomous, AI-powered robotic laboratory system called MAMA BEAR. Its goal was to “create the most efficient energy-absorbing shape to ever exist,” and through 3 years and over 25,000 iterations it looks like it succeeded. Before this experiment the best existing structure was able to absorb the energy of an impact with 71% efficiency; but the automatous lab managed to create a shape with 75% efficiency, setting a new record. The scientific team (including the robot) will keep going, trying to achieve even higher efficiencies. (SciTechDaily)
There’s a new option for hearing people in noisy rooms, and it could also improve hearing aids for the elderly or hearing impaired. The AI enabled system is called Target Speech Hearing, and works with off the shelf headphones. To use it, the user looks at who they want to speak with, and taps a button which then automatically cancels other sounds except what the speaker is saying, “even as the listener moved around in noisy places and no longer faces the speaker.” (Science Daily)
Drones continue to expand the range of tasks they can be used for, successfully herding cattle in Australia at an exhibition event called Beef 2024. Its early days still, but using drones to help move livestock looks like its set to become a more commonplace sight in the future. (Interesting Engineering) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
While we go about our days above ground, the Boring Company is steadily digging tunnels to connect up hotels on the Los Vegas strip as part of its Vegas Loop. According to Elon Musk, “Within a few years, you will be able to get to all major destinations in the city super fast with electric cars in tunnels.” (@boringcompany)
Complex parts made out of defect free tungsten have been 3D printed by Oak Ridge National Lab researchers. This is an important step forward to enabling future fusion power plants, where tungsten—which has the highest melting point of any metal—will likely be a common feature. (Tech Xplore)
Elon Musk’s company xAI has successfully raised $6 billion in a Series B investment round at an $18 billion pre-money valuation. Announced the same day, the company plans to build a “Gigafactory of Compute,” using 100,000 Nvidia chips to create an AI supercomputer to further train and run their AI, whose name is Grok. (Interesting Engineering) (Tech Crunch)
Medicine
A new drug dubbed Aficamten has been “found to improve oxygen usage during exercise for HCM [hypertrophic cardiomyopathy] patients in a Phase 3 trial.” The trial specifically looked at those with the obstructive form of HCM, which “reduces blood flow out of the heart.” HCM is common, affecting about 1 in 500 people, and is a common cause of sudden death in otherwise healthy youth. It causes problems by thickening heart muscles, making it difficult for the heart to pump as it should. Current treatments are limited to open heart surgery and another drug that can have life threatening side effects, so this new medication is sorely needed. (SciTechDaily)
In an incredible breakthrough, Type 2 diabetes has been cured for the first time using a cell therapy, reports the Chinese team who designed and carried out the procedure. It involved reprograming the patient’s own cells into pancreatic islet tissue, which were then implanted. In less than 3 months, he no longer required insulin injections, and within a year was off all medications for controlling blood sugar. Larger trials are needed to verify if this is repeatable, but wow! (SCMP) (Interesting Engineering)
Weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are growing in popularity for their helping people deal with obesity and improve health. But they do have side effects, which can limit their use for some. Now a drug that works in a similar way has been shown in mice to be even more effective, and with less side effects. Human trials are coming soon. (SciTechDaily)
Treatments targeting the brain are often stymied by the blood-brain barrier, but a new molecular vehicle for delivering gene therapies has now been designed to ferry its cargo across the barrier by binding to a protein present there called the human transferrin receptor. Normally it allows cells to take in iron, but in this case its function has been appropriated to allow in gene therapy packages to treat disease. (Science Daily)
Something for you all to try at home: a university study showed that one month of indoor gardening “increased the bacterial diversity of the skin and was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory molecules in the blood.” This is great news, as increasingly urban lifestyles have likely contributed to the higher risk of autoimmune disease city-dwellers face. “This is the first time we can demonstrate that meaningful and natural human activity can increase the diversity of the microbiota of healthy adults and, at the same time, contribute to the regulation of the immune system." (Medical Xpress)
Oncolytic viruses are viruses that preferentially infect and kill cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone—or otherwise direct the immune system to destroy the cancer. An interesting new addition to their ranks is a virus normally infecting black eyed pea plants which has “shown widespread effectiveness” against a variety of cancers in mice including breast, colon, and ovarian tumors. Scientists found it acts by stimulating the immune system to attack the tumors, and also serves as a sort of vaccine to prevent their reoccurrence. (Science Alert)
An AI tool called DEPLOY was able to “classify brain tumors into 10 major subtypes with 95% accuracy…providing a faster and more accessible alternative to DNA methylation-based profiling.” The hope is that DEPLOY could be used to help classify tumors in other cancers too. (Neuroscience News)
A research group has found that mice given urolithin A, which naturally occurs in pomegranates, “can alleviate memory problems and other consequences of dementia.” It’s early days still and effective dosages aren’t yet known, but human trials are in the early stages of planning. (Medical Xpress)
Weird & Wonderful
Cicadas are emerging in their trillions across 17 states. It’s a rare double event, where two different broods appear simultaneously. One is Brood XIX with a 13-year cycle, and the other is Brood XIII that cycles every 17 years. This year, they coincide, which hasn’t happened since 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was president, and won’t happen again until the 23rd century (2245 to be precise). (USA Today)
While renovating his wine cellar, an Austrian man discovered a dense bonebed containing the remains of at least three mammoths that probably lived between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. A full-bodied vintage indeed. (IFL Science)
Photos & Videos
The European Space Agency’s Euclid Telescope has released its second set of pictures, and visually stunning is an understatement. You can read more about the images and the science behind them here. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you’ll see a list of “Images in ESASky” complete with zoomable pictures and details. 10 scientific papers detailing the telescope’s discoveries were also released, you can find them here. (@ESA_Euclid)
Very cool closeup of a deep sea squid flashing light emitting organs known as photophores as it attacks the camera that it mistakenly thinks is food. (Interesting Engineering)
Magnetic loops on the Sun—absolutely stunning. Video here. (@AJamesMcCarthy)
Check out this drone captured footage of a recent tornado south of Greenfield, Iowa. (@ReedTimmerUSA)
Recommendations & Reviews
As you may have noticed, I'm a big fan of fusion energy and often include at least one fusion related news item in every edition of Techno-Optimist. Today, I'd like to recommend taking a look at the Fusion Industry Association, “a non-profit organization composed of private companies working to make commercial fusion energy a reality.” Specifically, I encourage you to explore their biweekly Fusion News videos, which you can view on their X account or conveniently compiled on YouTube.
Have a watch through their latest video, which (as always) covers some fascinating fusion energy news.
Speaking of fusion,
just did an epic 14,000 word deep dive into Fuse Energy, a private company “building a business that can fund its journey to fusion [energy], similar to SpaceX using launches and Starlink to fund its mission to Mars.” I’ll be honest, I’ve just skimmed this so far, but it looks excellent. (Not Boring)That’s it for today, but Techno-Optimist will be back in your inbox two weeks from now. Thank you for reading — and until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon.
-Owen
Fusion is a technology whose implications are so profound that, in my opinion, we should offer a $100 Billion prize to the first who can crack it.
Prizes, as I have written, however, need to be extremely well-defined to work as an incentive mechanism.