Ideas don’t combine themselves. How long do we wait for new inventions? A nice reminder that “time to invention” is often about social distance between fields, not missing parts. ~ learn more
Why China still can’t make ballpoint pens. “Made in China has two weaknesses: one is ‘can’t be made,’ which is a real technical chokehold; the other is ‘can’t be used,’ which is often stuck on non-technical barriers.” The piece uses […]
Helium is hard to replace. “Liquid helium boils at just 4.2 kelvin (-452 degrees Fahrenheit).” If you need temperatures a few degrees above absolute zero, the article argues helium is basically the only practical coolant, which is why shortages hit […]
Choppelganger. A new word, “a less attractive or worse version of something or someone.” Next time someone tells me I look like someone they know, I will bust this one out. ~ learn more
Autonomous cars are going to clog the roads. “Autonomous vehicles are the centrifugal water pump of the roads.” The piece argues that self-driving will make traffic tolerable enough to overuse, unless we start charging for road access before AVs become […]
A train derailed in downtown Austin. The tracks are near my house and we were alerted to this by a text from our school district. While it’s a 230-car cargo train that derailed in downtown Austin around 4:45 a.m., it […]
How Austin got its professional soccer team. Eddie Margain talks about what it feels like when rule of law breaks down (“I fled [Mexico] when the cartels threatened my family”), and how he later poured that urgency into building Austin […]
Brain interface that knows 96 milliseconds early. “A new type of non-invasive brain-computer interface that knows what you will do 96 milliseconds before you do it.” BRILL Neurotech and UIUC’s CNL built it by “hacking 25-year-old equipment.” ~ learn more
Patents may get narrower. If AI becomes part of the “person having ordinary skill in the art,” more things start to look obvious in hindsight, and today’s portfolios might age badly in court. “The net effect could be that the […]