fun facts
The rise and fall of the bank robbery capital of the world
“In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour of every day. This is the story of how a bandit culture took over the city.” | learn more
fun facts
Behold the dancing robots
The team at Boston Dynamics shows us the future of robotics in this music video to the 1960s hit Do You Love Me. We’ve come a long way from the animatronic Chuck E Cheese band. | learn more
on the blockchain
SEC sues Ripple and two execs for selling XRP crypto
“The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency platform Ripple, its CEO, and its chairman, for orchestrating securities fraud worth $1.3 billion, the agency said Tuesday.” | learn more
on the blockchain
Crypto exchange unbundling
“This year’s primary crypto infrastructure question is simple: do you believe exchanges will continue to aggregate all of these critical functions under one umbrella? Or are they at risk of being replaced or unbundled?” | learn more
big ideas
Intersystems biology
“In every ecosystem, including the human body, life enforces both a division of labor between species and unceasing war. Organisms work together and against each other to maximize resource utilization. Biologically, this manifests as a continuous bidirectional exchange of molecules: […]
big ideas
Former CIA director on UFOs
“The major reason I take UFO reports seriously is simply the “gradient” of other people who take them seriously — the people with the very highest security clearances!” | learn more
thoughts of food
Meat grown from cells moves out of the lab
A very cool development in cultured meat. Still, lots of work to be done: “At least eight startups are building or operating pilot production plants to try to drive the price of production down. Cultured meat still costs $400 to […]
under the microscope
New blood-test device monitors blood chemistry continually
Wow! “Their device, which they’ve dubbed the “Real-time ELISA,” is able to perform many blood tests very quickly and then stitch the individual results together to enable continuous, real-time monitoring of a patient’s blood chemistry. Instead of a snapshot, the […]
under the microscope
Send in the senolytics
“Despite early failures in the clinic, the idea of anti-aging therapies that purge the body of dying cells is gaining traction with a raft of startups now focused on senescence.” I was surprised to learn there’s a senolytic for skincare currently on […]
retail therapy
How Amazon wins
The WSJ is still salty at Amazon for using their advantages, as evidenced by the second part of the title: “by steamrolling rivals and partners.” Here’s the summary: “CEO Jeff Bezos still runs the e-commerce giant with the drive of […]