The world’s most complex objects. “To ship one requires 40 freight containers, three cargo planes, and 20 trucks.” ASML’s EUV lithography machines are basically rolling miracles, and the whole semiconductor industry is bottlenecked on them. ~ learn more
A wastewater plant that grows nature. “The largest bio-remediation facility in the world” is cleaning Riyadh’s wastewater while building habitat along Wadi Hanifa. Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison visits the site and treats it like a working ecosystem, not just infrastructure. […]
The world’s first bionic cat. Seems niche, but there must be many baby steps on the way to home robots that aren’t just vacuum cleaners. “It is fully responsive and has sensitive interactions. It can feel your touch, hear your […]
Is it a bubble? Here’s how Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital sees it. “Memories are short, and prudence and natural risk aversion are no match for the dream of getting rich on the back of a revolutionary technology that ‘everyone […]
The rich play different games. An interview with Morgan Housel. “The skills it takes to get rich are drastically different from the skills it takes to stay rich.” He discusses the distinct dynamics of wealth accumulation versus retention, emphasizing wisdom […]
World’s first ‘behavior transplant’ between species. Wild times! “In a breakthrough study, scientists have transferred a courtship behavior from one species to another, triggering the recipient to perform this completely foreign act as if it was its own.” ~ learn […]
“It’s natural to think of scientists as truth seekers, people driven by an intense curiosity to understand the natural world. Yet this picture of scientists and scientific inquiry sits uncomfortably with the reality and prevalence of scientific fraud. If one […]
“A Ghurka rifleman escaped from a Japanese prison in south Burma and walked six hundred miles alone through the jungles to freedom. The journey took him five months, but he never asked the way and he never lost the way…” […]
We silly humans (aka slightly evolved apes) do not intuitively use expected value thinking, but it’s the best way to make decisions. So, we must train ourselves. This great Farnam Street post goes into details. | learn more
Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, discusses his investments in big ideas that are going to change the world – cheaper batteries, sustainable concrete, and sustainable meat. According to him, these investments can, and do, pan out, and we need […]