⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #31
A curated selection of pro-progress and anti-progress news items from the week that was
In case you missed it .. .
🌾 Can we feed the future? (Monday)
🍼 Confronting global population collapse: A Quick Q&A with … demographer Nick Eberstadt (Tuesday)
✨⏩ AI acceleration: the solution to AI risk (Wednesday)
⚡ My chat (+transcript) with Virginia Postrel on promoting a culture of dynamism (Thursday)
✨☢ A (pricey) Manhattan Project for AI Safety? (Friday)
Up Wing Things
💊 The future of obesity treatment looks brighter than ever. The next wave of obesity medications promises even greater breakthroughs, building on the success of drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. A recent review by McGill University researchers highlights experimental medications such as retatrutide, which has helped participants lose over 20 percent of their body weight in trials by mimicking hunger-regulating hormones. Retatrutide, now in phase 3 trials, has achieved significant weight loss in just 48 weeks. With dozens of new treatments in development, the future of obesity care is set to expand rapidly. These innovations are poised to improve accessibility, affordability, and outcomes, marking an exciting chapter in health and wellness. (Gizmodo)
✈️ Boom Supersonic is breaking barriers with XB-1 prototype. Commercial supersonic flight is closer to making a comeback, as Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 prototype hit a transonic speed of Mach 0.95 during its 11th test flight over California’s Mojave Desert. This milestone brings humanity one step closer to reclaiming a technology lost with the Concorde’s retirement over two decades ago. The 44-minute flight showcased the XB-1’s ability to handle extreme dynamic pressure at near-supersonic speeds, a critical factor for future performance and flight control systems. Boom is leading the charge to bring back commercial supersonic flight. (New Atlas)
🧬 Startup raises $200 million to revive extinct species. Colossal Biosciences, the Dallas-based biotech startup, has secured $200 million in new funding, boosting its valuation to $10.2 billion. The company aims to use cutting-edge genomics to bring back iconic species like the woolly mammoth, dodo, and Tasmanian tiger. Co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm expressed confidence in their timeline, noting that progress is well underway:
“We’re not going to do anything until we get the genomes right,” said Lamm in an interview, adding that the company was in the project’s cell-editing phase, meaning it has identified target genes to work on. Colossal is attempting to create the calf by editing mammoth genes, obtained from ancient samples found in frozen tundra, into genes in Asian elephant cells.
Beyond de-extinction, the startup is creating tools to preserve endangered species, such as vaccines for Asian elephants and genetic advancements benefiting bird populations. Colossal’s impact extends further, with spin-outs addressing challenges like plastic waste and fertility treatments. By combining de-extinction with groundbreaking conservation tools, Colossal is setting the stage for a new era of biodiversity restoration. (Bberg)
🌕 Two private moon landers head for the Moon. The journey to a thriving commercial presence on the moon advanced this week with the simultaneous launch of two private lunar landers aboard a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and Ispace’s Resilience are set to bring cutting-edge technology and experiments to the lunar surface. Blue Ghost will carry 10 NASA-funded payloads, including a drill to measure lunar heat flow and an X-ray camera, to Mare Crisium on the moon's near side. Meanwhile, Resilience is equipped with a water electrolyzer experiment and a small rover named Tenacious, destined for Mare Frigoris. Both missions aim to operate for a lunar day (14 Earth days), testing technologies critical for future lunar exploration. This groundbreaking collaboration between private companies and NASA sets the stage for sustainable and cost-effective lunar ventures. (NYT)
🌐 Meta brings us closer to a universal translator. Meta’s groundbreaking AI innovation, Seamless, is transforming the dream of a universal translator into reality. Building on advanced vector-based language modeling, Seamless can translate speech across 36 languages and text across 101, while preserving nuances like voice, tone, and emotion. To achieve this, the development team introduced an innovative embedding space:
SONAR embeddings represented entire sentences instead of single words. This ensured that sentences with similar meaning in multiple languages ended up close to each other in the vector space, even for low-resource languages. Spoken sentences in one language aligned closely with equivalent sentences in other languages, whether text or speech, creating a unified multilingual, multimodal space.
This next-gen technology brings us closer to a Star Trek-style universal translator, bridging language barriers like never before. (Ars)
⚛️ Wyoming’s nuclear project reaches milestone. TerraPower’s Natrium project, America’s first coal-to-nuclear initiative, has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The Wyoming Industrial Siting Council has granted approval for the development of Natrium’s non-nuclear components, marking the first state permit ever awarded to a commercial-scale advanced nuclear project in US history. Replacing the shuttered Naughton coal plant, Natrium aims to revolutionize clean energy with its molten-salt energy storage system. Heat can be stored and released as needed, boosting grid efficiency and reliability. TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, is transforming Kemmerer into a symbol of energy transition, demonstrating how coal towns can thrive in a clean energy future. Natrium’s reactor constructionis slated for 2026, pending federal approval. (NS)
☢️ Sweden leads the way in nuclear waste storage. Sweden has begun construction on a world-leading facility to store spent nuclear fuel safely for 100,000 years. The Forsmark repository, nestled 500 meters deep in 1.9-billion-year-old bedrock, will be the second permanent storage site globally. This ambitious project is a monumental step for both Sweden and the global climate transition. By safely managing nuclear waste, Sweden is proving that long-term solutions for clean energy are within reach. The facility will house 12,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel encased in corrosion-resistant copper capsules, surrounded by protective clay, and will begin accepting waste in the late 2030s. As nations ramp up nuclear power to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Forsmark could set a gold standard for managing nuclear byproducts responsibly. (Reuters)
🤖 Neurotechnology Brings Realistic Touch to Bionic Hands: A remarkable advancement in neurotechnology has enabled paralyzed individuals to experience a sense of touch through bionic hands, marking a major milestone in brain-computer interface research. Scientists at the University of Chicago developed implants that allow users not only to control robotic limbs with their thoughts but also to experience realistic sensations. The research demonstrated remarkable achievements:
"The researchers developed programs that used the overlapping of touch zones to enable participants to experience the sensation of something moving smoothly over their bionic fingers, such as a steering wheel in a driving simulator. They could also identify letters of the alphabet traced on their fingers," said Chicago’s Charles Greenspon, a senior author of the study.
With ongoing advancements in synthetic skin and proprioception, this technology could revolutionize the lives of millions living with paralysis or amputations. (FT)
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Down Wing Things
🧠 Dementia cases are set to surge. The United States faces a staggering increase in dementia cases, with annual diagnoses projected to double to one million by 2060, according to a new study in Nature Medicine. This growth is driven by an aging population, as baby boomers reach their 90s and millennials enter their 70s. The financial burden is also immense:
Dementia already takes an enormous toll on American families and the country’s health care system. More than six million Americans currently have dementia, nearly 10 percent of people 65 and older. Experts say that each year in the United States, dementia causes more than 100,000 deaths and accounts for more than $600 billion in caregiving and other costs.
While public health measures like managing cardiovascular health can help, experts warn that without significant action, the societal and economic toll will become overwhelming. The clock is ticking on this preventable crisis. (NYT)
📉 Declining birth rates threaten economic stability. Many of the world’s wealthiest nations will need to double or even quadruple productivity growth to sustain living standards, according to a McKinsey report. Countries like Germany, Japan, and Italy face shrinking working-age populations, risking slower economic growth and rising costs for younger generations to support retirees. Efforts to address the problem have had limited success:
Despite longer working lives, Japan’s GDP per capita has grown by little more than a third of US levels over the past 25 years. The demographic drag is inexorable and severe, and when it hits, boosting productivity growth becomes even more relevant.
Without urgent reforms, the demographic drag will erode intergenerational wealth transfer, strain economies, and dim prospects for future generations. (FT)
💥 SpaceX test flight explosion is a setback. SpaceX's seventh test flight of its ambitious Starship rocket ended in failure as the spacecraft exploded shortly after separating from its booster. While the booster returned successfully to the launchpad, the explosion scattered debris across predefined hazard zones in the Atlantic, disrupting air travel and prompting the FAA to activate a debris-response plan. Initial reports suggest a pressure leak caused the fire leading to the explosion. While SpaceX touts such tests as opportunities for learning, the mishap raises questions about the safety and reliability of the experimental vehicle. With Starship envisioned for carrying astronauts and payloads, consistent failures cast doubt on its readiness for ambitious missions, including lunar and interplanetary exploration. This setback underscores the high stakes in SpaceX's drive to revolutionize space travel. (WSJ)
🧪 Synthetic spanish flu virus raises bioterrorism alarm. In a chilling MIT experiment, researchers successfully recreated the deadly Spanish Flu virus with alarming ease.Two graduate students demonstrated how step-by-step protocols and freely available genome data could allow anyone to assemble this devastating pathogen. The exercise exposed gaping holes in global biosecurity. Shockingly, 36 out of 38 gene providers shipped hazardous DNA fragments without sufficient checks, showing how easily malicious actors could exploit the system. Current safeguards, including the International Gene Synthesis Consortium’s voluntary screenings, fail to block evasive strategies like camouflaged DNA orders. Experts warn that without mandatory global regulations and robust enforcement, the risk of engineered pandemics looms large. Bioterrorism isn’t a distant threat—it’s a clear and present danger. (ACSH)