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In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at SpaceX’s five launch weeks, freeing scientists from lab tedium with AI, how exercise is good for your brain, and more. You can sign up here to receive the prototype in your inbox.
SpaceX / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
IIt was a big week for SpaceX. On Sunday morning, the company successfully launched its Starship spacecraft into space from Texas and an hour later it was recovered in the Indian Ocean. The company also successfully “captured” the spacecraft’s super-heavy rocket booster with two enormous mechanical arms as it returned to the landing pad.
Then on Monday, SpaceX launched NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft from one of its Falcon Heavy rockets. The ship is headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa (despite humanity’s warning). in the movie 2010), where it will arrive in 2030. There it will come explore the planet in detail from Jupiter’s orbit, paying particular attention to whether there is life in the ocean beneath the icy surface.
On Tuesday, SpaceX launched two more Falcon 9 rockets, one from California and one from Florida, which together carried 43 of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit. The first marked the company’s 100th launch in 2024. At the time of writing, SpaceX plans to launch another Falcon 9 from Florida on Friday evening – that’s five launches of three different rocket classes in less than a week.
There is still more to go. In January, SpaceX said its launch target for this year was 148. It’s not clear if it will achieve this, but the company has already broken its previous record of 98 launches in a year, which it achieved in 2023.
Stay informed.
Exclusive: This startup launches an AI-powered lab assistant for scientists
Jermaine Kelly
TV and in movies, science often seems like a glamorous endeavor, whether it’s breathlessly racing to cure a disease or accidentally inventing time travel. But the reality is that research is often tedious: a lot of painstaking data collection and observation, repeated day in and day out.
Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe alumnus Silas Adekunle sees an opportunity to change that with his new company Lumi. Today it announces the launch of its autonomous laboratory assistant. It is a series of modular cameras and sensors that use computer vision to capture data for scientific research. Think of bacterial growth in a petri dish or color changes from a chemical reaction. The company said its software integrates with existing platforms and data pipelines.
Lumi has been working on this system since its inception four years ago, Adekunle said, validating its approach by testing it with clients such as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and contract research firm CatSci. Now that it is widely available, the company plans to raise more capital to commercialize and expand its business internationally.
Adekunle’s vision for Lumi is to free scientists by automating tedious data collection tasks. We “free the human mind to actually focus on thinking and doing what humans do best, which is bringing noble ideas to life,” he told me.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: RAPID HEART ATTACK DETECTION
When someone has a heart attackThe sooner they receive treatment, the better. But because heart attacks share symptoms with other problems, they can sometimes be diagnosed last hours. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University this week announced A blood test who can find the biomarkers that indicate a heart attack less than ten minutes. Their next step will be to refine the test and move on clinical trials. The researchers think the technology they developed for the test could also have potential in detecting other diseases. Their findings were published this week in the news Scientific progress.
FORBES CALLED IT: SPACEX EDITION
As I said above, SpaceX has now launched 100 rockets by 2024 and has become the dominant market player in the commercial space industry (last year it accounted for almost half of all launches worldwide). But in 2003–five years earlier Elon Musk with success launched its first rocket-Than-Forbes reporter Seth Lubove wrote one of the company’s first profiles. The article walks through Musk’s history, starting with his initial failure at X.com (plus ça change…) and ultimately success bee PayPal. It examines the challenges that other space startups of that time had to deal with and concludes with Musk’s still unrealized ambition to go to Mars: “It sounds completely crazy.” Lubove wrote about the company’s plans. “But digital money sounded pretty crazy ten years ago.”
SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL SCIENCE
My colleague Amy Feldman investigates why Amazon focuses on nuclear energy to power its data centers.
Battery company Lyten announced that it is investing more than $1 billion in building a factory to produce lithium-sulfur batterieswhich they claim are lighter than lithium-ion batteries and do not require nickel, cobalt and other materials.
Two billionaires back a nonprofit to use artificial intelligence decode animal communication. My colleague Phoebe Liu has the full story.
German startup Ororatech, which uses satellites to monitor forest fireshas announced that this is the case has raised $27 million in investment support to expand its capabilities.
Researchers at UCLA have done just that developed a way making cement without emitting carbon dioxide. The scientists say this method can be integrated into existing processes, potentially reducing the cost of carbon-free cement compared to alternative approaches being pursued in the industry.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: A BREAK OF EXERCISE CAN BOOST STIMULATE YOUR BRAIN
A team of neuroscientists reviewed existing studies on the relationship between exercise and brainpower, and found that a short burst of vigorous exercise (think of a HIIT session) yes improve your cognitive performance after that, especially your decision-making capacity. So if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, a visit to the gym can help. The researchers plan follow-up studies to further investigate this effect.
WHAT’S BUILDING ME THIS WEEK
Since its release in AugustI played constantly Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds‘new album, Wild Godwhich in my opinion is the band’s best since their 2004 double album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. Occasionally haunting and joyful, it’s a fantastic listen from start to finish.
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