80. Harnessing Wind Power In A City, Liquid Biopsy To Detect Cancer Early, Buying Bitcoin at Walmart

80. Harnessing Wind Power In A City, Liquid Biopsy To Detect Cancer Early, Buying Bitcoin at Walmart
Show Notes:
This ingenious wall could harness enough wind power to cover your electric bill | Fast Company (01:22)
- Today, most of our wind power comes from large-scale wind farms set upon rolling hills and windswept coastlines.
- If you have driven across the country I’m sure you have seen them
- What if we could build wind turbines in our cities? Not the big bulky.
- American designer and entrepreneur Joe Doucet has created such a concept.
- This wind turbine wall consists of a grid of square panes spinning simultaneously along 25 axes.
- Size and format can change depending on needs
- In its current iteration, the wall is made up of 25 off-the-shelf wind turbine generators.
- Attached to 25 vertical rods with square panels attached.
- The wall is 8 feet tall and 25 feet wide, but the concept can be scaled, according to the article.
- According to the US Energy Information Administration, the average annual electricity consumption for an American home, in 2020, used a little over 10,700 kilowatt-hours per year.
- Based on simulations run on Doucet’s prototype, these walls would be enough to supply that power.
- Doucet, who is in talks with several large manufacturers, discusses how this concept could be used larger-scale commercial projects:
- “Instead of the typical retaining walls along roads and freeways, you’d have an array of these … With the added wind boost from trucks, our highways could take care of all our energy needs.”
Researchers develop a new way to find cancer at the nanometer scale | MedicalXPress (07:45)
- In a new Concordia-led paper, researchers describe a new liquid biopsy method using lab-on-a-chip technology that they believe can detect cancer before a tumor is even formed.
- Another step towards early diagnosis.
- The liquid biopsy chip attracts, with magnetic particles, and captures (bonding agent) particles containing cancer-causing biomarkers.
- A droplet of organic liquid—whether blood, saliva, urine or anything else.
- Close analysis can identify the type of cancer they are carrying.
- The chip targets extracellular vesicles (EVs), a type of particle that is released by most kinds of organic cells.
- Extremely small, 40 and 200 nanometers
- Contain a cargo of proteins, nucleic acids such as RNA, metabolites and other molecules.
- Also, contain biomarkers associated with cancer and other diseases
- Paper’s senior author Muthukumaran Packirisamy, discusses the technique:
- “This technique can provide a very early diagnosis of cancer that would help find therapeutic solutions and improve the lives of patients … Liquid biopsies avoid the trauma of invasive biopsies, which involve exploratory surgery … We can get all the cancer markers and cancer prognosis just by examining any bodily fluid.”
- With a precise diagnosis, the medical field can devise a special localized treatment for the specific type of cancer.
- Could you imagine getting screened for different types of cancer when you give blood or provide spit/urine? Attacking it before it spreads could have huge impacts.
Elon Musk’s Boring Company gets green light for Las Vegas tunnel system | The Verge (13:39)
- The Boring Company just won approval from local officials to move forward with building a network of vehicle tunnels underneath Las Vegas.
- Dubbed the “Vegas Loop,” allowing passengers to hitch rides in Teslas to different locations throughout the city.
- Airport, Football stadium, the Las Vegas Strip, etc.
- The Boring Company already operates a small version of this “Teslas in Tunnels” system underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center.
- Opened in late May of this year.
- Two 0.8-mile tunnels
- The system that was approved involves 29 miles of tunnels and 51 stations.
- According to Clark County officials, 57,000 passengers will be able to travel through it per hour.
- Compare that to the New York Subway system, which handles (if even distributed) roughly 136,000 passengers per hour.
- The Boring Company previously said that it would foot the bill for building the main tunnels but planned to ask hotel casinos or other businesses that want a station to pay for those construction costs.
- The Boring Company has said the plan is to ultimately use Teslas that can drive themselves, but right now they do not have that capability.
- Currently, the Teslas that run under the Convention Center have human drivers.
- And if you are wondering why going the tunnel route instead of a subway is worth it, well this is Boring Company’s answer:
- “To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, roads must go 3D, which means either flying cars or tunnels are needed. Unlike flying cars, tunnels are weatherproof, out of sight, and won’t fall on your head.
- Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems. A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city; no matter how large a city grows, more levels of tunnels can be added.”
Lockheed Martin plans to build Starlab commercial space station by 2027 | New Atlas (19:01)
- Lockheed Martin, Nanoracks, and Voyager Space have entered into a partnership to launch a permanently crewed commercial space station by 2027.
- Called Starlab
- Semi-inflatable platform
- Available to the US government and private industry
- With the International Space Station (ISS) slated for retirement and disposal by 2030, the United States is looking to private companies to provide replacements.
- Starlab is one of those replacements.
- The purpose of Starlab is to carry out a wide variety of activities, including general science, materials research, plant growth, astronaut training, and tourism.
- Will allow for a continued American presence in space
- Nanoracks: Leading Starlab’s development
- Mentioned them way back in Episode 32! (Plan to Turn Scrapped Rockets Into Space Stations)
- Voyager Space: handling the business side
- Lockheed Martin: build and operate the station
- Current Specs that we know:
- Consists of a large inflatable habitat module
- A metallic docking node.
- Volume of 340 m3 (12,000 ft3)
- Four solar arrays totaling 60 kW
- A regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) supporting a permanent crew of four astronauts plus visitors.
- Robotic arm to handle cargo ships and outside experiments.
- Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager, Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin, talks about this partnership:
- “Lockheed Martin’s extensive experience in building complex spacecraft and systems, coupled with Nanoracks’ commercial business innovation and Voyager’s financial expertise allows our team to create a customer-focused space station that will fuel our future vision. We have invested significantly in habitat technology which enables us to propose a cost-effective, mission-driven spacecraft design for Starlab.”
Walmart Has Quietly Begun Hosting Bitcoin ATMs | Coindesk (24:30)
- Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, is letting customers buy bitcoin at dozens of its U.S. stores.
- Purchase the cryptocurrency at Coinstar machines inside the big box stores.
- Walmart communications director Molly Blakeman told CoinDesk via email:
- “Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin … There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”
- The ability to buy bitcoin is enabled by Coinme, a crypto wallet and payment firm that specializes in bitcoin ATMs (BTMs).
- After inserting bills into the machine, a paper voucher is issued.
- Then you have to set up a Coinme account and pass a know-your-customer (KYC) check before the voucher can be redeemed.
- The machine charges a 4% fee for the bitcoin option, plus another 7% cash exchange fee, according to the Coinstar website and verified by CoinDesk.
- Coinstar is not new to this BTM space since they started adding bitcoin-buying services with Coinme in early 2019, and in 2020 announced plans to double its fleet of 3,500 Coinme BTMs.
- This is a step up from those BTMs, since Walmart is seen as the crown jewel to bringing crypto financial services into the mainstream.
- A company with 4,700 stores and a market cap of $409 billion.