We hope you enjoy this week's hand-picked selection of important and interesting stories from the frontiers of tech.
Bio ⇨ Is algae the new kale?
The global population is now hovering around eight billion; by 2050, it will reach nearly 10 billion, according to the United Nations. To feed that many people, global food production would need to grow by 50 percent, an increase that would require 1.4 billion acres of land, according to one study. Cultivating that much land would make it harder to fight climate change and protect species from extinction because ecosystems such as forests sequester carbon pollution and foster biodiversity. But algae in its various forms may help fill those nutritional gaps. (read)
A sample green algae, Caulerpa crassifolia, collected from Lizard Island near Queensland, Australia. There are thousands of different algae species found around the world, and scientists hope some will help feed a growing planet. PHOTOGRAPH BY JUERGEN FREUND, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY
Bio ⇨ Don't be so quick to dismiss lab-grown meat
Cell-cultured meat has been the subject of suspicion from organizations working to protect human health, and even with the FDA’s preliminary approval, some remain unconvinced. But what these critics fail to realize is that there’s nothing “natural” about the vast majority of the meat already eaten in the U.S. (read)
Lab automation engineer Chigozie Nri, left, prepares nutrients to feed cells, as research director Nicholas Legendre watches, in the laboratory of cultured meat startup New Age Meats, which has produced cell-based pork in San Francisco, on Feb. 15, 2019. Terry Chea / AP file
Bio ⇨ The Great Disruption of Food & Agriculture
Tony Seba’s latest presentation on the transformative effects of Precision Fermentation (watch)
Climate ⇨ 16 ClimateTech Startups to Watch
Climate tech is a hot ticket for VC investors – companies in this sector raised $19b in venture capital across 500 deals in the first half of 2022. While economic conditions have slowed investment in the past year – down from a $40b peak in 2021 – capital and talent continue to flow into the fast-growing sector, with more organisations launching dedicated funds and initiatives to support climate-conscious entrepreneurs. (read)
Frontier tech ⇨ Charts of exponential change
Azeem Azhar looks back on 7 years of exponential change in Artificial Intelligence, Moore's Law, Biotechnology, and energy, batteries & climate (read)
