Wednesday Links

July 26, 2023 at 10:21 AM

1. Claims of a room-temperature, ambient temperature superconductor - very big news if true, but there have been plenty of false alarms on this before. Manifold market consensus is currently that it probably won't replicate. The procedure is apparently simple enough that we would expect corroboration in a matter of weeks.

2. The Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, explained by Hank Green
3. Brimstone has received certification for its carbon negative cement-production process. Cement production is responsible for 7.5% of global carbon emissions and is considered one of the biggest challenges in fully de-carboninzing the economy. This certification verifies that their process produces cement that's identical to 'ordinary portland cement' which is used for most construction. Scaling this up will presumably be a huge challenge but a breakthrough nonetheless
4. Progress on lead paint in Pakistan
5. "Some 415 million Indians escaped poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21, according to the latest Multidimensional Poverty Index"
6. We've nearly eradicated Guinea Worm disease