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On Dwarkesh Patel’s podcast in February, Elon Musk said that within 30 to 36 months space would be “by far the cheapest” place to run AI. Pressed on whether that was really true, he doubled down. “It’s not even close,” he said. Patel opened the podcast as a skeptic. Only 10 to 15% of a…

SOTAX used Analytica 2026 to demo JetX, an automated sample-preparation platform aimed at pharma QC labs still running content uniformity and assay tests with volumetric flasks. The system’s patented extraction technology subjects tablets, capsules, or semi-solids to a continuous jet of media inside a cell at flow rates up to 1,000 mL/min, then routes the…

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed its direction of rotation, offering a dramatic example of how volatile activity can affect the spin and physical evolution of small bodies in the solar system. This is the first time researchers have observed evidence…

Short-read genome sequencing, while cost- and time-effective, often misses pertinent genetic information for rare disease diagnosis. This method sequences DNA fragments between 50 and 300 base pairs at a time and struggles with sequencing complex genomic regions and identifying large structural variations. It also requires an amplification process that can introduce errors or sequence bias. …

Laser uranium enrichment has been proven to work in labs for over 50 years, but no one has been able to commercialize it. The technology works, but scaling it has proven insurmountable.  A startup based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is tackling the scaling problem. LIS Technologies was founded by a team with roots in ASML,…

A research team at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics has developed aluminum tubes that will not sink, even when damaged, using a technique learned from observing spiders. Their work was published in Advanced Functional Materials.  The team created buoyancy by chemically etching micro- and nanoscale pits into the aluminum tubes to capture air,…

Blood tests that detect a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could help predict the age when symptoms may appear. However, experts advise caution regarding individual clinical use, saying the test is insufficiently precise for individual decision-making and more useful for clinical trials.  A new study administered the tests to detect the protein, p-tau217, that…

Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched the Sequential Protein/DNA/RNA Extraction Kit, a sample preparation tool designed to let researchers extract protein, DNA, and RNA from a single cell or tissue sample. The kit targets cancer and disease research workflows where biological material is limited or difficult to replace — such as small biopsies or rare cell…

The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) has named Pulp Fixin its official Sustainability Sponsor for SLAS Europe 2026 Conference and Exhibition, and a key promoter of sustainability at SLAS2026 in Boston. This global partnership focused on advancing sustainable materials and practices across life science laboratories. As a cornerstone of this collaboration, Chad Jenkins,…

In labs developing the novel products like next-generation of batteries and solar cells, researchers are confronting something of a paradox. Advanced materials can unlock dramatic gains in efficiency and performance, but their synthesis frequently depends on energy-heavy processes, hazardous chemicals and limited raw materials. That reality is reshaping how some labs design materials, pushing some…

Those who have worked in drug development know the drill. Turning a promising biomarker into something you can rely on in the clinic is one of the most critical steps, and one of the most failure-prone. A candidate can look brilliant in controlled studies. Then it falls apart when it meets real-world biology, workflows and…

Mercedes-Benz is turning its dashboard assistant into an AI co-pilot. A new MBUX upgrade featuring Google’s Gemini AI moves beyond voice commands to conversational, context-aware trip help. The move starts with the upcoming CLA model and slated for wider rollout. For most drivers, in-car voice assistants have been glorified remote controls: set the temperature, call…

AUTOMA+ 2025 brought together pharma and tech leaders in Vösendorf, Austria on November 24–25 to explore the latest developments in digital R&D, lab automation and manufacturing. The Pharmaceutical Automation and Digitalisation Congress highlighted how AI, digital twins, robotics and IoT are moving from pilots toward production use in smart pharma environments. Supported by Merck, ESTEVE,…

When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica as a record-strength Category 5 storm, Amazon activated its Disaster Relief Hub near Atlanta, one of 15 global disaster relief hubs, and flew in 2,500 pounds of solar power and connectivity gear. The November 5 flight marked the first time Amazon has delivered its new disaster relief technology kits outside…

The intensity of the chip race is written in the patent data. Between early 2024 and late 2025, Qualcomm added nearly 6,000 active patent families to its portfolio, a 25% jump that makes it the S&P 100’s single biggest gainer in absolute terms. Rival Nvidia expanded its own IP moat by 21% over the same period.…

Among the winners of the R&D 100 in 2025 is Abbott’s Liberta RC DBS System, a deep brain stimulation device for treating Parkinson’s disease, the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the U.S., with approximately 500,000 Americans suffering from the disease. Some experts estimate that, due to underdiagnosis, the number may be closer to one million.…

Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced the Orbitrap Exploris EFOX mass detector, a high-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) system purpose-built for environmental and food safety labs. The company says EFOX is the first Orbitrap platform designed specifically for these routine testing workflows, with full-scan data to support both targeted quantitation and non-targeted screening, plus retrospective analysis as regulations…

On Thursday, Nike announced several new products, including Project Amplify, a powered footwear system for running and walking. The system is “engineered to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement,” according to the press release. It is “in effect, a second set of calf muscles.” The product is still in early testing.  “Our job is…

In the U.S., the biotech sector is navigating a sharp correction. Life sciences lab-space vacancies are above 20% nationally and approach 30% in Greater Boston, with San Diego in the upper-20s. Venture funding has slowed in early 2025. In Greater Boston, there is a record 17 million square feet of available lab space. “The cycles…

As the biotech and biopharma industries strive to develop more precise, personalized and effective therapies for complex diseases, researchers require access to deeper insights from cells, tissues and proteins. Spatial biology, the study of biomolecules and cells within their native tissue microenvironment, along with other advanced imaging techniques, is enabling scientists to better visualize, map…

Waters Corp. announced Monday it will merge with Becton Dickinson’s biosciences and diagnostics unit in a $17.5 billion tax-free deal structured as a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The move will create a combined testing, life sciences and diagnostics company with a projected $6.5 billion in revenue for 2025. It is also expected to double Waters’…

It turns out rocket science is still rocket science. At 11 p.m. on June 18, 2025, SpaceX engineers initiated what should have been a routine six-engine static fire test — a ground test for an upcoming launch — at Starbase’s Massey test site. Instead, Ship 36 experienced a catastrophic failure during propellant loading, which Elon…

A surgical robot at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School helped urologists complete “one of the longest single-port, retroperitoneal, buccal graft ureteroplasties on record,” said Evan Kovac, director of urologic oncology and robotic surgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and University Hospital, in a statement.  In 2011, the patient was treated for a…

Pepperl+Fuchs has introduced the BTC22 and BTC24 industrial box thin clients designed for 24/7 operation in control rooms and laboratories. The BTC24 supports up to four 4K displays, while the BTC22 connects to either two 4K or three full HD displays via USB-C ALT mode. Both models feature 8 GB DDR4 RAM and include a…

Groq, the AI accelerator company based in Mountain View, California, has announced that the open-source AI platform Hugging Face has integrated its Language Processing Unit (LPU) inference engine as a native provider on its platform, giving Hugging Face’s over 1 million developers access to inference speeds exceeding 800 tokens per second across ten open weight…