WIP PRIMERS
How (and why) synthetic biology wants to reprogram your cells
Welcome to WIP Primers, a series of articles from Work In Progress that will give you a <5 minute crash course on an Irish stew of deep science, tech, and business topics.
Our goal is to marinate your brains so they can really absorb the seasoning of our more technical episodes. (I’m famished, if you couldn’t tell).
Let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
- Definitions
- An Imperfect Analogy
- Use Cases
- Looking Ahead
- Companies + People to Look Out For
- Want More?
Definitions
Circuits
A system of electrical conductors and components forming a complete and closed path.
We usually find electrical circuits in machinery and computers, but in the broader sense they can refer to any closed system of parts that take inputs and then produce some kind of output. …
The 200 IQ strategies that made Among Us win quarantine
Yeah heartbreak sucks, but have you ever been murdered by your bro outside of cams? (Looking at you, Ariful). If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, you probably haven’t heard of Among Us.
Which companies are best positioned to take advantage of the new virtual healthcare wave?
I turned 18 recently which means I’ll soon have to face the most terrifying challenge of adulthood — making my own doctor’s appointments. (AHHHHHHH).
But a crisis is a terrible thing to waste — and telehealth got the memo. Virtual care adoption is skyrocketing like SpaceX’s chunky Starhopper, and these companies may be pulling it forward (in no particular order):
- Livongo
- Teladoc
- Propeller
- Omada
- Ro
Regulations have been relaxed, secrets spilled, and hearts broken (I assume), but it’s here — the age of telemedicine. Let’s get some definitions out of the way first:
- Telehealth/telemedicine: some form of bilateral communication between patients and their physicians. …
BYTE/SIZE
Velodyne’s going public: explaining LIDAR and special-purpose acquisition companies
Velodyne is a startup that specializes in Light Detection and Ranging tech, or LIDAR for short— it’s a good position to be in, especially since they’ll be the ones supplying our autonomous vehicle overlords in the future.
They’re going public via a special-purpose acquisition company — condensable to the oh-so-sexy acronym SPAC — called Graf Industrial Corp. And we can expect many hardware/autonomous vehicles startups going down this path in the future.
Okay, I just threw an Irish stew of information at your brain. I apologize. …
What do coffee mugs, Netflix, and IKEA all have in common?
Have you seen this meme going around?
Cake. Everything is cake. Is your worldview broken? Good. Go kiss your wife through the tears. Oh wait, you can’t — SHE’S CAKE TOO.
Housewives from the American 40’s were not made of cake. In fact, this was the era when instant cake mixes were just being introduced to the public.
When they were first rolled out, all they had to do was pour the mix into a bowl, add water and stir, put it into the oven and yabba-dabba-doo — cake!
Sounds like heaven, right? WRONG. Despite the convenience of the instant cake mix, sales floundered. …
BYTE/SIZE
With a video chat feature coming soon, the dating platform could use artificial intelligence to detect offensive images
Turning 18 is a big step in anyone’s life, one that I took a month or two ago. It usually comes with a number of rites of passage: buying your first lottery, having your first drink, entering into soul-crushing debt agreements.
Another is joining Tinder. We may be physically distanced, but the need to connect with others is stronger than ever. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess?
That’s a lie, your high school relationship won’t last 2 weeks into university, JESSICA.
CAUSALITY
The economics, neuroscience, and socio-cultural psychology of innovation
Despite the constant hoopla in the news about “how fast we’re progressing”, it’s possible we’re not advancing nearly as fast as we were a hundred years ago.
Economist Robert Gordon says that innovation is slowing down due to a number of factors, including stagnation in the discovery/development of general-purpose technologies that can propel the entire economy.
Whether or not you think this is true, the point remains — everyone would like to be more innovative. Here are a few ways we can hack/encourage innovation in academia, our brains, and our culture:
- Scientific stagnation is a venomous snake in 19th century India —…
3 ways the e-commerce sweetheart is setting up for a Canadian invasion
I’m Canadian, which means I drink milk out of a bag, ride a polar bear to school, and my blood type is maple syrup. It also means I was founded in the same place as e-commerce platform Shopify.
CAUSALITY
Market research and human psychology predict if you should invest in this season’s hottest piece of PPE
I know what you’re thinking.
Should I invest in the hottest new AI-powered face mask startup from San Diego ?
Personally, I’m throwing in all my life’s savings —$37.28 and a Tim Horton’s gift card (I don’t actually know the balance).
Face masks have become essential in the fight against Covid-19 and Brands are getting creative with new and sexy FASHION masks:
BYTE/SIZE
Disney Movie Theatres™ mean: vertical integration + customer segmentation + VR = 🤑🤑
In the 6th grade, I was a teacher’s pet, and it was a position I worked hard for. One winter, I was climbing up a snow hill to go sledding when my classmate David pushed me down — I barreled back to where I started.
