Quantic’s Weekly Roundup – July 2020 (1)

Quantic’s Weekly Roundup is a satisfying mix of the latest breaking news, business, STEM and social science stories. Here are your headlines for this week:

The times they are a-changin’: In the era of COVID-19 where remote work is becoming the new normal, will major tech and finance hubs like London still be able to attract tech unicorns? Long-term, startups may be expected to grow and operate outside of established tech hubs.

Are you not entertained? Elon Musk’s Boring Company is calling on interested folks to build a tunneling machine that’s quicker and more efficient than current designs. Musk will launch his “Not-a-Boring Competition” in spring 2021. Everyone from businesses and engineers, to students and hobbyists are invited to get involved.

Singapore is planning to research and develop carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) technology to reduce the climate impact from some of its most carbon-intensive industries. Companies including oil giant Chevron and concrete producer Pan-United are joining forces to develop technology that will prevent emissions from entering the atmosphere and could be ready within five to ten years.

One giant leap for artificial intelligence: NASA unveiled its next-generation space suit that will be worn by astronauts when they return to the moon in 2024. AI will help handle communications, oxygen supply, and temperature regulation, so that astronauts can focus on important tasks like building launch pads.

Codename Gryphon: Shares of Twitter closed 7.34% higher Wednesday after the company posted a job listing saying it was building a subscription platform under the code name “Gryphon.” Twitter is currently recruiting engineers to join this subscription team, with employees collaborating closely with the company’s payments team. There is already speculation that the company is developing a premium version that removes ads and affords certain customizations not available on the free product.

Quantic Alum, Grant Belgard, is the Head of Bioinformatics at Bit Bio, a startup that only needed three weeks to raise $41.5 million in a Series A funding round. The biotechnology company combines data science and biology to generate every type of cell in the human body. This will unlock solutions for tackling cancer, autoimmune diseases, and aid drug discovery.