GrowthPilot

Friday Five | May 3, 2019

In the course of our research for clients, we come across emerging technologies, new materials, new chemistries, growing markets, changing regulatory landscapes, innovative business models, and much more. Every other Friday, we pick five articles, videos, or podcasts that we found interesting and send them your way.

ENGINEERING

Mimicking the Structure and Function of Ant Bridges in a Reconfigurable Microswarm for Electronic Applications

A short read on how engineers are emulating the collective behavior of self-organizing social insects and applying what they’ve learned to artificial robotics systems in electronics. [ACS NANO]

ASTROPHYSICS

Sneaky Meteor Evades Earthling Detection, Explodes with Force of 10 Atomic Bombs

In mid-December 2018, a meteor—with an impact energy of about 10 atomic bombs—shattered over Earth. Aside from systems designed to enforce international nuclear testing treaties, the second largest meteor event of the last 30 years went almost completely unnoticed because it happened over the Bering Sea. Thankfully, NASA’s Planetary Defense Conference Exercise spent time this week running a doomsday drill to figure out what to do when we learn of a pending strike that is more serious. [POPSCI and INVERSE]

MANAGEMENT | LEADERSHIP

Behind the Black Hole Image: One Giant Leap for Teamwork

The first ever picture of a black hole was unveiled with much fanfare last month, but buried beneath the excitement was the story of how it came to be. And there was nothing easy about it. This article provides insight into how . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | April 19, 2019

by GrowthPilot

POLYMERS | MATERIAL SCIENCE

A New Spring for Polymers in Japan

Supported by government funding, researchers in Japan have invented an array of novel polymers. One such material is a new type of aerogel called superfunctional air, or Sufa. Made of up to 98% air, it has superb insulation properties and transparency similar to glass, making it excellent for use in windows. And unlike other aerogels, it is softer, retains its shape after being pressed, and dries on its own, dramatically driving down production costs. [C&EN]

BATTERIES | ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Electric Car Battery with 600 Miles of Range? This Startup Claims to Have Done It

Innolith, a Swiss startup, claims to have made the world’s first 1,000 Wh/kg rechargeable lithium battery. With most electric car batteries topping out at about 250 Wh/kg, it sounds like a specious claim. But Innolith says the difference lies in the technology: they use an inorganic, salt-like material instead of the highly flammable organic solvent traditionally used in “wet” lithium-ion batteries. Plans are to launch a pilot program in Germany, and have the batteries ready for market by 2022. . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | April 5, 2019

by GrowthPilot

PHYSICS

Physicists Reverse Time Using Quantum Computer

In a four-stage experiment, researchers have seemingly defied the second law of thermodynamics and reversed time. Observing highly organized qubits on a quantum computer, they used an evolution program to cause chaos among the qubits, then used the same algorithm to rewind the qubits to their original state. [PHYS ORG]

DRONES | TECHNOLOGY

Your Drone-Delivered Coffee is (Almost) Here

With major cities packed with tall buildings, trucks, people, and power lines, some delivery services are focusing their drone delivery efforts on less challenging rural and suburban areas. Experiments underway in the U.S., Iceland, and Australia using a new generation of bigger, faster drones, are proving that drone deliveries are more cost and energy efficient than cars in less populated locales. [WSJ]

STRATEGY | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

How to Develop an Artificial Intelligence Strategy: 9 Things Every Business Must Include

Artificial Intelligence has the power to transform the world, and if your business isn’t figuring out how to use it to your advantage, you risk being left behind. Here, Bernard Marr lays out a tight . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | March 22, 2019

by GrowthPilot

BLOCKCHAIN

Once Hailed as Unhackable, Blockchains Are Now Getting Hacked

While the security of blockchain technology has been one of its major selling points, recent hacks of multiple cryptocurrency exchanges have raised alarms. In response to hackers making off with millions by exploiting flaws in the technology, several startups have been created to detect these vulnerabilities and fix the issues before hackers find them. [TECH REVIEW]

MATERIALS SCIENCE | POLYMERS

New Form of Self-Healing Material Discovered

Many self-healing materials are limited by manufacturing costs and complex chemistry, limiting their commercial potential. This new, ethylene-based functionalized polyolefin is much simply to develop and does not required external factors to trigger the self-healing mechanism. The versatile material can be formed into tough elastomers which can be stretched and then return to their original shape even after being subjected to mechanical damage. [DIGITAL JOURNAL]

FUTURE OF WORK | MANAGEMENT

A Harvard Dropout’s Plan to Fix College Admissions With Video Games

Acquiring a degree from college has long been used as the litmus test for entry into the job . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | March 8, 2019

by GrowthPilot

NANOPARTICLES | BIOENGINEERING

Nanoparticles Give Mice Infrared Vision

The ability to see infrared light has only been available to a select few species . . . until now. Scientist at the University of Science & Technology of China have designed nanoparticles that stick to the light-detecting cells of retinas and injected them into the eyes of mice. The particles convert infrared light into green light allowing the mice to respond to light they otherwise cannot see. [ATLANTIC]

STRATEGY

How Blockbuster, Kodak, and Xerox Really Failed (It’s Not What You Think)

Go to just about any conference today and you will hear a familiar tale of woe. A once great corporation, which had dominated its industry, fails to adapt and descends into irrelevance. The protagonists of these stories always come out looking more than a little bit silly, failing to recognize business trends that seem obvious.The problem with these stories is that they are rarely true. [DIGITALTONTO]

EVOLUTION

Beauty is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

It has long been believed that beauty in the animal kingdom was an indicator of good health or survival skills and therefore a significant . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | February 22, 2019

by GrowthPilot

MATERIALS SCIENCE | POLYMERS | ENVIRONMENT

Scaling up Nodax, a Landfill and Waterway-Biodegradable, Biobased Plastic

Nodax PHA—a bioplastic produced by bacterial cultures grown with canola oil—is compostable, biodegradable in marine environments, biocompatible, and customizable for a variety of applications. Due to a partnership between Danimer Scientific (developers of Nodax) and Nestle, we could soon see Nodax on store shelves and in our homes. [LAB CONSCIOUS]

BIOLOGY

The Extraordinary Life and Death of the World’s Oldest Known Spider

A fascinating look at the life of an Australian trapdoor spider with details provided by the zoologists who studied her for her entire life. [WASHINGTON POST]

STRATEGY

Bias Busters: Pruning Projects Proactively

A quick look at the reasons why executives hold on to under-performing assets and projects, and some tips to help determine which to keep and which to let go. [MCKINSEY]

3D PRINTING | SPACE

The Future of In-Space Manufacturing

Everything needed for a trip to space, including food, tools, and all supplies for any contingency, have to be made on Earth. This makes solar system exploration a costly . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | February 8, 2019

by GrowthPilot

MICROMACHINES | VIDEO

Metal-Free Micromotor Could Clean Waste Water

Micromachines can propel themselves through solutions by reacting with fuel in their environment. But most of these machines have relied on ultraviolet light and expensive noble metals like gold and platinum to drive the reactions. Now, a team led by researchers from the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague have made a simple, metal-free micromotor that operates under visible light. This short video shows them in action. [C&EN]

CELLULAR AGRICULTURE | BIOLOGY

Here’s Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Own Hamburgers

This in-depth article breaks down the very-involved process of instructing cells from live organisms to grow into edible muscle, outside that organism. Follow these steps, and after much trial and error, you can be well on your way to eating your own cultured meat. [MASSIVE SCIENCE]

INNOVATION | PODCAST

How Big Companies Can Innovate Like Small Startups

In his new book, Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation, Harvard business administration professor Gary Pisano outlines the three factors that large firms must develop to foster . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | January 25, 2019

by GrowthPilot

GEOLOGY

Earth’s Magnetic Field is Acting Up and Geologists Don’t Know Why

Driven by a fast moving jet of liquid iron beneath Canada, Earth’s north magnetic pole is traveling away from North America, has crossed the International Date Line, and is headed towards Siberia. It is changing so rapidly that experts have to update the World Magnetic Model, which governs all modern navigation, a year earlier than scheduled. [NATURE]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | MATERIALS SCIENCE

Artificial Intelligence Meets Materials Science

Developing and launching new advanced materials can take decades, but an engineering research team at Texas A&M is employing machine learning, data science, and a wealth of expert knowledge to accelerate the process. Their autonomous program uses an algorithm that—while working with very little initial data—adaptively picks the best machine learning models to find the optimal material to fit any given criteria. [PHYS ORG]

MANAGEMENT | LEADERSHIP

Hiring Intrapreneurs: A Practical Guide

If you can ignore the goofy graphics and the too-cute analogies, there is a wealth of good information in here about the nature . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | January 11, 2019

by GrowthPilot

MATERIALS SCIENCE

Predicting the Properties of a New Class of Glasses

Using a modeling method called ReaxFF, researchers are testing a new class of glass-forming material: zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, or ZIF. Their goal is to combine the transparency of silicate glass with the non-brittle quality of metallic glass. ZIF glasses have the potential to be more transparent and bendable than traditional glass, making them a better choice for a variety of applications. [EUREKA ALERT]

LANGUAGE | HISTORY

How Humans Invented Writing – Four Different Times

Developed circa 3,200 B.C., Mesopotamian cuneiform is the oldest known writing system in the world. But it does not stand alone. Research shows that writing was invented independently in a least three other civilizations over time. This articles gives a quick history of how those scripts were developed and how they form the basis for every other writing system that followed. [DISCOVER]

STRATEGY

Trying to Understand the Science Behind Strategy

Where do brilliant decisions come from? Business schools teach entrepreneurs and aspiring executives to be successful—training them to make brilliant decisions and hire . . . READ MORE

Friday Five | December 28, 2018

by GrowthPilot

AERONAUTICS | POWER ELECTRONICS | VIDEO

MIT Engineers Fly First Ever Plane With No Moving Parts

Inspired by Star Trek shuttles, researchers have developed the first plane with no moving parts. It’s powered by ionic wind, a silent but mighty flow of ions that generates enough thrust to propel the plan over a sustained, steady flight. Achieving this silent flight milestone required a number of breakthroughs including a power system that can generate 40,000 volts in a light-weight package. [MIT]

INNOVATION | MANAGEMENT

Who Are My Stakeholders? A Quick Innovation Manager’s Guide

Managing stakeholders and their expectations is an important aspect of any business’s success. This informative guide identifies the different types of stakeholders and their attributes to help managers govern business and stakeholder relationships accordingly. [HYPE INNOVATION]

INNOVATION | LEADERSHIP

Innovation Dies When Fear Rules

When mistakes are made, it’s important to own up to them and learn from them. But employees cannot do so if they are afraid to speak up. Changing the culture of fear in a business will help to ensure there is . . . READ MORE