11–20 of 171 posts
"This satellite would self deploy/build itself at least partially to reduce weight..." ...I'm pretty sure you're not going to save much mass by soaking in a year of sunlight...
You would need to take on some mass from space. The satellite would have a post launch snack.
"This satellite would self deploy/build itself at least partially to reduce weight..." ...I'm pretty sure you're not going to save much mass by soaking in a year of sunlight...
You would need to take on some mass from space. The satellite would have a post launch snack.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You would need to take on some mass from space. The satellite would have a post launch snack.
If that's the plan, I don't think you've reduced complexity by plotting a zero-gravity rendezvous with a cheeseburger
"Build a holodeck", "Read/write cells for under $1000", "biological satellite that... deploys/builds itself", "build quantum gears"... This seems more like 25 Startup Ideas for 2042.
Interesting list with some good ideas. At the moment, I have time and talents but (surprisingly) no interesting ideas to work on. I was really hoping to see something on there involving machine learning or NLP. Anybody have any needs or ideas in that realm?
This though: Bitcoin - "Let the IRS/FEDs be involved and stick to the law." You need to file under Things that will never happen. The U.S. will not permit a rogue currency.
Good brain dump. This though: Bitcoin - "Let the IRS/FEDs be involved and stick to the law." You need to file under Things that will never happen . The U.S. will not permit a rogue currency .
"Build a holodeck", "Read/write cells for under $1000", "biological satellite that... deploys/builds itself", "build quantum gears"... This seems more like 25 Startup Ideas for 2042.
I added some fun ones in there as well...though OpenPCR have made really good headway on the cheap desktop bio hardware front.
> Build a database for biology.
Better than Entrez/NCBI? They have a ton of data. Yes, not particularly user-friendly in the way the web community might be used to, but it has all of the data and biologists know how to read it. What would you add? (Yes, there's a lot to add -- but it's not a matter of a prettier UI, and NCBI does have an API already that people find usable).
> Reading DNA in vitro
What does this mean? Sequencing DNA without extracting it from a cell? Why? Sequencing is largely a solved problem now. Costs are dropping faster than Moore's law, and there's literally a thousand vendors who will do it. Even synthesis is advancing so fast that people are beginning to talk about not doing subcloning anymore and just synthesizing the entire construct! (Note that just because we can synthesize kbp oligos now doesn't mean that they're biologically useful in much other than bacteria and yeast, though... pesky things like epigenetic modifications and nucleosomes/genomic DNA packing... among others.) Also, the extension of "writ[ing] DNA sequences into plasmids using the capacitance of the cell wall via [a] nano tube" seems a bit far from current technology.
That said, I think these are important problems and I'd love love love to see more people working on them versus more web and iphone apps! This was not the list I expected to see, which is awesome. But the biology-related ideas don't come across as being communicated with much sophistication.
Current DNA logic gates can already do sequence recognition as sensors in vivo but also provide flexible signals.
Also, there are already standardized part registries out there, like BioBricks.
And lastly, a YC for biotech wouldn't work because of the time frame, but even more so because of regulations. Anyone can build a device or drug, but it's all proof of concept until you put it in a lab or clinical study.
Oops, also that there are a bunch of academic bioCAD programs. Tinkercell is one that does extensive simulations.
Boom. Roasted.