Magnitude and Direction — Issue #190
All the things you can do with Raspberry Pi, surprising spiciness, and what is 'HDR' really?
Welcome to the latest installment of my bi-weekly newsletter, covering some of my favorite new developments in the fields of biotech, data science, engineering, and more. If this is your first issue, it's great to have you! For everyone else, thanks for coming back!
If you like this email, forward it to a friend (I can't encourage this enough) and if you're seeing it for the first time, subscribe here to get it regularly. As always, if you come across something cool you'd like to share, send me a note.
Notes
I’ve written this newsletter from a variety of places and computers, but in the almost decade I’ve been sending out Magnitude and Direction, I’ve only ever sent it from two different laptops - my Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and my HP Spectre Folio. Hardware progresses, though, and so does the software we build to run on it, and the result of that progress can look like a computer who’s hardware still works fine, but can no longer keep up with the demands of modern software (feels like there’s some metaphors in there, too…)
Be that as it may, I’m writing this edition of M&D from my new laptop, and Asus Zenbook Duo, which is a very unique kind of computer, because it comes with two screens built in. Not the most elegant thing to whip out (at least in that format) at your local coffee shop, but definitely nice for situations when you find yourself moving between two (or more) screens a lot, which is basically my entire life. So even though it’s not quite as beautiful a piece of hardware as my Spectre Folio (arguably the most attractive laptop every made, IMO), it’s definitely an incredibly useful device to have.
Jobs
Design Engineer Opportunity
Houseware design firm Core Home is looking for a Product Design Engineer to join their consumer electronics team. The role will involve designing, prototyping, and tearing down models and prototypes, as well as collaborating closely with Industrial Design, quality, and cross-functional teams. Candidates should have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in mechanical engineering or related discipline, and 3+ years of mechanical design experience using a variety of fabrication processes.
Learn more about the role and how to apply here.
Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication
🥧 The Raspberry Pi has come a long way in the past 10+ years (and it's kind of mind-blowing how many of those years I've been using it, myself).
🖨️ A new record for PCB layering has been set: 124 total, all while keeping overall thickness under 1cm!
🛠️ Ecosystem analyses seem to be a theme of sorts for this edition's Hardware section, and this analysis of over 3000 machine shops in the US is a fascinating look into the domestic manufacturing landscape. (You can check out the original database here.)
Software and Programming
📱 Do you know what the little HDR icon on your phone's camera is, really?
🏛️ Explore artifacts from the Internet's antiquity.
🧑💻🎶 New live coding platform for dynamic music composition just dropped.
Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine
🌶️ If you've ever eater a "super spicy" pepper but found it lacking some kick it could be because there are other molecules interfering with its "inherent" spiciness. The implication? That the way we think about spiciness ratings is inaccurate.
🧠 Apple is adding "brain wave support" to their devices, courtesy of my former coworker Tom Oxley's startup, Synchron.
🏋️ Exercising in your late teens reduces your risk of dying... in random accidents. If that doesn't quite make sense to you, it shouldn't, and it might also upend a lot of what we thought we knew about the magnitude of the benefits of exercise.
Mapping, History, and Data Science
🗺️ There's a whole lot more than geography and navigation happening on Google Maps.
🎡 These maps and drawings from the early planning phases of Disneyland paint a picture of dozens of "worlds" that have never been realized.
🚇 Here's a live (and nicely-designed) look at the status of the London Underground.
Events and Opportunities
Tuesday, 5/27 Artificial Intelligence & Précision Medicine - Panel and Q&A. Under the patronage of Cédrik Fouriscot, Consul General of France in New York, the Consulate General of France in New York invites you to an evening dedicated to exploring the transformative role of artificial intelligence in healthcare, with a special focus on precision medicine on Artificial Intelligence & Precision Medicine: Shaping the Future of Healthcare.
Wednesday & Thursday, 5/28-5/29 Yale Innovation Summit. The Yale Innovation Summit convenes the Northeast’s innovation and entrepreneurship community for two days of impactful conversations, purposeful networking, and Yale pitch competitions across six tracks of programming. Celebrating its 10th year in 2024, the event has become one of the region’s biggest innovation events, drawing investors, founders, and industry partners to Yale’s campus to create new connections and opportunities.
⭐SEVERAL DATES THIS SUMMER. The Mouthy Baby Tri-Boro Tour. Teethers rejoice, your favorite local band is back in a big way with four shows this summer across three borough (apologies to the Bronx and Staten Island). Whether your a long-time “Teether”, a brand new fan, or a long-time fan who’s never managed to get out to a show (we don’t hold it against you too much) this is your chance to catch the band once, twice, or even four times in two months! The show dates are as follows:
Saturday, 5/31 Mouthy Baby with Ian Persaud at The Windjammer.
Thursday, 6/5 BRC Benefit Concert at McCarren Parkhouse. (Ticket link coming soon!)
Thursday, 6/19 Mouthy Baby Live at the Cutting Room. (Ticket link coming soon!)
Wednesday, 7/30 Mouthy Baby and Friends at Berlin.
Monday, 6/2 Building AI Solutions in Health & Bio. Join 2048 and Union Square Ventures for a discussion on AI solutions in Health and Bio. The expert panel will cover topics from AI models to business models, for a lively discussion on how AI is accelerating drug discovery, improving diagnostics, and enabling personalized medicine. Stick around afterwards to enjoy a light lunch and networking opportunity with the panelists.
Wednesday, 6/4 Human Body as Software: Program, Fix, Edit. Hear from an exciting panel of speakers at this flagship NY Tech Week event exploring the frontier of human performance and biological control. Whether you’re building in biotech or just planning to live forever, this event is a must-go. Panelists will discuss reprogramming biology, designing 100-year health, and funding the next wave of human optimization. Come see how top investors, scientists, and founders are turning the science fiction of youth into real, fundable technology.
Wednesday, 6/4 Ethics Implications of the Genetic Revolution. Join Genspace for a special lecture and discussion, Ethics Implications of the Genetic Revolution, featuring Dr. Jacob M. Appel, a renowned bioethicist, professor, and author. With extensive expertise in psychiatry, medical education, and ethics, Dr. Appel will lead a thought-provoking conversation on the complex ethical questions surrounding genetic engineering.
Thursday, 6/5 STAT Locals - NYC. STAT’s “Locals” happy hour series returns for the summer to help encourage new connections and collaborations within the life science communities we report on. Bringing the programming-free casual comingling back to the beautiful rooftop of West End Labs, this promises to be another fantastic night of networking that brings the entire NYC biotech community together.
Thursday, 6/5 Preseed + Seed Fundraising in Deep Tech. Startup founders are invited to this candid discussion about preseed and seed fundraising. A rapid-fire panel of investors will provide their perspective on fundraising and share best practices for closing a lead. The panel will be followed by networking.
Friday, 6/20 French American Innovation Day: Bridging Health Innovation. The French American Innovation Day (FAID) is an annual symposium aimed at fostering collaboration between France and the USA in innovation and research, organized by the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy. The French American Innovation Day will showcase the dynamic landscape of health innovation, focusing on key themes such as onco-immunology, gene therapy and brain and cognition.
Friday & Saturday, 10/3-10/4 2nd Annual NY BCI Symposium. Following up on a stellar inaugural conference last fall, BCI’s leading minds and most exciting emerging startups will once again descend on the New York Academy of Medicine for two days of panels, presentations, and networking, all with the mission of advancing and expanding the brain-computer interface space. With NYC increasingly becoming the center stage for this technology revolution, this is a can’t-miss event for anyone working in neurotech, AI/ML, medtech, and beyond.
Early-bird registration is now available!
Other events coming up you think I should know about? Let me know here!
Map of the Month
🌿 Enjoy some maps of global chlorophyll and vegetation distributions.
Odds & Ends
🎭 Google’s new AI video generator really likes dad jokes…