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
Busy day ahead, so let’s get right into it…
This edition's font is called Bitcount.
Jobs
No new job postings in this edition. For previous job postings, check out the Magnitude and Direction archive.
Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication
🧱 AI can come up with new LEGO designs now.
📦 “The Self Storage Association notes that it is ‘physically possible that every American could stand—all at the same time—under the total canopy of self-storage roofing’”
🤖 We're one-step closer to building the Terminator, thanks to this self-healing circuit board.
Software and Programming
📱 This website is running on a solar-powered smartphone.
📃 Give the impression of being immersed in deep work, while actually playing a bunch of classic internet games, thanks to this website that disguises them as spreadsheets.
🤜 Despite having no corporeal form, one of the Google co-founders says threatening your AI with physical violence will get you better results. (I will not be doing this on the off chance those Skynet people are right...)
Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine
📐 This new shape is kind of like the cat (or buttered toast) of 3D geometry.
Mapping, History, and Data Science
🌐 There has perhaps never been a more appropriate website for this section of Magnitude and Direction than this map of Wikipedia.
🗺️ If we're gonna live in a world mapped using the Mercator projection, we might as well customize it to our individual countries of interest.
🏹 Someone made a tech tree for the human race, and it's as sprawling as you might imagine.
Events 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! There’s just one more chance to earn your teeth this summer:
Saturday, 5/31Mouthy Baby with Ian Persaud at The Windjammer.
Thursday, 6/5BRC Benefit Concert at McCarren Parkhouse.
Thursday, 6/19Mouthy Baby Live at the Cutting Room.Wednesday, 7/30 Mouthy Baby and Friends at Berlin.
Wednesday, 7/23 Taste of Science: Ticks. 2025 is a banner year for ticks. With the Fordam Tick Index currently at a 9/10, we should all probably be much more concerned about bites from ticks than from sharks. But how much do you really know about these tiny monsters? Hear from two experts on ticks and the diseases they carry, including tips for protecting yourself in the outdoors this summer.
Thursday, 7/24 Nanotech NYC Happy Hour. Join Nanotech NYC at Harlem Tavern for another evening of laid-back networking, nano talk, and meeting folks who are curious, creative, and building cool things at the tiniest scales. Whether you're in research, a startup, or just want to talk science over a cold drink, you’re welcome — no slides, no lectures, just community.
Thursday, 7/31 Techno-Economic Analysis. Turning science into technology? Join External Affairs, Conductor Labs, and the Homeworld Collective to learn how to test the economic viability of your path to market with techno-economic analysis (TEA). You’ll learn what exactly TEA is, why it’s important, and where to get started applying this critical tool to your own work.
Friday, 8/1 Endless Frontier Labs Startup Accelerator Application Deadline. Endless Frontier Labs (EFL) is a zero-fee program to accelerate the success of early stage science- and technology-based startups. Founders receive targeted mentorship from an elite group of seasoned investors, industry executives, and successful entrepreneurs, in addition to business development support from NYU Stern MBAs. Our 316 alumni have raised over $2.3B to date. The priority application submission deadline for the 2025–26 cohort is August 1. Register for an upcoming info session (like the one on July 18th!) to learn more.
Tuesday, 8/5 Civic Tech'ish Happy Hour: Summer Edition. Connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about improving government services for everyone. Whether you're a civic tech practitioner working within or adjacent to the public sector or curious about how to leverage technology'ish skills for the public interest, this event is for you.
Thursday, 8/14 NY Hardware Meetup. The Hardware Meetup community is excited to announce their August NY Hardware Meetup will be at New York hardware mainstay, Adafruit, in Industry City. This month's event will be about the growing NYC space tech industry.
Thursday, 8/28 ASRC CAT x HB x Activate NY August Innovators Social. For the August edition of West Harlem's long-running innovators socials, Harlem Biospace and the ASRC are co-hosting with Activate NY. The two-year Activate Fellowship provides early-stage science entrepreneurs with funding, technical resources, and unparalleled support from a network of scientists, engineers, investors, commercial partners, and fellow entrepreneurs. Join for an exciting networking event to learn more about this fellowship and hear from one of the newest cohort's founders! Stay tuned for the public announcement about the 2025 cohort!
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
🌍 Depending on your views towards fonts (and let's be honest, if you're a longtime subscriber to the newsletter, you probably have strong ones...) you're either gonna love this map or hate it.
Odds & Ends
🍕 Get a few slices of the internet served up daily for your enjoyment.