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!
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Notes
Inspired by one of the articles linked in today’s edition of M&D, this issue’s title font is Highway Gothic.
Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication
🏗 Something I learned recently in an issue of The Prepared is that there is a holiday construction embargo in NYC from around Thanksgiving until after the New Year, during which cranes can't operate on city streets.
🏍 There's nothing like forgetting to renew your subscription to something and dying as a result. (It's step 3a in the product Quick Start guide, in case you were wondering.)
🔋 The future of warfare may come down to which side's batteries last longer 🤦♂️
Software and Programming
🛰 Many of you readers are in fairly light-polluted areas, but if you can get yourself away from enough ambient lighting, this website will provide you with the guidance to see an orbiting satellite without the need for any telescopes.
👩💻 Also from a recent edition of The Prepared: "If you’re promoting something in a typically male-dominated industry on Facebook, your ads will tend *not* to be served to women unless you specifically target them - something Facebook will then charge you a higher price for."
👥 So, um, someone went ahead and made MySpace again?
📹 These 25 video editing techniques have helped make the modern internet what it is today.
Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine
👄 Which animal has the stretchiest mouth?
☝ This family has no fingerprints. (Now that this article has been published, though, any potential crime benefits that may have conferred are gone.)
👩🚀 Could you make a space suit from duct tape?
🏖 Ever feel like you didn't get enough vacation during your vacation? Does time off feel like it's over the moment it's begun? Here's the science behind that.
Mapping, History, and Data Science
📼 Watch the rise and fall of Blockbuster across the United States on this animated map.
🛣 If you've been on a sufficiently long road trip in the last few years, you may have noticed that there are currently two different fonts being used on highway signs. This is the reason why.
🤔🗺 City Guesser drops you in a random city on Earth and asks, can you figure out where you are right now? (This definitely has Bourne Identity/CIA operative vibes, and is also VERY addictive once you start playing.)
🏃♀️ This Twitter thread about Strava's recently-released global heatmap is a reminder that not all data streams are created equal.
Events and Opportunities
I can think of no more compelling piece of evidence that “nature is healing” than the fact that there is more than one in-person event included in this edition’s Events section.
Sunday, 6/13 SciArt Synapse Virtual Mixer. The science, art, and tech communities come together again for the June edition of SciArt's monthly Synapse mixer. Join for a casual afternoon of cross-disciplinary networking and conversation, and enjoy an afternoon of meeting artists, scientists, technologists, and cross-disciplinary practitioners.
Monday, 6/14 Virtual Lunch Break with IndieBio NYC. Get a sneak peek into IndieBio New York’s Demo Day and meet the IndieBio NY team and others from the biotech scene. This casual mid-day break/networking event will let attendees get behind-the-scenes insights into the IndieBio program and discuss what trends are hot in biotech startup.
Tuesday, 6/15 Improving Human Health At All Life Stages. IndieBio NYC's third panel of startup founders looks at the teams creating solutions to improve human health at the very beginning of life, as well as building the infrastructure necessary to increase the human healthspan. This 1.5 hour-long event consists of startup pitches, Q & A with company CEOs, and virtual networking with the panelists.
Tuesday, 6/15 Biopharma Networking Group Meeting. The Massachusetts branch of the Biopharma Networking Group hosts the next virtual workshop and networking session, featuring Ken Sher, an Executive Coach and Career Consultant with 30-years’ experience leading and coaching individuals and managerial teams at companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Wednesday, 6/16 The Secret Science Club: Exploring the Shape of Life. Geometry is usually thought of as the mathematics of shapes, but it turns out it can have a pretty major impact in fields as far-flung as political science and immunology. At the next Secret Science Club, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg—the bestselling author of Shape and How Not to Be Wrong—embarks on a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us all think better about practically everything.
Thursday, 6/17 Nanotech NYC Nanonite. Nanotech NYC's casual meetups are back, and in person! Join the Nanotech NYC team at Washington Square Park in Manhattan. They'll be on the lawn between the fountain and the bathrooms, with a sign that says Nanotech NYC. Use this pin drop link to find them the day of the event: https://goo.gl/maps/mXDpGFY9z7kh86Fx9
Tuesday, 6/22 IndieBio New York Demo Day. The IndieBio New York Class Two founders started their companies in the midst of a global pandemic, determined to advance their technologies and business models in our post-COVID world. IndieBio NY is proud to present the advancements these companies have made in our Demo Day.
Friday, 6/25 Genspace Trivia Night Fundraiser. Join Genspace for a night of friendly — in person — competition! Come as a solo or a duo and be ready to test your trivia skills at Genspace’s first ever Trivia Night Fundraiser to kick off the summer, Brooklyn rooftop style. Enjoy food, drinks, raffle prizes, and fellowship while supporting the Genspace team to continue to provide the programming and initiatives they've nurtured over the last decade.
Map of the Month
🚇 This map of all New York's subway lines that never got built will definitely take at least a month to go through.
Odds & Ends
💩 I don't know what the purpose of this game is, or why it's called Poopy Piñata, but it is remarkably addictive.