#Design Lab in Africa

[arc-hus]

Breathing Beach House, Marsa Alam, Egypt - Karm Architecture Lab

[jcmarchi]

From refugee to MIT graduate student

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/from-refugee-to-mit-graduate-student/

From refugee to MIT graduate student

Mlen-Too Wesley has faded memories of his early childhood in Liberia, but the sharpest one has shaped his life.

Wesley was 4 years old when he and his family boarded a military airplane to flee the West African nation. At the time, the country was embroiled in a 14-year civil war that killed approximately 200,000 people, displaced about 750,000, and starved countless more. When Wesley’s grandmother told him he would enjoy a meal during his flight, Wesley knew his fortune had changed. Yet, his first instinct was to offer his food to the people he left behind.

“I made a decision right then to come back,” Wesley says. “Even as I grew older and spent more time in the United States, I knew I wanted to contribute to Liberia’s future.”

Today, the 38-year-old is committed to empowering Liberians through economic growth. Wesley looked to the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) to achieve that goal. He examined issues such as micro-lending, state capture, and investment in health care in courses such as Foundations of Development Policy, Good Economics for Hard Times, and The Challenges of Global Poverty. Through case studies and research, Wesley discovered that economic incentives can encourage desired behaviors, curb corruption, and empower people.

“I couldn’t connect the dots”

Liberia is marred by corruption. According to Transparency International’s Corruptions Perception Index for 2023, Liberia scored 25 out of 100, with zero signifying the highest level of corruption. Yet, Wesley grew tired of textbooks and undergraduate professors saying that the status of Liberia and other African nations could be blamed entirely on corruption. Even worse, these sources gave Wesley the impression that nothing could be done to improve his native country. The sentiment frustrated him, he says.

“It struck me as flippant to attribute the challenges faced by billions of people to backward behaviors,” says Wesley. “There are several forces, internal and external, that have contributed to Liberia’s condition. If we really examine them, explore why things happened, and define the change we want, we can plot a way forward to a more prosperous future.”  

Driven to examine the economic, political, and social dynamics shaping his homeland and to fulfill his childhood promise, Wesley moved back to Africa in 2013. Over the next 10 years, he merged his interests in entrepreneurship, software development, and economics to better Liberia. He designed a forestry management platform that preserves Liberia’s natural resources, built an online queue for government hospitals to triage patients more effectively, and engineered data visualization tools to support renewable energy initiatives. Yet, to create the impact Wesley wanted, he needed to do more than collect data. He had to analyze and act on it in meaningful ways.

“I couldn’t connect the dots on why things are the way they are,” Wesley says.

“It wasn’t just an academic experience for me”

Wesley knew he needed to dive deeper into data science, and looked to the MicroMasters in DEDP program to help him connect the dots. Established in 2017 by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and MIT Open Learning, the MicroMasters in DEDP program is based on the Nobel Prize-winning work of MIT faculty members Esther Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, and Abhijit Banerjee, the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics. Duflo and Banerjee’s research provided an entirely new approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating antipoverty initiatives throughout the world.

The MicroMasters in DEDP program provided the framework Wesley had sought nearly 20 years ago as an undergraduate student. He learned about novel economic incentives that stymied corruption and promoted education.

“It wasn’t just an academic experience for me,” Wesley says. “The classes gave me the tools and the frameworks to analyze my own personal experiences.”

Wesley initially stumbled with the quantitative coursework. Having a demanding career, taking extension courses at another university, and being several years removed from college calculus courses took a toll on him. He had to retake some classes, especially Data Analysis for Social Scientists, several times before he could pass the proctored exam. His persistence paid off. Wesley earned his MicroMasters in DEDP credential in June 2023 and was also admitted into the MIT DEDP master’s program.

“The class twisted my brain in so many different ways,” Wesley says. “The fourth time taking Data Analysis, I began to understand it. I appreciate that MIT did not care that I did poorly on my first try. They cared that over time I understood the material.”

The program’s rigorous mathematics and statistics classes sparked in Wesley a passion for artificial intelligence, especially machine learning and natural language processing. Both provide more powerful ways to extract and interpret data, and Wesley has a special interest in mining qualitative sources for information. He plans to use these tools to compare national development plans over time and among different countries to determine if policymakers are recycling the same words and goals.

Once Wesley earns his master’s degree, he plans to return to Liberia and focus on international development. In the future, he hopes to lead a data-focused organization committed to improving the lives of people in Liberia and the United States.

“Thanks to MIT, I have the knowledge and tools to tackle real-world challenges that traditional economic models often overlook,” Wesley says.

[afrotumble]

Digital Matatus - Civic Data Design Lab

[andmaybegayer]

Rambling: So much of this is just like. It's all the money, you can't get around the money. Engineering is primarily a cost optimisation problem, so is business, where do you buy your parts, how much do you pay your labour. The companies can make equal quality goods cheaper in China because of the industrial base. Western workers don't want to work in manufacturing because it doesn't pay as much or as reliably as other jobs.

I like reading articles and watching videos about factories and a thing you find with a lot of American factories is they're often highly specific niche industries where they don't have much competition or they're really low volume where less intensive manufacturing processes still work or they have big military contracts that give them their base income. Really it's wild how every little engineering shop in the US requires base level security clearance because they make the cable harness for the Hornet or whatever. And crucially, crucially: they employ 100 people. Planning to work for one of these companies is like planning to be a pro baseball player but you make $35/hr.

I studied in South Africa, and I studied electrical engineering, but like. That was my fifth or sixth choice from a personal interest perspective? As a teenager I was really into biochem. I really wanted to work on like. Bioreactor stuff. South Africa has okay industrial chemistry but not that much biochem. So why would I go spend five years getting a biochem Masters and hope I could find a job at one of like six companies. It's a bad move! Once again, baseball player odds! Mostly if you're lucky you'll get to fuck around in a half-related field for a few years and then you'll wind up with some office job that you found because it turns out running tests on paint shearing isn't personally fulfilling enough to make you stay in a lab job.

Hell, even taking the Good Hiring Engineering Job market, it's a goddamn pain in the ass to find any actual engineering work. I applied to dozens of internship positions every semester at engineering firms and workshops and never so much as heard back, whereas I could go to the software job fairs and get two offers and several interviews for a vacation job in a couple weeks. You can swim upstream to get in there but even if you're willing to take the pay cut, engineering jobs are slow moving and slow hiring, and in small departments your professional progression is often gated behind someone retiring or dying.

A while ago someone (was this Reggie? sounds like him EDIT: YEP) was talking about how part of the reason why no one in the US for the past 20 years can do like, epitaxial growth optimisation isn't because there's some philosophical or educational divison, but because anyone committed and driven enough to spend months optimizing that would just put that energy and commitment into going into software or becoming a quant or some other higher yield option. Meanwhile if you're a driven and focussed ladder climber in China there's dozens of factories looking for someone to do exactly this. The people in the West who are so into this that they still do it are often in academia, not industry, and that's an even more competitive and impenetrable sector to get into. Getting a PhD grad job in academic chip manufacturing is miserable, it's basically a six year long interview process that costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars that has a 0.1% chance of panning out.

Actually, I did once do a factory internship, it was my only nepotism internship, at a construction materials factory where my dad was a manager, and it was really interesting work! I had a lot of freedom in a small engineering team and I spent a while understanding a bag filling machine and reading manuals and tuning the control process and talking to floor workers and designing sheet metal parts to improve their jobs. And when I talked to the engineer supervising me I found out he was on a six month contract that wasn't getting renewed and he would be leaving the company basically the same time my internship ended. That company hadn't hired a full-time process engineer in ages, and probably never would if they could avoid it. Not encouraging!

People often say you should get into the trades because they pay well and are material fulfilling work. This is like. It's an elision. Successful tradespeople are in very high demand, but becoming a successful tradesperson is very, very finicky. I worked with a lot of electricians and millwrights and technicians, and for every tech who was successful and running a roaring business there were five guys stuck in eternal apprenticeships or struggling to make a name for themselves in the industry on their own. Some trades are great for this, other trades are 90% training scams where you spend nine months and five thousand dollars on a course that gives you a certificate almost no one cares about.

Every now and then I talk to an installation tech I used to work with who has a bunch of CCTV and security certs he got in the DRC, and he is just absolutely struggling to get by. There's already enough successful companies to serve the demand, why would you take a risk on this fly-by-night? He could find a technical job, and he does, but it's a dead end, everyone wants a base technician forever, they don't want you to upskill and move on. They hire in an external electrician to come in for an hour sign off on your work, and that's all you need.

You can't develop an industrial base unless it's appealing to work in the industrial base. If you're an industrialising nation, the appeal is "It's not farm work and you might get some real money instead of a sack of barley" but in a modern society you need to pay at least as well as the office jobs. If your industrial sector is small it can afford to only hire the most qualified people because it's a labour buyer's market, and that's how you produce a massive knowledge gap.

[little-cereal-draws]

A ramble abt Dr. Blitzmeyer's clothes (pt 3)

Hello, I'm back on my bullshit >:) as if I was ever off

There is no point that I'm trying to make with this, I've just been staring at pictures of her for so long I thought of this

These are all different outfits but I'm grouping them together. This is concept art by Aidan Sugano from the art book. These were for the idea where Blitzmeyer worked at the Silver Society, a secret organization of scientists and other magical creatures who were against the Institute. In this idea, she also had a bunch of tattoos that glowed when she used magic. I think this idea is sick as fuck. Literally the coolest thing in the world. But in terms of her clothes, it's very asymmetrical and mimics a lot of Nimona's motifs. The hems in the clothes are on the organic grid that Nimona uses instead of the rigid, geometric grid of the Institute (they talk abt this earlier in the art book) and because her bottom half, whether it's a skirt or pants, is so baggy, it gives her that pear shape that Nimona has. She literally has the same highlights on her goggles as Nimona has in her eyes. They are using her clothes to characterize her as someone against the Institute, someone who has magical qualities, someone on Nimona's side. (Side note that's not abt clothes: Blitzmeyer also uses the organic S-curves that Nimona does instead of the Institute's geometric shapes - Ballister's a rectangle, Ambrosius' a triangle, and the Director's a diamond.)

In the second, third, and fifth sketches here, she's wearing harem pants. I think that these are too baggy for her experiments and would be a safety hazard so she probably wouldn't wear them to the lab; she takes her work too seriously for that. The designs on the fabric of the first two sketches reminded me of the patterns in African and Japanese textiles. (The first image below is a Zulu pattern from South Africa and the second image is from a Japanese kimono.) The pattern on the pants in the third sketch reminded me for the geometric patterns in Islamic art (third image below). The sash on the right in the fifth sketch, reminds me of ancient petroglyphs. (Forth image below, from the United States; it's so old, I couldn't find a specific culture to go with it.)

--

Drawn by Minkyu Lee. These are probably the most comic accurate outfits in the art book. Out of the two of them, I prefer the one on the right because the one on the left's hair reminds me of ice cream lol

Drawn by Minkyu Lee. I think besides the tattoo idea, these are my favorites. It still incorporates the punk-ness that would associate her with Nimona as well as staying true to the eccentric but smart nature of her comic character. I think these designs also do a good job of making something new but still being based in her comic outfit. Her lab coat here has the same collar and baggy sleeves as her casual outfit in the comic as well as the same black undershirt. The one on the right is a bit baggy for lab work but the one on the left is good. But I think the most important thing about this design is the goggles. The other designs have been missing it, I think bc it's hard to make her expressive that way, but it works so well here. It's an integral part of her comic design and you can't really have her character without them. I would love if they went with this design because I think it has everything it needs to read as her while still being new. Also I love how her hair looks here.

Drawn by Minkyu Lee. This one seems evil, cunning, and not science-y at all. It's giving Lady McBeth vibes lol

part one part two

[mariacallous]

Wars usually divide people, but Ukraine received overwhelming international sympathy after the full-scale Russian invasion. This was based on several factors. The unprovoked aggression made a moral stance obvious. Historically, too, Ukraine has never invaded or occupied any country. The many layers of the conflict garnered support on multiple fronts: sovereignty and independence; rule of law and human rights; nuclear and environmental threats; democracy against autocracy; and, in the end, the fact that it’s about an underdog stopping a superpower.

Ukraine’s foreign policy has traditionally focused narrowly on European and trans-Atlantic integration. But now that the country’s future depends on financial and military aid, Ukraine has—for the first time in its history—had to proactively engage with the rest of the world.

In June, more than 90 countries attended two days of talks in Switzerland at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—the so-called High-level Summit for Peace for Ukraine. It was the latest in a series of global meetings organized by Kyiv to rally support. There have been presidential and parliamentary delegation visits (including to Saudi Arabia and Argentina) and invitations for foreign leaders to come to Kyiv (such as the Indonesian president and a delegation of African leaders).

At those meetings, Kyiv has raised a range of issues: sanctions against Russia; providing ammunition (including both new technologies and requests from the states that used to receive aid from the Soviet Union and then Russia); votes in the United Nations; the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, designed to support shipments to countries in need from Ukrainian agricultural producers; and support on calls for Russia to be held accountable for war crimes.

For more than a year, my organization, the Public Interest Journalism Lab, has been inviting senior editors, intellectuals, and famous media personalities from more than 20 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to come to Ukraine. They have visited villages and grain terminals and talked to soldiers and war crime survivors, as well as Zelensky. Through this work, I have gained an insight into how thought leaders from many countries are thinking about this war; that feedback has, in turn, helped inform our evolving national strategy for winning hearts and minds around the world. After the initial full-scale invasion in February 2022, a majority of states supported the U.N. resolution calling for Russia to leave Ukrainian territory, with 141 votes in favor, 7 votes against, and 31 abstentions. We need to keep that broad base of support. Kyiv simply can’t afford for the war to become a globally divisive issue—even as Russia works to make it so.

Starting with the 2014 occupation of Crimea, the Kremlin has invested billions into anti-Ukrainian propaganda aimed at confusing Western audiences. Since its 2022 invasion, Moscow has refocused its tactics onto a divide-and-conquer strategy. With this in mind, Russian state media closed a few offices in the EU and the United States and opened more bureaus and outlets in the global south, including in South Africa, Kenya, and Brazil. To audiences in these countries, Russia portrays its war against Ukraine as a fight with the West, thereby challenging the idea that universal values and rules of law matter.

In combating this propaganda, Ukraine understands that there is no one message or one approach that will work across the world. In 2022, Zelenskyy introduced his “peace formula”—a 10-point plan intended to encourage countries to support the Ukrainian initiatives that they found most applicable to them, including nuclear safety, food security, and the return of prisoners and deported persons. This was intended to pave the way for those who wanted to stay away from direct military support or humanitarian initiatives by providing less contentious options.

At the Switzerland summit this June, the agenda focused on the least controversial initiatives— namely, nuclear energy and nuclear installations, global food security, the release of prisoners of war, and the return of the Ukrainian children deported to Russia—and each was in line with international law, including the U.N. Charter. Though China did not send a representative, and a few countries (such as Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia) did not sign the final communique, the majority of the 90 countries in attendance did. The next meeting may be hosted by Saudi Arabia later this year.

Outreach has become especially urgent given the state of Ukrainian stockpiles. The EU does not have enough capacity to manufacture weapons for itself, and recent debates in the U.S. Congress have shown that Ukraine cannot be that dependent on American supplies. (And that supplies are not, in any case, enough for all the U.S. allies around the world.)

So far, Ukraine has mainly relied on its post-Soviet types of weapons, obtained from the countries that used to receive or buy them from the Soviet Union, Russia, or Ukraine itself. Appropriate ammunition is available in Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, and some African states. Since the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and a few recently added members) won’t provide any weapons to Ukraine, the primary aim is to ensure that they do not help Russia either, as North Korea does. And recently, Ukraine reached out to South Korea and Japan for more advanced ammunition.

After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia in September 2023, Seoul has been looking not just at what Pyongyang gives to Moscow, but also what it may receive back. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office has said the rocket that hit the civilian city of Kharkiv—the second-largest Ukrainian city, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) away from the Russian border— on Jan. 2 was of North Korean origin. And the use of at least 21 more North Korean-made ballistic missiles, including three in the city of Kyiv and in the Kyiv region, has now been identified by that office.

Now that Ukraine is focusing on developing its own weapons capabilities, the hope is that the advanced South Korean defense sector may assist with knowledge and technology, even if it does not supply armaments.

Against this backdrop is the potential precedent that Russia’s war in Ukraine sets for China regarding Taiwan. Ukraine is aware that China is probably one of the countries that benefits from the stalemate between Russia and Ukraine: It has opened up access to cheap Russian gas, led to the annihilation of Russian and Western arsenals, and distracted Washington from Pacific power struggles. There may be people in Washington who dislike the idea of Ukraine giving Beijing any greater role in international diplomacy, but Ukraine cannot afford to ignore it—Beijing supplying weapons to Russia is a realistic nightmare for Kyiv.

In answering a question from a Chinese writer at an interview that I had the chance to facilitate, Zelensky noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping is one of the few global leaders to whom Russian President Vladimir Putin will listen to in discussions around avoiding nuclear escalation.

In Africa, Ukraine has opened seven new embassies since 2023, adding to the 10 already operating on the continent. Meanwhile, the Russian diplomatic service inherited a Soviet diplomatic infrastructure that included hundreds of embassies. Though Ukraine did maintain strong trade relations with North Africa following its independence, mainly due to geographic proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, the post-Soviet republics that regained independence amid catastrophic economic crises couldn’t dream of having comparable reach or even a presence anywhere from Tokyo to Delhi, or Nairobi to Kampala.

But though Ukraine will never be able to compete with Russia diplomatically, there is one way in which Ukraine has reached much of the world: food.

Until Russia blockaded Ukrainian ports in February 2022, thereby disrupting a major route for moving agricultural products, Ukrainians themselves didn’t fully comprehend how dependent so much of the world was on their exports. The World Economic Forum estimates that before 2022, Ukraine provided 10 percent of the world’s grains. The country also grows 15 percent of the world’s corn and 13 percent of its barley, alongside sunflower and other staple crops. In 2020, Ukraine was, for instance, the top supplier of wheat and rye to Indonesia; these are the base ingredients for instant noodles, a staple snack for the world’s fourth most populous country.

In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which eased the Russian blockade. The agreement allowed for a limited number of cargo ships to leave Odesa along a tightly controlled maritime corridor, subject to Russian inspections. Still, the agreement managed to let out more than 1,000 vessels to send at least 32.8 million metric tons of agriculture products.

It was at this point that Ukrainian leadership understood that there was something Ukraine could not just ask for, but offer. Ukraine also partially succeeded in explaining that food prices had climbed not because of the war in Ukraine, but because of the Russian blockade of the Ukrainian ports, and that—despite fighting for its life—the country was doing its best to continue to feed the world.

The Black Sea agreement was unilaterally broken by Moscow in the summer of 2023. Since then, Russian artillery has been constantly targeting Ukrainian agriculture infrastructure and ports. The Ukrainian message to agricultural consumers is that the liberation of the Black Sea and the Ukrainian south is the only way to return to cheaper commodities.

Appealing to concepts of universal justice and human rights is another important avenue for Ukraine to pursue internationally. As Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, said at an event that I organized in response to a question from a Nigerian editor, “when we understand that the international system doesn’t work, we must talk not just about ourselves, but about all the other war crimes, humanitarian crises, and tragedies of people around the world.”

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has registered more than 130,000 alleged war crimes committed by Russia. To prosecute senior Russian leaders, the country seeks global support to create an ad hoc Special International Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, which Ukrainian attorneys call “the mother of all crimes.” War crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are currently being investigated by Ukrainian law enforcement, as well as by the International Criminal Court (ICC). National prosecutors, overwhelmed by the scale of atrocities, are willing to pass even the most notorious and memorable cases to be investigated abroad under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

National prosecutors, overwhelmed by the scale of atrocities, are willing to pass even the most notorious and memorable cases to be investigated abroad under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

One example comes from an initiative that I am involved with devoted to war crime documentation, the Reckoning Project. A team from this organization, which includes Ukrainian and international members—including journalists and lawyers of Syrian origin—submitted a criminal complaint to the Argentinian Federal Judiciary in April to investigate torture against a Ukrainian citizen committed during the Russian occupation of Ukraine. (The Argentinian Constitution allows its courts, based on universal jurisdiction, to try international crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, irrespective of where they took place.)

Pragmatists warn that striving to promote human rights issues globally in such ways is naive. But my experience is that it feels the opposite when you talk to those who were oppressed in Iran, Nicaragua, or Syria. Talking to the survivors of war crimes left a powerful impression on correspondents from Asia, Latin America, and Africa who came to Ukraine with various interests and priorities. These conversations were particularly powerful because the journalists were able to relate by sharing stories about their own societies with the Ukrainian survivors.

A Nicaraguan reporter compared the suffering of a schoolteacher from the Kherson region who was held in Russian captivity to the torture that prisoners are subjected to in his native country. A Uruguayan editor wanted to learn how the proper documentation of human rights abuses could enable the delivery of justice in the case of still-ongoing trials of the Uruguayan junta for crimes committed in the 1970s.

With a human rights nongovernmental organization from South Korea, we discussed the possibility of working together on how to broaden the definition of sexual and gender-related violence in international laws, comparing offenses in Ukraine and North Korea. In Abuja, after a screening of a clip from a Reckoning Project film about the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, a Nigerian activist asked me to support her campaign to recover the girls stolen by Boko Haram who still remain in captivity.

During an interview with Asian journalists, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin himself raised the repeated accusation that Ukraine receives disproportionally more global attention than other global tragedies. “My way to respond is to say that we have the political ability to use any existing global platform which the government can access to investigate, and we are ready to share it,” he said.

Where else, if not here, can justice be served? Given the scale of the properly documented evidence accumulated by local and international media, the presence of investigators, and a relatively functional national law enforcement, what would be the meaning of those conventions if they cannot succeed in prosecutions in this case?

The warrant issued to Putin by the ICC for the deportation of the Ukrainian children in March 2023 was, if not an immediate game-changer, still likely the fastest-ever decision in ICC history. Ukraine wants to prove that even if the international treaties are impotent in preventing atrocities, there should be a more robust global response to prosecute perpetrators, so they do not enjoy full immunity—like the Russian army’s, which enabled it to master its gruesome practices in Chechnya, Georgia, and then in Syria before entering Bucha and Mariupol.

Still, the importance of the so-called rules-based order should not be confused with a framing of the war as a fight between democracy and dictatorship, which risks alienating much of the world.

Tensions must be navigated carefully. For Ukrainian officials, meeting their Taiwanese or Hong Kong counterparts would be impossible—they cannot afford to alienate Beijing. In such cases, Ukrainian civil society, and sometimes the opposition, takes the lead. In the summer of 2024, the major Ukrainian Human Rights Documentary Film Festival partnered with the Taiwan International Documentary Festival. Likewise, Ukrainian human rights defenders stay away from the officials in semi-authoritarian countries, leaving those relations to authorities.

In January 2023, Cambodia—which experienced the Khmer Rouge genocide and is one of the world’s most mined countries—offered to train professionals in Ukraine in humanitarian demining. Ukraine also maintains strong trade relations with Algeria.

Some of these interactions may look symbolic, but they challenge Russian attempts to claim that all not-fully-democratic countries back Moscow by default.

Ukrainians know how offensive it feels to be denied their agency in a situation in which the whole population stood up to invasion by its neighbor and former imperial ruler. But by now, Kyiv is learning not to push nations to choose a side, and not to treat votes in the U.N. as the only criteria for engagement. Members of the Non-Aligned Movement cherish that tradition, which has no connection to their take on a far-away war. It took time for Ukrainians to understand that some continents have not just anti-American, but also anti-European sentiments because of the horrors of colonial history.

After the Israel-Hamas war broke out in Gaza, a group of experts that worked on reaching out to the so-called global south—a term everybody dislikes but has not yet been replaced with a better alternative—gathered in Kyiv to discuss how Ukraine could navigate this newly polarized environment. Support for Israel outside of the United States and Western Europe may be seen as an attempt to please Washington, but Ukraine has its own historic relations with Israel. The Holocaust was partly committed on Ukrainian soil; many Israelis are immigrants from the territory of Ukraine. Hamas is supported by Iran, which also openly backs Moscow. At the same time, there will be other Ukrainians whose sympathy goes to the Palestinian people, whose land—like Ukraine—is occupied.

The ensuing discussion made it more obvious that invoking parallels to every tragedy may be inappropriate and counterproductive for Ukraine. Nonetheless, Ukrainians intuitively feel that their fate is bound to the rest of the globe and a common struggle for a better world. Global solidarity isn’t something that can be demanded; it must instead be inspired.

In the end, Ukraine does not expect foreigners to fight—it is Ukrainians who are paying the highest prices, with their own lives.

[justforbooks]

It did not seem like a good thing when a precious consignment of human tumour samples on its way from Kampala, Uganda, to Heathrow was diverted to Manchester. When the samples finally arrived at the Middlesex hospital in London, they were swimming in murky fluid in their vials as though they had been infected with bacteria.

But when the pathologist Anthony Epstein looked at the fluid under the microscope he saw no bacteria, just individual cells that had been shaken loose from the tumours. And that was just what he needed in order to search for elusive virus particles and test his hunch that they were causing cancer.

In the early 1960s Epstein, who has died aged 102, had heard a lecture by Denis Burkitt, an Irish surgeon working in Kampala, that described strange tumours (now known as Burkitt lymphoma) growing around the jaws of children in equatorial Africa.

Intriguingly, the geographical distribution of the condition seemed to depend on temperature and rainfall, suggesting a biological cause. Epstein, who had been working with viruses that cause cancer in chickens, immediately suspected a virus might be involved, perhaps in association with another tropical disease such as malaria.

Epstein began to collaborate with Burkitt, who supplied him with tumours from children he had treated. But Epstein’s efforts to grow pieces of tumour in the laboratory and isolate a virus had all been unsuccessful until the dissociated cells arrived.

With his graduate student Yvonne Barr, he then decided to look at cultures of these cells in an electron microscope, a powerful instrument that had only recently become available in his lab.

The very first image showed a tell-tale outline that looked like one of the family of herpes viruses. It turned out to be a previously undescribed member of that family, and was given the name Epstein-Barr virus. In 1964, Epstein, Barr and Epstein’s research assistant, Bert Achong, published the first evidence that cancer in humans could be caused by a virus – to be greeted by widespread scepticism even though they went on to demonstrate that EB virus caused tumours in monkeys.

Thanks to samples supplied by Epstein, in 1970 Werner and Gertrude Henle at the Children’s hospital in Philadelphia discovered that EB virus also caused glandular fever. That made it possible to design a test for antibodies to the virus in order to confirm a diagnosis. EB virus turned out to be very common, infecting most children in early life, though it usually causes glandular fever only in older teenagers and young adults. As well as causing Burkitt lymphoma in endemic areas in Africa and Papua New Guinea, it is also associated with a cancer of the nose and throat that is the most common cancer of men in south China, as well as cancers in people whose immune systems have been compromised, such as those infected with HIV.

More recent research suggests that EB virus might also be involved in some cases of multiple sclerosis, and that people who have previously had glandular fever are more susceptible to severe Covid-19.

After the discovery, Epstein and others devoted time and effort to trying to find out under what circumstances EB virus causes cancer. The relationship between the virus, other diseases, human genetics and cancer is complex, and it took decades before the medical community could accept the EB virus as a cause with confidence.

Not until 1997 did the International Agency for Research on Cancer class it as a Group 1 carcinogen, formally acknowledging its role in a variety of cancers.

The discovery of EB virus opened up a whole new field of research into cancer-causing viruses. It also raised the exciting possibility of preventing cancers through vaccination, an advance that has now been achieved in the case of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer, and hepatitis B virus, which causes liver cancer.

By the time of his retirement in 1985, Epstein’s research group at the University of Bristol had developed a candidate vaccine that protected monkeys infected with EB virus against tumours, but neither it nor any other candidate has yet been successfully developed for human use.

Epstein was born in London, one of three children of Olga (nee Oppenheimer) and Mortimer Epstein. Mortimer was a writer and translator who edited The Statesman’s Yearbook for Macmillan from 1924 until his death in 1946. Olga was involved with charitable work in the Jewish community. Anthony attended St Paul’s school in west London, where the biology teacher Sidney Pask encouraged boys to go far beyond the syllabus and whose pupils also included Robert Winston and Jonathan Miller.

Epstein won a place to study medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge. He moved to Middlesex hospital medical school in wartime London to complete his training, before doing his national service in India with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He returned to work at the Middlesex hospital as assistant pathologist, conducting his own research. Thinking electron microscopy might be useful in his studies of cancer-causing viruses in chickens, he spent some time learning the new technique at the Rockefeller Institute in New York (now Rockefeller University). Not long afterwards he attended Burkitt’s lecture and began the serendipitous route to his discovery.

In 1968 he was appointed professor and head of the department of pathology at the University of Bristol, where he remained until his retirement. He moved to Oxford as a fellow of Wolfson College in 1986, becoming an honorary fellow in 2001.

An exemplary scientific good citizen, he served as foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society, and sat on boards and councils for numerous national and international research organisations, including as a special representative of the director general of Unesco; he was also a patron of Humanists UK. Among his many prizes and honorary degrees, he received the international Gairdner award for biomedical research in 1988. He was appointed CBE in 1985 and knighted in 1991.

“It was a series of accidents, really,” he said of his discovery in a conversation with Burkitt they recorded for Oxford Brookes University’s oral history archive in 1991. “Lucky quirks.” Burkitt immediately responded with Louis Pasteur’s aphorism: “Chance favours the prepared mind.”

Epstein was a deeply cultured man who retained a lively interest in many subjects – particularly oriental rugs, Tibet and amphibians – until the end of his life.

He is survived by his partner, Kate Ward, by his children Susan, Simon and Michael, from his marriage to Lisbeth Knight, from whom he was separated in 1965, and who died in 2015, and by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

🔔Michael Anthony Epstein, pathologist, born 18 May 1921; died 6 February 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[radiantlyshiftingrebel]

Photonic Integrated Circuit Market 2033: Key Players, Segments, and Forecasts

Market Overview

The Global Photonic Integrated Circuit Market Size is Expected to Grow from USD 11.85 Billion in 2023 to USD 94.05 Billion by 2033, at a CAGR of 23.02% during the forecast period 2023-2033.  

Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) Market is witnessing transformative momentum, fueled by the global push towards faster, energy-efficient, and miniaturized optical components. As data demands soar and photonics become essential in telecom, AI, quantum computing, and biosensing, PICs are emerging as the nerve center of next-generation optical solutions. These chips integrate multiple photonic functions into a single chip, drastically improving performance and cost-efficiency.

Market Growth and Key Drivers

The market is set to grow at an exceptional pace, driven by:

Data Center Expansion: Surging internet traffic and cloud services are fueling PIC-based optical transceivers.

5G & Beyond: Demand for faster, low-latency communication is driving adoption in telecom infrastructure.

Quantum & AI Computing: PICs are critical to the advancement of light-based quantum circuits and high-speed AI processors.

Medical Diagnostics: Miniaturized photonic sensors are revolutionizing biomedical imaging and lab-on-chip diagnostics.

Defense & Aerospace: PICs provide enhanced signal processing and secure communication capabilities.

Get More Information: Click Here

Market Challenges

Despite strong potential, the PIC market faces several hurdles:

Fabrication Complexity: Advanced PICs demand high-precision manufacturing and integration techniques.

Standardization Issues: Lack of global standards slows down mass deployment and interoperability.

High Initial Investment: R&D and setup costs can be prohibitive, especially for SMEs and startups.

Thermal Management: Maintaining performance while managing heat in densely packed circuits remains a challenge.

Market Segmentation

By Component: Lasers, Modulators, Detectors, Multiplexers/Demultiplexers, Others

By Integration Type: Monolithic Integration, Hybrid Integration

By Material: Indium Phosphide (InP), Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI), Others

By Application: Optical Communication, Sensing, Biomedical, Quantum Computing, RF Signal Processing

By End User: Telecom, Healthcare, Data Centers, Aerospace & Defense, Academia

Regional Analysis

North America: Leading in R&D, startups, and federal defense contracts.

Europe: Home to silicon photonics innovation and academic-industrial collaboration.

Asia-Pacific: Witnessing rapid adoption due to telecom expansion and smart manufacturing in China, South Korea, and Japan.

Middle East & Africa: Emerging opportunities in smart city and surveillance tech.

Latin America: Gradual growth driven by increasing telecom and IoT penetration.

Competitive Landscape

Key players shaping the market include:

Intel Corporation

Cisco Systems

Infinera Corporation

NeoPhotonics

IBM

II-VI Incorporated

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Broadcom Inc.

GlobalFoundries

PhotonDelta (Europe-based accelerator)

Positioning and Strategies

Leading companies are focusing on:

Vertical Integration: Owning every stage from design to packaging for cost control and performance.

Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with telecom operators, hyperscalers, and research institutes.

Application-Specific Customization: Tailoring PICs for specific end-user applications (e.g., medical devices or LiDAR systems).

Global Fab Alliances: Leveraging cross-continental manufacturing capabilities for scale and speed.

Buy This Report Now: Click Here

Recent Developments

Intel unveiled a next-gen 200G PIC-based optical transceiver targeting AI data centers.

Infinera's XR optics platform is redefining network scaling with dynamic bandwidth allocation.

European Photonics Alliance launched an initiative to accelerate PIC adoption in SMEs.

Startups like Ayar Labs and Lightmatter raised significant VC funding to develop photonics-based computing solutions.

Trends and Innovation

Co-Packaged Optics (CPO): Integrating optics with switching ASICs for power and latency optimization.

Silicon Photonics: Scalable, CMOS-compatible manufacturing opening the doors to mass production.

Quantum Photonic Chips: Rapid R&D in quantum-safe communications and computing.

Edge Photonics: Enabling localized, high-speed data processing for Industry 4.0 and IoT applications.

AI-Powered Design: ML models used for photonic circuit simulation and optimization.

Related URLS: 

https://www.sphericalinsights.com/our-insights/antimicrobial-medical-textiles-market  https://www.sphericalinsights.com/our-insights/self-contained-breathing-apparatus-market  https://www.sphericalinsights.com/our-insights/ozone-generator-market-size  https://www.sphericalinsights.com/our-insights/agro-textile-market 

Opportunities

Telecom & Cloud Providers: Demand for next-gen, low-latency networks creates significant opportunities.

Healthcare Startups: PICs enable affordable, portable diagnostics, expanding precision medicine.

Defense & Security: High-performance signal processing and surveillance enhancements.

Automotive LiDAR: Integration of PICs into autonomous vehicle sensor suites.

Future Outlook

The Photonic Integrated Circuit Market is moving from research-focused innovation to mainstream commercial adoption. By 2030, PICs are expected to power a wide array of industries—fundamentally redefining computing, communication, and sensing systems. Standardization, improved design tools, and silicon photonics will be pivotal in unlocking scalable mass adoption.

Conclusion

As digital transformation becomes more photon-powered, Photonic Integrated Circuits stand at the frontier of high-speed, high-efficiency technology. For decision-makers, investors, startups, and policymakers, now is the moment to align strategies, fund innovation, and build the ecosystem that will define the photonic era.

About the Spherical Insights

Spherical Insights is a market research and consulting firm which provides actionable market research study, quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight especially designed for decision makers and aids ROI.

which is catering to different industry such as financial sectors, industrial sectors, government organizations, universities, non-profits and corporations. The company's mission is to work with businesses to achieve business objectives and maintain strategic improvements.

Contact Us:

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[ticklystuff]

hi im just rambling about my day (long post)

im sure most of you have heard of pcr by now. if you've used a covid test, especially during the early pandemic days, you've used pcr to confirm your results. i actually work with one of the inventors of pcr and i am currently on one of his projects. this man is so smart and creative and humble and everyone respects him so much. like this man is in your high school/college bio text books and his impact on diagnostics and healthcare cannot be understated. like none of us at this company would have jobs without his work LOL

but ya he announced his retirement a while ago and today was his last day (coincidentally it's also dna day) and so many ppl showed up for his last seminar and retirement party. ppl that have retired already and ppl that were laid off were invited if they wanted to congratulate him and say goodbye. it was nice bc i got to see a lot of old familiar faces and catch up and it felt like a giant family reunion

we also had ppl flying in from our other sites around the world. we mainly had ppl fly in from our main sites in germany, switzerland, and south africa, but there were a couple of others as well. this was cool bc i got to meet some ppl that i've only talked with through virtual meetings. one of them told me that i'm shorter than he thought i'd be asdlkfjsdalkjfkldsa

he gave a seminar on all his work throughout the years and the work he's currently doing and usually at the end of a seminar, ppl will have a "special thanks" page where they acknowledge all the ppl they've collaborated with throughout their work and he had a giant "special thanks" page for all the ppl he's worked with and everyone's name was in tiny font to save space but i managed to find my name aslkdjflk

i really wanted him to sign something and at first i was going to ask him to sign my lab notebook but i was afraid i might spill something gross on it so i printed out the first experiment i designed when he asked me to help him with his current project and i asked him to sign it and im gonna frame it LMAO

at the end of his seminar, he said the reason he's retiring a year early is because they're forcing us to convert to open desk LOL like everyone hates it and im so glad he said something about it

but ya in total there were more than 400 ppl that attended in person (a lot were watching virtually too) and im honestly so sad bc he's such a legend and a good resource when i needed help lol but we have a smaller department lunch with him monday. also im still going to keep working on his project, it's just my manager will be taking over as lead, so i'll probably still bother him bc this project is his baby

[firespirited]

Vesper 2022 aka Vesper Chronicles in french. 2/10 abysmal, truly abysmal except for a few plant designs.

I kept getting déjà vu, certain I'd seen this film before. I probably have seen every single dystopia cliché and the decor/colour grading was so familiar. I could have told you it was franco-belgian with a large influence from something eastern though wouldn't have guessed lithiuanian, I was thinking polish or serbian. Obviously it's unrelentingly grimdark.

Spoilers and spoilers for Prospect 2018 at the end. Readmore for long ramblings.

There are two not actually sexual assaults that are filmed as if they were. General worst of humanity instead of people working together type film. By the time we'd drudged through multiple tropes I really dislike, I hated everyone involved in this film except the girl and i hope they don't work again. Hateful film that will crush a bit of your inner spark.

// I get the impression a lot of the reviewers who'd seen this on netflix had not been exposed much to european cinema: it has all the grime and gore of a classic olden times tale with some interesting plants. Please go watch La Cité des Enfants Perdus which has an actual soul at the heart of the green grime. We have dozens of films and tv shows that look like this 'unique' world. //

The world building falls flat as soon as you consider anything concrete: the food must come from harvests but where, clothes must come from animals and looms but where? The plants are carnivorous but how are they alive if there's nothing to feed on. It's just fitting your worldbuilding to look cool for a plot device: lady's plane crashes, she's found being eaten by plants and it looks gnarly. Beyond that? Plot device for plot sake, circular logic.

I could list twenty other similar bad writing moments most of them for pivotal scenes.

The film takes the path of consistent suffering and bleakness until it's implied that the world might be different from now on.

I decided to watch this film blind after seeing it on a list of recent female directed films. I assumed it was american or british. Big mistake!

You can expect about 75% of certain european female writer directors to be 'one of the boys', leaning in to more gross out, ultra violence or sexual content. They are the type to sign polanski support letters and hire actors disgraced in the USA.

It's hard to describe in terms non western continental europeans will understand. It's empowerment feminism meets white feminism but stuck around 1968 not 2006 with sexual attitudes that embrace teens with adults, not sane and consensual bdsm, lots of long debunked Freud.

They make films even better than the boys for sure but it's not remotely feminist in both what is depicted and what is inflicted on the female viewer. You could say at least we get female protags but the 'empowerment' feels more shallow than the music video for The Prodigy's Smack (spoilers for a very nsfw video: it's a lesbianbro asshole not a dudebro asshole)

Some people thought the ending implies the protag goes on to great things and I have no idea where they got that from: no leverage, no lab, no family. She has started the spark that will change the world but she'll have to find a blood broker to see the next harvest. She would have been better off with a guardian than so alone so soon with nothing to sell except blood and her eventual womb.

The few women of colour and lesbians directing or writing tend to have quite different vibes or offset bleak realities with moments of joy. (look carefully for a photo before making assumptions: born in north africa/middle east doesn't mean they aren't white and even whiter in their gaze in films set in brown or black countries)

Gay directors tend to do grimdark or sad sack rich people... just with gay sex. Uh yeah I'm not a fan of most french cinema right now but then again, that's a view shared by quite a few actresses and women who just want 2 hours of escapism.

It reminded me a lot of Prospect 2018, except despite it's deeply bleak story Prospect ends with them both having a new family unit, reason to live and partner who'll watch their back. Vesper has no-one. This was a poorly thought through initial cool concept that decided to throw every gross concept and trope against the wall, add dose after dose of misery then act like there was a happy end.

Please watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the wind for biopunk with heart, careful plotting, a designed biosphere, violence and gross bugs but always for a purpose.

[kaijutegu]

Leroy Brown has been haunting me, so I looked into his backstory and it's wilder than you could possibly imagine.

Leroy Brown was about one pound when he was caught in 1973 in Lake Eufala, Alabama, by Tom Mann, who is absolutely legendary in the world of bass fishing. Instead of releasing or taking him home to eat, Mann decided he recognized a spark of something special in the fish, so he took him home and popped him in his backyard pond. Later, he moved the fish to a giant aquarium in his workshop. He was an aggressive fish, so he got named after the song. And Mann loved this fish. He trained him to jump through a hoop, he hand-fed him, he would talk about him to anybody. The fish became internationally known, with publicity in Russia, South Africa, Australia, and other countries.

Then, in 1980, the fish dies- probably of old age. So what to do? Have a funeral. Various sources say between 500 and 1,200 people came (there was a very large bass fishing tournament that weekend), and the local marching band was there to play "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" as the fish's tiny casket was lowered into his grave.

But then things got really wild. On the day of the funeral, it was eventually decided that the ground was too wet and muddy, so Mann put the fish and his casket (actually a satin-lined tackle box full of one dead fish and the lure he was caught with) in the freezer.

That night, somebody stole the dead fish and his tiny casket.

Seriously. This was not a taxidermy fish, this was just. Y'know. A dead fish, with all of the smells that entails.

Three weeks later, the tackle box turns up at the Tulsa, Oklahoma airport. A baggage handler found it, and it was decided that the box full of three-week-old decaying Leroy was too nasty to ship back to Alabama. The statue remained at Fish World, which is where the public could visit Leroy during his life, until 2005, when Tom Mann died and the facility was closed. (Fish World was like... a weird museum/facility to learn about bass fishing. Mann wasn't just an expert angler, he also designed some of the most popular lures that are still used in bass fishing, as well as the Humminbird depth finder- still the most popular depth finder brand on the market. So he had this workshop/lure lab there and people could come see his stuff but also learn about how to go bass fishing and how to do bass fishing as a sport.) The statue went to another bass fisherman, until the city of Eufala asked for it back in 2016. Now it sits prominently on Main Street, reminding everyone that most bass are just fish, but Leroy Brown was something special.

MOST BASS ARE JUST FISH BUT LEROY BROWN WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL

[jcmarchi]

D-Lab off-grid brooder saves chicks and money using locally manufactured thermal batteries

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/d-lab-off-grid-brooder-saves-chicks-and-money-using-locally-manufactured-thermal-batteries/

D-Lab off-grid brooder saves chicks and money using locally manufactured thermal batteries

MIT D-Lab students and instructors are improving the efficacy and economics of a brooder technology for newborn chicks that utilizes a practical, local resource: beeswax.

Developed through participatory design with agricultural partners in Cameroon, their Off-Grid Brooder is a solution aimed at improving the profitability of the African nation’s small- and medium-scale poultry farms. Since it is common for smallholders in places with poor electricity supply to tend open fires overnight to keep chicks warm, the invention might also let farmers catch up on their sleep.

“The target is eight hours. If farmers can sustain the warmth for eight hours, then they get to sleep,” says D-Lab instructor and former student Ahmad (Zak) Zakka SM ’23, who traveled to Cameroon in May to work on implementing brooder improvements tested at the D-Lab, along with D-Lab students, collaborators from African Solar Generation (ASG), and the African Diaspora Council of Switzerland – Branch Cameroon (CDAS–BC).

Poultry farming is heavily concentrated in lower- and middle-income countries, where it is an important component of rural economies and provides an inexpensive source of protein for residents. Raising chickens is fraught with economic risk, however, largely because it is hard for small-scale farmers to keep newborn chicks warm enough to survive (33 to 35 degrees Celsius, or 91 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on age). After the cost of feed, firewood used to heat the chick space is the biggest input for rural poultry farmers.

According to D-Lab researchers, an average smallholder in Cameroon using traditional brooding methods spends $17 per month on firewood, achieves a 10 percent profit margin, and experiences chick mortality that can be as high as a total loss due to overheating or insufficient heat. The Off-Grid Brooder is designed to replace open fires with inexpensive, renewable, and locally available beeswax — a phase-change material used to make thermal batteries.

ASG initially developed a brooder technology, the SolarBox, that used photovoltaic panels and electric batteries to power incandescent bulbs. While this provided effective heating, it was prohibitively expensive and difficult to maintain. In 2020, students from the D-Lab Energy class took on the challenge of reducing the cost and complexity of the SolarBox heating system to make it more accessible to small farmers in Cameroon. Through participatory design — a collaborative approach that involves all stakeholders in early stages of the design process — the team discovered a unique solution. Beeswax stored in a used glass container (such as a mayonnaise jar) is melted using a double boiler over a fire and then installed inside insulated brooder boxes alongside the chicks. As the beeswax cools and solidifies, it releases heat for several hours, keeping the brooder within the temperature range that chicks need to grow and develop. Farmers can then recharge the cooled wax batteries and repeat the process again and again. 

“The big challenge was how to get heat,” says D-Lab Research Scientist Daniel Sweeney, who, with Zakka, co-teaches two D-Lab classes, 2.651/EC.711 (Introduction to Energy in Global Development), and 2.652/EC.712 (Applications of Energy in Global Development). “Decoupling the heat supplied by biomass (wood) from the heat the chicks need at night in the brooder, that’s the core of the innovation here.”

D-Lab instructors, researchers, and students have tested and tuned the system with partners in Cameroon. A research box constructed during a D-Lab trip to Cameroon in January 2023 worked well, but was “very expensive to build,” Zakka says. “The research box was a proof of concept in the field. The next step was to figure out how to make it affordable,” he continues.

A new brooder box, made entirely of locally sourced recycled materials at 5 percent of the cost of the research prototype, was developed during D-Lab’s January 2024 trip to Cameroon. Designed and produced in collaboration with CDAS-BC, the new brooder is much more affordable, but its functionality still needs fine-tuning. From late-May through mid-June, the D-Lab team, led by Zakka, worked with Cameroonian collaborators to improve the system again. This time, they assessed the efficacy of using straw, a readily available and low-cost material, arranged in panels to insulate the brooder box.

The MIT team was hosted by CDAS-BC, including its president and founder Carole Erlemann Mengue and secretary and treasurer Kathrin Witschi, who operate an organic poultry farm in Afambassi, Cameroon. “The students will experiment with the box and try to improve the insulation of the box without neglecting that the chicks will need ventilation,” they say.

In addition, the CDAS-BC partners say that they hoped to explore increasing the number of chicks that the box can keep warm. “If the system could heat 500 to 1,000 chicks at a time,” they note, “it would help farmers save firewood, to sleep through the night, and to minimize the risk of fire in the building and the risk of stepping on chicks while replacing firewood.” 

Earlier this spring, Erlemann Mengue and Witschi tested the low-cost Off-Grid Brooder Box, which can hold 30 to 40 chicks in its current design.

“They were very interested in partnering with us to evaluate the technology. They are running the tests and doing a lot of technical measurement to track the temperature inside the brooder over time,” says Sweeney, adding that the CDAS-BC partners are amassing datasets that they send to the MIT D-Lab team. 

Sweeney and Zakka, along with PhD candidate Aly Kombargi, who worked on the research box in Cameroon last year, hope to not only improve the functionality of the Off-Grid Poultry Brooder but also broaden its use beyond Cameroon.

“The goal of our trip was to have a working prototype, and the goal since then has been to scale this up,” Kombargi says. “It’s absolutely scalable.”

Concurring that “the technology should work across developing countries in small-scale poultry sectors,” Zakka says this spring’s D-Lab trip included workshops for area poultry farmers to teach them about benefits of the Off-Grid Brooder and how to make their own. 

“I’m excited to see if we can get people excited about pushing this as a business … to see if they would build and sell it to other people in the community,” Zakka says.

Adds Sweeney, “This isn’t rocket science. If we have some guidance and some open-source information we could share, I’m pretty sure (farmers) could put them together on their own.”

Already, he says, partners identified through MIT’s networks in Zambia and Uganda are building their own brooders based on the D-Lab design.

MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), which supports research, innovation, and cross-disciplinary collaborations involving water and food systems, awarded the Off-Grid Brooder project a $25,000 research and development grant in 2022. The program is “pleased that the project’s approach was grounded in engagement with MIT students and community collaborators,” says Executive Director Renee Robins. “The participatory design process helped produce innovative prototypes that are already making positive impacts for smallholder poultry farmers.”

That process and the very real impact on communities in Cameroon is what draws students to the project and keeps them committed.

Sweeney says a recent D-Lab design review for the chick brooder highlighted that the project continued to attract the attention and curiosity of students who participated in earlier stages and still want to be involved.

“There’s something about this project. There’s this whole tribe of students that are still active on the broader project,” he says. “There’s something about it.”

[andmaybegayer]

My parents have installed an 8kWh battery backup because frankly it sucks not to have power 4-8 hours a day. Pretty much everyone in South Africa who can afford one is installing one! But it's really stupendously expensive and it makes me think about how ridiculous the people suggesting that grid scale storage is viable are.

Look. I don't think we will never be able to do grid scale storage. There's lots of promising new battery and capacitor technologies. I give it decent odds that in the next century someone will develop a battery that rivals kerosene for cost per kWh of storage. But whenever we talk about tools for solving climate change I feel like a lot of people forget that it's a pretty imminent problem!

If I told you "hey, I know you're looking at that Toyota Corolla so you can drive to work. Well, I'm working on a flying car. It's going to be so much faster, and it'll cost the same amount as a Toyota Corolla, and I'll have it ready in a few months. Look, I've got this tiny scale model to show you that it's on the way, please give me the money you were going to spend on the Toyota Corolla and I'll give you a flying car when it's ready." you would laugh at me. Every single engineering project comes in over budget and over time, if it's finished at all. Scale models are nothing when you need to solve big problems. Everyone understands this with bridges, why do they not get it with gridscale storage.

Every day some guy says "hey look we built a sodium battery pack it took our lab six months to build 100kWh worth but we totally promise that we'll have mass production down by 2025 please don't think about whether you are designing a future grid heavily dependent on fossil fuel baseloads we'll have huge batteries by then look there's the one in Australia it stores literally seconds worth of grid capacity." and I feel like I'm going insane.

This is not a technology that is "ready to go" this is the shit we make fun of when a university PR department claims they've cured cancer (in mouse cells (in a culture ( with additional marker proteins (and killed the healthy cells too whoops))))

All the current climate change targets are aiming for things in 2050 and it feels like gridscale storage gets used as an easy excuse for politicians who don't want to explain why they're making a grid that happens to be completely reliant on fossil fuels. They just go "oh we're investing in renewable technologies ;)" while sheepishly standing in front of the gas pipelines.

They might not even be industry shills! Some of them are but I think some of them are genuinely taken in by the renewables grift. They see the endless fields of wind farms when they visit the German countryside or whatever and think wow :) renewables really work :) we're going to fix climate change :) and have never understood an eqCO2/kWh value in their life.

People reporting on SMR and renewables say things like "Nuclear is too expensive and impractical compared to wind and solar which is why we're not investing in it" but that's only true if you believe you can run a grid on wind and solar alone! Otherwise you have to say the quiet "and hundreds of gas turbines with fuel storage on standby" part out loud.

[businessindustry]

At-Home Testing Market Global Opportunities, Size and Growth by 2025-2033

The Reports and Insights, a leading market research company, has recently releases report titled “At-Home Testing Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2025-2033.” The study provides a detailed analysis of the industry, including the global At-Home Testing Market share, size, trends, and growth forecasts. The report also includes competitor and regional analysis and highlights the latest advancements in the market.

Report Highlights:

How big is the At-Home Testing Market?

The global at-home testing market was valued at US$ 7,643.2 Million in 2023 and is expected to register a CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast period and reach US$ 11,358.5 Million in 2033.

What are At-Home Testing?                                                                                                                                             

At-home testing refers to medical or diagnostic tests that individuals can conduct independently, without the supervision of healthcare professionals or the need for a laboratory. These tests are designed to be convenient and accessible, offering quick results for monitoring various health conditions or parameters from the comfort of one's home. At-home testing kits cater to diverse needs such as screening for infectious diseases, managing chronic conditions like diabetes, assessing fertility, and detecting genetic predispositions. Technological advancements have improved the accuracy and reliability of these tests, making them increasingly favored for proactive health monitoring and early detection.

Request for a sample copy with detail analysis: https://www.reportsandinsights.com/sample-request/2349

What are the growth prospects and trends in the At-Home Testing industry?

The at-home testing market growth is driven by various factors and trends. The at-home testing market is growing rapidly, fueled by a rising consumer preference for convenient and accessible diagnostic solutions. These tests enable individuals to monitor their health independently, offering a broad range of applications including screening for infectious diseases, managing chronic conditions, evaluating fertility, and genetic testing. Advancements in technology have enhanced the accuracy, reliability, and user-friendliness of at-home testing kits, driving their popularity for proactive health monitoring and early detection. North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific are key regions driving market growth, characterized by competitive dynamics among established companies and ongoing innovations in test development and distribution. Hence, all these factors contribute to at-home testing market growth.

What is included in market segmentation?

The report has segmented the market into the following categories:

By Product

Digital Monitoring Instruments

Cassettes

Midstream

Strips

Cups

Dip Cards

Test Panels

Sample collection kits

Others

By Application

Blood Glucose Testing

Pregnancy & Fertility Testing

Cancer Testing

STD/ STI Testing

Testosterone

Drug Abuse Testing

Cholesterol Testing

Thyroid Testing

Others

North America

United States

Canada

Europe

Germany

United Kingdom

France

Italy

Spain

Russia

Poland

Benelux

Nordic

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

ASEAN

Australia & New Zealand

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Argentina

Middle East & Africa

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

United Arab Emirates

Israel

Rest of MEA

Who are the key players operating in the industry?

The report covers the major market players including:

Becton, Dickinson and Company

Abbott

ACCESS BIO

CELLTRION INC

Siemens Healthcare GmbH

ACON Laboratories Inc

ARKRAY, Inc, F

Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

OraSure Technologies Inc

Quest Diagnostics

Bionime Corporation

Btnx Inc

iHealth Labs Inc

InBios International, Inc. USA

Everlywell

LetsgetChecked

View Full Report: https://www.reportsandinsights.com/report/At-Home Testing-market

If you require any specific information that is not covered currently within the scope of the report, we will provide the same as a part of the customization.

About Us:

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[fanidharfoods]

Dehydrated Potato Flakes Manufacturer for Food Brands

Why Dehydrated Potato Flakes Are a Must-Have for Modern Food Brands In the fast-paced world of food manufacturing and processing, efficiency, shelf life, and consistency are crucial factors in product development. One ingredient that has gained significant popularity across both B2B and retail markets is dehydrated potato flakes. These lightweight, long-lasting flakes are widely used across diverse culinary applications — from instant foods to snacks and bakery products.

As a leading potato flakes processor in India, Fanidhar is proud to supply high-quality, hygienically processed dehydrated potato flakes that meet the demanding standards of global food industries. Here's why more brands are turning to potato flakes and why Fanidhar is the best potato flakes supplier for your needs.

🥔 What Makes Dehydrated Potato Flakes So Popular? Dehydrated potato flakes are made by cooking, mashing, and drying potatoes into flake form. The result is a lightweight, easy-to-store product that can be instantly rehydrated into mashed potatoes or blended into a wide variety of foods.

Key advantages of potato flakes include:

Long shelf life (up to 12 months or more)

Quick and easy preparation

No refrigeration needed

Versatile for food processing and culinary use

Low transportation cost due to reduced weight

Whether you’re creating a soup mix, extruded snacks, or instant meal kits, these flakes serve as a perfect base or thickener — enhancing texture and flavor while saving time.

🌍 Applications in Modern Food Production Potato flakes are no longer just a pantry item for home cooks. They play a critical role in the operations of:

Snack manufacturers (e.g., potato chips, aloo bhujia)

Bakeries (for breads, biscuits, and rolls)

Fast-food chains (as fillers or coatings)

Frozen food producers (for cutlets, patties, tikkis)

Soup and gravy manufacturers (as thickeners)

Their ability to blend seamlessly into wet and dry food formulations makes them indispensable in food innovation labs and industrial kitchens.

🏭 Why Choose Fanidhar as Your Potato Flakes Supplier? As one of the most reputable dehydrated potato flakes manufacturers in India, Fanidhar combines cutting-edge technology with time-tested quality control to ensure the finest flakes reach your production line.

Here’s what sets us apart:

✅ Modern Production Facilities – Equipped with automated lines and stringent hygiene controls ✅ Premium Raw Material – Sourced from dedicated farms with traceability ✅ Bulk Supply Capacity – Designed for both local B2B clients and international buyers ✅ Export Expertise – Handling logistics, documentation, and compliance for global shipping ✅ Custom Packaging – Options ranging from 5kg to 50kg and private labeling for retail brands

🌐 India’s Trusted Potato Flakes Exporter India is emerging as a major hub for agro-based exports, and Fanidhar is at the forefront as a reliable potato flakes exporter from India. We serve clients across:

Middle East

Southeast Asia

Europe

North America

Africa

Our in-house logistics team ensures prompt delivery, whether you're ordering full container loads or pilot batches for product testing. We also offer export-ready documentation, third-party inspections, and sample shipments.

📦 Bulk Potato Flakes for Export – Ready When You Are Looking for a scalable supply partner for bulk potato flakes for export? Fanidhar has the infrastructure and supply chain capacity to fulfill high-volume orders without compromising quality.

We offer:

Bulk bags and industrial packaging

Customized moisture content and flake size

Rapid turnaround time

Storage and rehydration guidelines

Our team works closely with buyers to ensure the flakes meet your application’s specific requirements, from texture to cooking behavior.

🌱 Commitment to Sustainability At Fanidhar, we don’t just manufacture — we innovate responsibly. Our potato flakes processing unit implements:

Water-saving technologies

Energy-efficient dryers

Waste reduction systems

Ethical sourcing from local farmers

This eco-conscious model has helped Fanidhar gain a reputation as not just a potato flakes processor in India, but as a brand that’s building a sustainable future in food.

🤝 Partner with Fanidhar – Your Growth Ally Whether you’re launching a new FMCG product or scaling up food production for export, Fanidhar offers the experience, infrastructure, and quality to power your success.

With industry-standard certifications (FSSAI, ISO, HACCP), customized support, and export-ready logistics, we are ready to become your long-term potato flakes partner.

Get in touch with us today to request a sample, receive pricing for bulk orders, or explore custom manufacturing partnerships.

Fanidhar – Where Quality Meets Innovation in Potato Flakes Manufacturing.

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Quantum Computing in Auto: Trends & Growth Outlook 2034

Quantum Computing in Automotive Market is on the cusp of a technological revolution. Forecasted to grow from $0.5 billion in 2024 to $9.8 billion by 2034, at an extraordinary CAGR of 34.7%, this market is redefining how automotive design, manufacturing, and operations are approached. Quantum computing’s unparalleled ability to solve complex problems in seconds — tasks that would take classical computers years — is transforming every facet of the industry, from vehicle design simulations to optimizing autonomous driving systems and battery efficiency in EVs. As automotive manufacturers face increasing pressure for speed, sustainability, and innovation, quantum solutions are rapidly moving from labs into strategic development.

Market Dynamics

The core drivers of this emerging market include the rising complexity of modern vehicles, the shift toward electrification and automation, and the relentless pursuit of faster, more energy-efficient innovation cycles. The simulation and optimization segments lead the market, accounting for a combined 75% of applications. Automotive companies are using quantum simulation to model vehicle aerodynamics and materials with microscopic precision, significantly reducing time-to-market. Optimization capabilities, particularly in supply chain logistics and traffic management, are reshaping operational efficiency.

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Material discovery also plays a critical role. Quantum computing allows researchers to simulate how new composites behave at the atomic level, supporting the creation of lightweight, strong, and sustainable automotive materials. However, despite the excitement, the market is constrained by high costs, technical complexity, and a lack of skilled quantum professionals.

Key Players Analysis

Pioneers in this field are not only quantum tech startups but also established automotive and tech leaders forging bold partnerships. Companies such as Rigetti Computing, IonQ, Zapata Computing, D-Wave Systems, and Quantum Machines are leading the development of quantum processors, algorithms, and integration platforms.

Meanwhile, automakers like Volkswagen, BMW, and Ford are partnering with quantum firms to explore optimization use cases and autonomous driving enhancements. Startups such as Multiverse Computing and Menten AI are gaining traction by tailoring quantum software specifically for automotive challenges. Emerging players like Quantum Drive Technologies, Qubit Automotive Solutions, and Auto Quanta Innovations are joining the ecosystem, focusing on niche solutions like battery modeling and quantum cybersecurity.

Regional Analysis

North America remains the dominant region, led by the United States, with robust public and private investments into quantum R&D. Automotive and quantum computing firms in Silicon Valley and Boston are at the center of collaboration. Canada, too, has carved out a leadership role, particularly in software development, through companies like Xanadu.

Europe follows closely. Germany, home to auto powerhouses like Volkswagen and Daimler, is using quantum computing for supply chain optimization and emissions modeling. The UK is leveraging quantum technologies for vehicle cybersecurity and AI integration, while France and Italy are expanding their national quantum initiatives to support automotive innovation.

Asia Pacific is emerging as a powerhouse in this space. China, Japan, and South Korea are investing heavily in both quantum infrastructure and automotive applications, particularly in autonomous driving and battery development. These nations are aiming to dominate next-generation vehicle technologies using quantum capabilities.

Latin America is beginning to invest in this market, with Brazil and Mexico exploring partnerships for manufacturing efficiency. The Middle East & Africa are in early stages but show promise, especially UAE, which is investing in smart mobility using quantum-enhanced systems.

Recent News & Developments

Recent developments underscore the market’s acceleration. Quantum companies are entering strategic alliances with automotive OEMs to develop proprietary quantum algorithms for autonomous driving and predictive maintenance. For example, BMW partnered with quantum computing startups for material simulation, while Volkswagen tested quantum-powered traffic management systems in Europe.

Pricing models are evolving. While initial adoption costs remain high due to R&D and infrastructure, subscription-based platforms are making quantum capabilities more accessible to mid-sized automotive players. Moreover, governments are ramping up regulatory frameworks and funding, recognizing the potential of quantum in critical industries.

Quantum cybersecurity is another hot area. With the rise of vehicle connectivity, automakers are exploring quantum-safe encryption to protect against future quantum-based cyber threats.

Browse Full Report :https://www.globalinsightservices.com/reports/quantum-computing-in-automotive-market/

Scope of the Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Quantum Computing in Automotive Market, covering applications such as vehicle design, autonomous driving, traffic management, supply chain optimization, and battery management. It offers a breakdown of components, technologies (from superconducting qubits to trapped ions), and deployment models (cloud, on-premise, hybrid). Market segmentation spans OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, tech providers, and research institutions, giving a complete picture of how quantum is shaping the automotive landscape.

As automotive brands increasingly embrace digital transformation, quantum computing is expected to play a foundational role in the coming decade, unlocking new levels of performance, efficiency, and sustainability.

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