Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
Feds dismantle Blue Origin and Dynetics protests of NASA’s SpaceX lunar lander award
Blue Origin and Dynetics are still steaming over NASA’s decision to award only one contract — to SpaceX — to build a Human Landing System for the Artemis program. Their protest of the decisi
OpenAI upgrades its natural language AI coder Codex and kicks off private beta
OpenAI has already made some big changes to Codex, the AI-powered coding assistant the company announced last month. The system now accepts commands in plain English and outputs live, working code, le
44.01 secures $5M to turn billions of tons of carbon dioxide to stone
Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions is an important goal, but another challenge awaits: lowering the levels of CO2 and other substances already in the atmosphere. One promising approach turns the
$100M donation powers decade-long moonshot to create solar satellites that beam power to Earth
It sounds like a plan concocted by a supervillain, if that villain’s dastardly end was to provide cheap, clean power all over the world: launch a set of three-kilometer-wide solar arrays that be
Australia’s v2Food aims to expand its plant-based meats to Europe and Asia with €45M raise
V2Food is one of many new contenders in the alternative protein space, founded in Australia but now setting its sights on Europe, Asia and beyond. It has a few key advantages over the competition, and
Oh, Facebook changed its privacy settings again
Ever considerate of its users, Facebook has determined that its privacy settings needed a bit of a shuffle to keep things clear and easy to find. To that end they’ve taken the “privacy set
Launchpad hiccups indefinitely delay Boeing’s troubled Starliner orbital test
Boeing’s Starliner capsule is leaving the launchpad after a series of delays that prevented takeoff over the last few days. NASA and the beleaguered aerospace giant will take “whatever tim
Planted raises another $21M to expand its growing plant-based meat empire (and add schnitzel)
Swiss alternative protein company Planted has raised its second round of the year, a CHF 19 million (about $21 million at present) “pre-B” fundraise that will help it continue its growth a
Craft Aerospace’s novel take on VTOL aircraft could upend local air travel
The aircraft — which is still in small-scale prototype form — uses a new VTOL technique that redirects the flow of air from its engines using flaps.
Algramo aims to cut plastic waste with a reusable container ecosystem and $8.5M A round
'People are deciding between their pocket or their planet,' said CEO José Manuel Moller. 'So we needed to be cheaper and better.'
Glyphic Biotechnologies raises $6M to accelerate protein sequencing by orders of magnitude
The whole human proteome may be free to browse thanks to DeepMind, but at the bleeding edge of biotech new proteins are made and tested every day, a complex and time-consuming process. Glyphic Biotech
DeepMind puts the entire human proteome online, as folded by AlphaFold
DeepMind and several research partners have released a database containing the 3D structures of nearly every protein in the human body, as computationally determined by the breakthrough protein foldin
FTC puts hardware makers on warning for potential ‘unlawful repair restrictions’
As phones and other consumer devices have gained feature after feature, they have also declined in how easily they can be repaired, with Apple at the head of this ignoble pack. The FTC has taken note,
Pivot Bio rakes in $430M round D as modified microbes prove their worth in agriculture
Pivot Bio makes fertilizer — but not directly. Its modified microorganisms are added to soil and they produce nitrogen that would otherwise have to be trucked in and dumped there. This biotech-power
Virgin Galactic president Mike Moses on what’s next for the company’s growing fleet
This last weekend featured the much-ballyhooed launch of Virgin Galactic’s first (nonpaying) passengers, with founder and CEO Richard Branson along for the ride. After the festivities, I had the
Researchers match DeepMind’s AlphaFold2 protein folding power with faster, freely available model
DeepMind stunned the biology world late last year when its AlphaFold2 AI model predicted the structure of proteins (a common and very difficult problem) so accurately that many declared the decades-ol
Facebook is shook, asks for removal of FTC Chair Khan from antitrust cases against it
Facebook has joined Amazon in a show of alarm at the sudden rise of antitrust hawk Lina Khan to the position of FTC Chair by asking that she be recused from all decisions relating to the company. The
Cutting out carbon emitters with bioengineering at XTC Global Finals on July 22
Bioengineering may soon provide compelling, low-carbon alternatives in industries where even the best methods produce significant emissions. Utilizing natural and engineered biological process has led
Virgin Galactic and Richard Branson celebrate launch of first passengers into space
Virgin Galactic has successfully taken its first passengers to space, including its billionaire founder Richard Branson. The event, at Spaceport America in New Mexico, was a field day for press and em
Watch as Virgin Galactic’s first passenger flight takes off with Richard Branson on board
Virgin Galactic is set to launch its first passengers to space tomorrow morning, and you can watch the whole thing right here. The launch is scheduled for 7:30 AM Pacific, with streaming festivities (