DNA Edges Forward As Data Storage Option


At technology conferences back in 2015, scientist David Markowitz raised the idea that DNA could be adapted as a data storage material. The audience response wasn’t all he had hoped for. “They would laugh me off the podium,” Markowitz recalls, but without rancor. Facing skepticism comes with his job at IARPA, the research arm of the U.S. intelligence community. The agency anticipates f... » read more

Startup Funding: November 2021


There's nothing virtual about the level of interest in AR/VR startups. As the concept of the 'metaverse' becomes more widespread with Nvidia's recent GTC announcements and Facebook's rebranding, investors poured money into startups with enabling technology for augmented, virtual, and extended reality. Most of those are developing waveguides and other display technology that is light enough to b... » read more

Startup Funding: March 2021


Self-driving vehicles revved up investors in March, with two companies receiving over $200M apiece as they prepare for their systems to enter mass production. One focuses on software for passenger vehicles, while the other is looking to autonomous trucks. Both of the companies received investment from automakers, with China's largest carmaker SAIC joining each of the funding rounds. It was also... » read more