Overview
Today’s highlights run from vine-inspired robots that cradle heavy, fragile objects, to coding agents that live in your browser or on your phone. There is a candid look at Google’s AI choices, John Carmack on work and sleep, chips behind Starlink’s reach, a jaw-dropping Earthrise, and the map that makes Mexico look new again. Nature shows both a grinning lava vent and New York’s first snow, while F1 welcomes a fintech badge.
The big picture
Vines teach robots a gentler grip
MIT’s loop-closure grasping turns an open inflatable “vine” into a closed sling, so a single soft gripper can snake around clutter, cinch with low pressure, and hoist objects from watermelons to a 6.8 kg kettlebell, even a 74 kg human, without crushing. The Science Advances work prioritises tensile strength over stiffness and points to safer handling in elder care and agriculture.
Coding, with agents in your pocket and browser
Ami races through a live frontend build in under a minute, with chat-driven code, live previews, visual edits, and a VSCode-style IDE that routes to top models. Boris Cherny explains how Claude Code raised productivity and why “side quests” speed growth. Yam Peleg shows a phone-first setup that wires Claude to WhatsApp, voice notes, and a real browser session, proving you can ship from a handset.
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Sergey Brin on Google’s AI hits and misses
Brin says Google underinvested in turning the Transformer paper into products, which let OpenAI sprint ahead, while calling TPU bets and Google Cloud scale the right moves. It is a clear reminder that research wins need timely product follow-through.
John Carmack on hours, output, and sleep
Carmack describes decades of 60-hour weeks with strict sleep, arguing output still rises beyond eight hours up to a point, though he avoids all-nighters. Studies remain mixed, so the right cadence depends on the work and the team.
The chips behind Starlink’s reach
STMicroelectronics marks a decade co-designing BiCMOS custom chips with SpaceX for Starlink user terminals, with billions of parts shipped to support a fast-growing constellation and user base.
Earthrise, for real
HD footage from Japan’s Kaguya orbiter shows Earth rising over the Moon’s limb, recorded in 2008 by JAXA and NHK. Stabilised, time-compressed video makes the slow orbital geometry visible, a quiet rebuttal to tired sceptic claims.
From e-waste to map sense
A quick clip shows PCBs shredded as the first step in recycling, a route to recover copper and trace gold, usually followed by hydrometallurgy for high yields. Another animation drags Mexico across the globe to correct Mercator distortions and our size intuition.
A smiling volcano, and New York’s first snow
Kīlauea’s lava forms a grinning face, a neat case of pareidolia amid active vents and recent fountains. In Central Park, the season’s first measurable snow brings postcard scenes alongside tricky roads and incident reports.
Audi Revolut enters F1
Audi’s works team unveils its official identity with Revolut as title sponsor, ahead of the 2026 debut. It underlines how fintech is planting flags in global sport.
The “surgical light” clip that is really an AI edit
Despite the caption, the viral video shows a man gliding through TV worlds with smooth transitions made by modern AI video tools, prompting viewers to list shows and swap favourites.
Why it matters
Soft robotics is maturing from lab demos to human-scale lifts. By swapping brute force for tensile loops, robots can work near people, fruit, and glass without harm. That opens doors in hospitals, farms, and warehouses where safety is non-negotiable.
Coding agents are moving from novelty to workflow. Fast browser builds, phone-first setups, and agentic IDEs hint at a near future where engineers orchestrate systems, review diffs, and set goals, while agents handle boilerplate. Guardrails, observability, and security will decide who trusts them in production.
Google’s story is a lesson in timing. Deep infrastructure is a moat, but product momentum compounds. Companies that turn papers into products quickly, then iterate in public, tend to set the pace.
Work hours still need context. Some missions call for sustained pushes, others gain more from rest. The best leaders set rhythms that fit the problem, protect sleep, and avoid burn-out spirals.
Satcom supply chains are strategic. Custom silicon aligned with launch cadence and ground hardware translates into coverage, latency, and resilience that rural users and crisis zones now depend on.
Earthrise, a smiling vent, and fresh snow all do the same job, they reset our sense of scale. Shared awe is a potent on-ramp to science literacy.
E-waste clips and “true size” maps nudge practical literacy. Knowing where the copper is and why Mexico looks smaller on a wall map helps citizens and policymakers make better calls on recycling, trade, and education.
Sport and finance keep crossing paths. Big sponsorships shape team budgets and tech roadmaps, while fintechs trade global reach for brand equity on the grid.
