Nobel x2 | Fire Raft | Orbital Delivery - The Convo Kit #39

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll cover the accomplishments of powerful women in science, space, and tech each week. Today we revisit Marie Curie’s work, of which I’ve personally benefited from a few too many times.

-Steve

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Marie Curie

Blast from the past: If you’ve ever received an x-ray, you can thank French physicist Marie Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and only woman to win it in two different fields. She is responsible for the discovery of polonium and radium.

• Nobel Prizes: Physics (1903) + Chemistry (1911)

• Coined the term “radioactivity”

• Born in Warsaw, Poland

Marie’s work with radium compounds became the source for how we use radiation today. She died of leukemia caused by radiation in 1934 and her ashes are now enshrined in Paris’ Pantheon.

More information about Marie here.

Fire Raft

In the most stressful game of Twister ever, fire ants link together to survive flooding. If Antony doesn’t get “right mandible, red” quick enough, the whole colony could drown. 

• Flash floods prompt fire ants to build living rafts in under 100 seconds

• No communication or hierarchy is involved, they just build it

• “Treadmilling” allows some ants to patrol atop their friends

Being literally alive, the rafts can adapt and generate branches in search of land. Researchers at Georgia Tech are studying this coordination in hopes of passing on ant-logic to swarm robotics. 

More on the ants dance

Orbital Drop-Shipping

Shipping options: Ground, air, space. Inversion Space wants to store suitcase sized pods in orbit for instant delivery anywhere.

• The startup recently secured $10 million in funding

• Drop pods reach 25x the speed of sound before parachuting

• Could eventually host artificial organs and hospital equipment

The straight out of sci-fi business requires a few major technological improvements to become economical, but it’s possible. We can’t rule out a possible “30 minute delivery” option built into Amazon Prime as space becomes a commercial battleground.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...that thing you just ordered

8,000 Legs

Sure, you can hold your own against one spider, but what about hundreds? Anelosimus eximius coordinates hunts in colonies of up to one thousand spiders.

• Web colonies span several meters

• Spiders use vibrations to synchronize group attacks

• Occasional group pausing helps pinpoint struggling prey location

Coordinating attacks allows these spiders to take down much larger prey than they could solo. While colony coordination had been observed, University of Toulouse researchers were the first to determine the inner workings of this “web sight”.

Just a friendly neighborhood of spiders, man

Limoooo

The “American Dream” means different things to different people. To car enthusiasts, it’s the longest car in the world.

• 100 ft. long, seats 75

• Has a pool, jacuzzi, putting green, and helipad

• Powered by two V8 engines

The novelty car was almost entirely rebuilt from a rusted heap before being parked at a museum in Orlando, FL. A steering hinge was installed to navigate turns, but it’s currently retired from the road. Great timing for a vehicle whose gas mileage is likely measured in “miles per car length”.

Take a long look

1 More Thing

Cadipillar

Thank you for reading!

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Catch-up here: Jumbokaryote | Bulbabot | Nanotubes - The Convo Kit #38

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