I can attest - the Astera Residency is one of the coolest opportunities out there. You get: * A generous salary * Additional budget * Health insurance * Access to a compute cluster * To work out of an ultra-high talent density office * Possible follow-on funding If you’re

Is there an abundance policy wishlist/tracker somewhere?

We’re hiring! 🥳 The Arnold Ventures Criminal Justice team is hiring an Economic Policy & Innovation Fellow. This 2-year position will focus on applying insights about incentives and market forces, to identify innovative strategies that address public safety. Please RT!

Is there a good explanation for why Japan is so incredibly good in developmental biology research? First bi-maternal mouse Kaguya (2004), Yamanaka Factors (2006), first bi-paternal mouse (2023), most approved stem cell therapies. Can’t be a coincidence?

Great question! I have been encouraging philanthropists to support datasets, although we often need rapid iteration between computational and experimental researchers. See below for examples but I have a stack of unfunded and partially funded proposals – DM me if interested.

This is insanely hardcore

It has been a lot of fun building Renaissance Philanthropy over the last year. I really believe in the potential of philanthropy to solve important problems. And there is a lot of "dry powder" to do it: ~3,000 billionaires with ~$14 trillion but giving on average only ~1% of their net worth

Excited to launch @insilicopod — a new podcast exploring how AI is transforming science! I’ll be talking to scientists and researchers, as well as investors and policymakers, about the frontiers of Science: autonomous labs, AI-driven modelling, and more. Episode 1 is live👇

1/ Critics of high-skilled immigration say we already have enough STEM workers since many don't have STEM jobs. But they're counting patent lawyers, physicians, quants, tech execs, and teachers as STEM talent outside of STEM. With his math degree, that includes the new pope! 🧵

Share of income spent on necessities in the US, 1901 to 2023

This week on Complex Systems, an in-depth exploration of far UVC with Jacob Swett of Blueprint Biosecurity. Far UVC is an ultraviolet lighting technology which may be as important for infectious disease control as water treatment and food supply chain management before it.

(1/8) Harvard has more than 5,700 post-docs in the sciences, engineering, and health, and more across other disciplines. In general, about half are international researchers bringing their talents here. Here’s what *you* can do to help retain top research talent in our country.

Apparently still needs to be said: If we're trying to compete with China in advanced tech, this is *insane*. Even if this specific pause doesn't last long, every anti-international-student policy deters more top talent from choosing the US in years to come. Irreversible damage.

I think you could basically fix even the most dystopian suburbs by making the roads 1-lane and adding more trees The problem is mostly not the suburb, it's the execution

Glycol vapours can reduce airborne pathogen transmission by 90%. Now, that's from a 1945 study of bedridden children. But seems obviously valuable to replicate this work!

Chai's latest work is a big-deal breakthrough. Here is my non-biologist understanding: Proteins have complicated shapes in 3D, eg collagen is a triple helix. Each protein reacts or "binds" with other molecules that have a corresponding interlocking shape. (1/5)

Incredible news. Two houses cleared, signature of Gavin Newsom to come later this evening. This is the most impressive case of gubernatorial leadership I have ever seen.

Every single one of the 11 Meta superintelligence hires is an immigrant who did their undergrad abroad. 7 China, 1 India, 1 Australia, 1 UK, 1 South Africa. 8 are PhD or PhD dropouts in the US. Immigration is key to US AI innovation.