Two Links

[rcjordan]

Chinese ′space cleaner′ spotted grabbing and throwing away old satellite
https://www.dw.com/en/chinese-space-cleaner-spotted-grabbing-and-throwing-away-old-satellite/a-60658574

Elon Musk's promised Starlink terminals have reached Ukraine
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/28/22955339/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine-user-terminals-russia-invasion

[rcjordan]

World's first commercial sand battery begins energy storage in Finland
https://newatlas.com/energy/sand-battery-polar-night/


Switzerland's 20 million kWh water battery is now operational
https://interestingengineering.com/switzerlands-water-battery-operational

[rcjordan]

Babies from three people's DNA prevents hereditary disease

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8179z199vo



'Superbabies' Startup Seeks Funds for Controversial Gene Editing Push

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/superbabies-startup-seeks-funds-controversial-140038482.html

[ergophobe]

The headline makes it sound like *all* hereditary disease is prevented. I think that would be possible if the genes were identified.

What's cool about this is that it is only aimed at mitochondrial disease which means that the nuclear DNA is not edited in any way, so it's not quite the "designer baby" quandary you get there.

The second one, on the other hand seems dodgy makes me want to cry: "intended to eliminate inherited diseases or enhance desirable traits."

Setting aside what is and isn't a disease, I'm all for curing Huntington's Corea or ALS. It's the part in bold that makes me want to cry.

Our culture continually sends a signal every day, especially to young people: if you remember anything, remember this: you are not good enough.

[rcjordan]

> desirable traits

See "Khan Noonien Singh"

[ergophobe]

Ha ha! Or Gattaca.

[rcjordan]

#scisky #medsky #scifi

This makes Khan Noonien Singh happy...

Japan says researchers can make human embryos from stem cells | STAT

https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/japan-human-embryos-stem-cells-controversy-ethics/

[ergophobe]

Now we really are building Brave New World.