Tuesday 11th March 2025

How close are scientists to producing artificial blood?

Synthetic blood, which is still being studied, is a completely man-made substitute and does not contain human cells. These engineered molecules mimic the function of blood cells by transporting oxygen. It is designed mainly for emergency use or military medicine, where immediate oxygen delivery is needed but matching blood types is difficult.

​In 2013, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a US government agency, reported that the chemical materials required to produce one unit of lab-grown blood cost more than $90,000. Through advances in production methods, this cost has now been reduced to less than $5,000 per unit. By comparison, hospitals in the US paid an average of $215 per unit of donated red blood cells in 2019.

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The cheapest way to supercharge America’s power grid - MIT Technology Review (No paywall)

Advanced transmission technologies could sidestep permitting challenges and clear the bottleneck holding up hundreds of gigawatts’ worth of renewable-energy projects.

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How Gen AI Could Change the Value of Expertise

In the near future, gen AI is likely to affect some 50 million jobs, automating away elements of some jobs and augmenting workers’ abilities in others. The extent of those changes will compel companies to reshape their organizational structures and rethink their talent management strategies in profound ways, with implications that will affect not only for industries but also individuals and society. Critically, traditional learning curves for jobs will be redrawn, creating new paradigms for skill acquisition and career advancement. This shift demands a fundamental rethinking of how businesses approach talent management and how individuals navigate their careers.

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Trump Targeting Law Firms Raises Constitutional Concerns

President Donald Trump's executive orders terminating security clearances and taking other actions against two prominent law firms may violate constitutional protections and represent exceptional acts of retribution against lawyers who have crossed him in the past, according to legal experts.

The two firms targeted by the Republican president have represented Trump adversaries. Perkins Coie represented the campaign of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in his first presidential run. Covington & Burling currently represents Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed during Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration who brought criminal charges against Trump in two cases.


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Health Secretary to Meet With Major Food Brand Executives

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to meet with senior executives from leading food companies like General Mills and PepsiCo on March 10, Politico reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The idea of such a meeting was first seeded among industry players in February led by the Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food companies, alcoholic beverage companies and others, the report said.


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Inflation Data Test May Rock Unsteady Stock Market

A critical inflation report in the coming week could further rattle an increasingly tumultuous U.S. stock market, with investors worried about an economic growth slowdown and President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Despite a gain on Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 marked its worst week in six months. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite on Thursday ended down more than 10 percent from its December all-time closing high, confirming it has been in a correction for several months.


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Feeling Overwhelmed? Start With the 5 Basic Human Needs

Back in 2019, Trump adviser Steve Bannon laid out their strategy for advancing their policy goals. "All we have to do is flood the zone," he told Frontline. "Every day we hit them with three things. … Bang, bang, bang." 

Add to that the resulting business uncertainties entrepreneurs have to cope with, as well as the usual stresses of 21st century adulthood, and you have an almost perfect recipe for feeling overwhelmed. 


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A New Study Says People Who Make Decisions Like This Wind Up Happier in the End

Running a business? No matter what industry or what size, I'll bet you make more decisions each morning than many other people make in a week. So how can you make decisions you're less likely to regret? Even if they go wrong?

Writing in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, professors at Cornell University reported on a study they did about decision making that offers great guidance on this. They wanted to determine whether people feel worse about bad decisions they've made on their own, or bad decisions that they made after taking someone else's advice.


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Why Workday's CEO Made a Tough Layoff Decision to Invest in AI

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I'm Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. 

During December 2024, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach and his leadership team, including co-founder and executive chairman Aneel Bhusri, arrived at a big decision: The software company would restructure itself to free up operating dollars for investment opportunities tied to artificial intelligence. The move would involve shedding hundreds of jobs, marking the biggest layoff in the company's history.  


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Google Says Its New 'AI Mode' Will Help You Find Better, Deeper Information

Google has announced plans to expand generative AI's presence in its search services with the launch of an experimental new chatbot, designed to help users "access more breadth and depth of information than a traditional search on Google," according to a blog post announcing the new product. The company also announced updates to its controversial AI overviews, which provide a brief snapshot of key information related to a given Google search.

The company has launched 'AI Mode,' an alternative to its traditional search interface. Unlike the default version of Google, AI Mode functions like a chatbot. Users can ask the chatbot a question, and the chatbot will use Google to search the web for information in order to quickly deliver an answer, complete with cited sources and links. 


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