Lifeboat Foundation

There’s no shortage of stories about young, hyper-successful entrepreneurs. From the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists to films like “The Social Network”, these stories offer an alluring blueprint for early success: dream huge, work hard, and soon enough you too can get filthy, tech-titan rich.

You’re less likely to hear the more common story: a young entrepreneur starts a new business, accrues debt, runs out of luck, gets demoralized and then, reluctantly, takes on a regular job. What explains the frequency of these crash-and-burn stories? It seems the problem doesn’t lie in the pursuit of entrepreneurism, but rather in the age at which entrepreneurs start launching businesses.

That’s the takeaway of a recent study that found the mean age for the 1-in-1,000 fastest growing new ventures to be 45 years. This finding held true across “high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and successful firm exits.” So, although conventional thinking tends to paint the young generation as uniquely creative innovators and (sorry in advance) Big Thinkers, it seems that older generations are more likely to possess traits that facilitate entrepreneurial success.

Bill Gates said he used to think leaders filled every minute of their days working toward success, until he saw Warren Buffett’s calendar.

Despite investing $100 billion in Bing, the search engine simply can’t compete with Google due to its monopoly position, says Satya Nadella.

He also touched upon the news of Google paying Apple to keep Google Search as the default search on iOS devices. Nadella questioned if Google would continue paying if it were the only player in the market. He also said that Apple was using Microsoft to “bid up the price” it received from Google.

Do you think Google would continue to pay Apple if there was no search competition? Why would they do that?

Satya Nadella also talked about Google’s dominance in the market saying, “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google”. He also told the Google lawyer that Microsoft is “competing against someone who has a 97% share”.

Australian researchers have developed a molecular-sized, more efficient version of a widely used electronic sensor, in a breakthrough that could bring widespread benefits.

Piezoresistors are commonly used to detect vibrations in electronics and automobiles, such as in smartphones for counting steps, and for airbag deployment in cars. They are also used in medical devices such as implantable pressure sensors, as well as in aviation and space travel.

Breakthrough in Piezoresistor Technology.

Aging is a major risk factor for most chronic conditions, evidence shows, yet much of current research focuses on addressing specific diseases. The new translational geroscience initiative at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) seeks to change that approach by studying the effects of aging on various ailments.

“Yale School of Medicine has a long legacy in studying aging, but with this new initiative we are bolstering our ability to delineate basic mechanisms of healthy and accelerated aging,” said Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of the Yale School of Medicine and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine.

The mechanisms underlying the aging process are often also driving the development and progression of chronic conditions, explains Thomas Gill, MD, Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and professor of epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, and of investigative medicine at YSM, who leads the Yale Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

Google Maps can now calculate rooftops’ solar potential, track air quality, and forecast pollen counts.

The platform recently launched a range of services like Solar API, which calculates weather patterns and pulls data from aerial imagery to help understand rooftops’ solar potential. The tool aims to help accelerate solar panel deployment by improving accuracy and reducing the number of site visits needed.

As seasonal allergies get worse every year, Pollen API shows updated information on the most common allergens in 65 countries by using a mix of machine learning and wind patterns. Similarly, Air Quality API provides detailed information on local air quality by utilizing data from multiple sources, like government monitoring stations, satellites, live traffic, and more, and can show areas affected by wildfires too.

“The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide extraordinary opportunities for multidisciplinary science for NASA and the scientific community,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a statement on Friday. (The heliosphere is the big bubble of magnetic fields and charged particles that the sun blows around itself. Beyond it lies interstellar space.)

“The agency decided that it was best to extend operations for New Horizons until the spacecraft exits the Kuiper Belt, which is expected in 2028 through 2029,” Fox added.

The world’s first artificial energy island has secured its environmental permit, so it’s now all systems go in Belgium.

Princess Elisabeth Island is a pioneering electricity grid at sea that’s going to connect offshore wind farms to the Belgian mainland and also serve as a hub for future interconnectors with the UK and Denmark.

Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia is the project’s developer, and obtaining the permit, which Elia applied for in January 2023, is a key milestone. Construction will take over two years, from March 2024 to August 2026.