DTN 113: The Rare Earth Cold War

“The beauty of industrial investments is that they touch things people think are difficult. As such, they're much more defensible, especially in the age of agentic AI systems further lowering the barrier to the production of purely digital goods and services.”

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A new cold war is brewing over rare earth minerals

“The future of everything from smartphones, to military equipment, to electric vehicles hangs on 17 rare earth minerals and the magnets that they’re made into. And China, the world’s largest refiner and producer, is tightening its grip and threatening the US’ largest automakers.

Over the last 30 years, China has methodically cornered the market on mining and refining rare earth minerals, which are used to produce a variety of common items like passenger vehicles and everyday electronics. In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive trade war, China is leveraging its position as the world’s largest producer, at the expense of the American auto industry.”

The Verge

KJ Muldoon, a baby treated with a personalized gene-editing drug, relaxes with his parents and siblings.

Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully treated a baby, KJ Muldoon, with the world’s first personalized gene-editing drug designed to correct a deadly metabolic disorder caused by a single DNA mutation. The experimental therapy, developed in just seven months, used a cutting-edge technique called base editing to precisely rewrite a single DNA letter. The case highlights both the transformative potential of personalized gene editing and the challenges of making such treatments scalable and economically viable. (via MIT Technology Review)