TLDR 2021-12-20

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines are the future of the semiconductor industry. These tools are exclusively manufactured in the Netherlands by ASML and cost $180 million each. The machines are roughly 12 feet tall and weigh about 180 metric tons. This article provides a look into one of Intel's facilities, the development of EUV technology, and how the technology changes chip manufacturing.

TikTok Kitchens is a new campaign by TikTok and Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) that will bring TikTok foods to fans in the US. There will be 300 locations at launch, with plans to expand to around 1,000 locations by the end of 2022. TikTok Kitchens will run like a ghost kitchen service, using existing kitchens and employees but also providing training, food packaging, and TikTok-sourced recipes. The menu will rotate quarterly and will initially feature the viral baked feta pasta. Creators will receive credit for their dishes.

Scientists from biotechnology startup Cortical Labs have successfully taught a collection of human brain cells in a petri dish how to play Pong. The researchers created mini-brains of up to one million living human brain cells in a petri dish with a microelectrode array to analyze the neural activity. To play the game, the scientists sent a signal to one side of the array to indicate where the ball was, and the neurons would send signals back to move the paddle. The mini-brains were able to learn how to play the game in five minutes, faster than some AIs. Cortical Labs plans to use their findings to develop technology using live biological neurons integrated with traditional silicon computing.

Researchers from Singapore successfully placed a tardigrade in a state of quantum entanglement with a superconducting qubit. The tardigrade survived, despite the experiment and being subjected to temperatures just 0.01 degrees Celsius above absolute zero. This was the third time the scientists had attempted the experiment. The team hopes to entangle other lifeforms in the future.

React Native Skia brings the Skia Graphics Library to React Native. Skia is a graphics engine for many popular products, including Chrome OS and Android. React Native Skia features a declarative API available as a React Native Renderer and an imperative API backed by JSI that can be used to provide custom features.

fuite is a command-line tool for finding memory leaks in web apps. It runs scenarios against web pages through Puppeteer and looks for objects that leak. fuite can also be used via a JavaScript API. A 7-minute long tutorial video is available.

Brewster Kahle founded Alexa Internet and the Internet Archive on the same day in 1996. Alexa was acquired by Amazon in a deal worth $250 million and converted into an SEO service. Kahle still runs the Internet Archive, which now hosts an impressive 70-petabyte library of content. This article tells the story of how it all started, the problems Kahle has had to deal with as the owner of the Internet Archive, and Kahle's dream of building a digital Library of Alexandria.

A 50-second audio track generated from NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter as it flew past Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, was recently made available by the Southwest Research Institute. Juno carries an instrument that can tune into electric and magnetic radio waves, which researchers recorded and transformed into an audio track. Last year, researchers discovered that the clouds of Jupiter could, in theory, support life. The audio of Juno's Ganymede flyby is available in the article.