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Mining isnt known for innovation. For more than a century, weve extracted copper using the same process: dig, crush, grind, leach, repeat. Meanwhile, demand has exploded, fueled by EVs, AI infrastructure, and the energy transition. That mismatch has created a bottleneck. Were using yesterdays tools to power tomorrows economy. The conductive highway Copper is the metal that moves energy. Literally, electrons dont travel from solar panels to batteriesor from your laptop charger to the cloudwithout it. Copper is the conductive highway that keeps the worlds electrons flowing. Its in every EV, every wind turbine, and every data center. Its also in short supply. Weve mined the easy stuff. Now were left with lower-quality ores, deeper deposits, and rising costsjust as demand hits historic highs. And when the global economy is built on electrons, copper is no longer just a commodity. Its a strategic resource, central to national security, electrification, and economic stability. Global copper demand is projected to reach 50 million metric tonnes annually by 2035double todays levels. According to BloombergNEF, the world needs over $2 trillion in mining investment by 2050 to meet electrification targets. Meanwhile, ore grades have declined more than 40% since 1990. Investors are watching this gap, and innovation must step in. Innovative microbes But something big is happening underground. And I mean that literallywhere the cool rocks are and things get interesting. As a scientist, I spent years working on astrobiology, cloud platforms, and energy systems. Ive seen how cross-disciplinary thinking can unlock entire industries. Today, I lead a team using engineered microbes to recover copper from ore that conventional mining leaves behind. It sounds unusual, and it is. But thats the point. Innovation in mining doesn’t come from fitting init comes from standing out. Mining is a deeply conservative industry, and for good reason. Even small changes carry massive financial and operational risks when your tools move millions of tons of earth. But thats also what makes this moment so powerful: When something new works, it really matters, especially when it can be plugged into existing infrastructure without requiring entirely new capital build-outs. Juice from a rock At Endolith, we recently completed testing with BHP, one of the worlds largest mining companies, through their Think & Act Differently (TAD) BioMetals innovation program. Our microbes were tested under simulated field conditions on a low-grade primary sulfide orea material so complex most operators consider it uneconomic to process. In one study, microbes shaped through adaptive laboratory evolution and guided by AI recovered up to 80% more copper from this material. Thats like squeezing juice from a rockand getting nearly twice as much. And this wasnt just a lab trick. These microbes work in real mining environments. They dont need clean rooms or perfect conditions. They need oxygen, acidity, and timeconditions already present in heap leach operations worldwide. We didnt reimagine the entire mine. We made the part most people had written off valuable again, making it cheaper, cleaner, and easier to operate. By using microbes that require no expensive reagents or intensive energy inputs, were cutting both capital expenditures and operating expenses, making recovery from low-grade ore economically viable again. Leapfrog technologies Heres why that matters. Ore grades are falling. Permitting timelines stretch for decades. Investors and regulators demand lower impact, higher performance, and real ESG outcomes. Mining companies know the status quo is unsustainable, but risk makes experimentation difficult. Most “sustainable mining” efforts rely on incremental gains: better water management, slightly lower emissions, and somewhat faster recovery. Important? Yes. Transformative? Not even close. We need leapfrog technologiesnew tools that unlock value, speed, and sustainability together. Biology is one of those tools, and right now, its underused. Biology belongs in the core toolkit of modern extraction. CRISPR for rocks Industrial biotechnology has already transformed medicine and agriculture, unlocking precision, efficiency, and resilience at scale. Its time for mining to catch up. Think of this as CRISPR for rocks. Instead of blasting ore with chemicals, we let microbes do the work. They break down rock, extract metals, and leave far less waste behind. With help from cloud-based systems, we can tune that process in real time, adjusting to changes in temperature, pH, or ore composition. Similar biological platforms could be applied to rare earths, lithium, and other minerals critical to the clean energy economy. The opportunity here is massivenot just for Endolith but for a new generation of industrial innovators focused on extraction rather than consumption. As governments prioritize mineral independence and ESG compliance, scalable bio-based solutions are becoming essential to securing the future of energy, technology, and defense. Scaling this kind of innovation takes more than strong results. It takes strong partnerships between startups and majors, scientists and operators, and regulators and entrepreneurs. We found that with BHP and the TAD team. They gave us a shot. We delivered. And now were working with others to bring this to production. But scaling also requires trust in the science, in the process, and in the promise of doing things differently. It means rethinking how we define innovation in mining and giving ourselves permission to imagine something beyond the current constraints. A systems problem People tend to talk about clean tech and hard tech as if theyre separate. EVs go in one box, mining goes in another. But thats a false split. There is no clean energy without minerals, no electrification without copper, and no scalable, sustainable supply without reimagining how we recover it. This is a systems problem, and it requires systems thinking. That reimagining wont come from status quo thinking. Itll come from radical collaborationand from being brave enough to try something different underground. Itll come from leaders willing to back bold science and turn pilot results into platform change. Heres the thing: I used to study how life evolved on Earth billions of years ago. The most extraordinary life forms Ive worked with? Theyre here on Earth today. Deep in the rocks, quietly solving problems we’ve struggled with for decades. So, if you want to power the future, start by listening to the ground and the weird, wonderful microbes doing the heavy lifting. In a world racing toward electrification, these tiny organisms just might be our biggest asset.
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Three years after its launch, Perplexity is still struggling to break through. A major hardware deal could change that. On Sunday, Bloomberg reported that Samsung is in talks to integrate Perplexitys search technology into its devices. The deal would not only preload the Perplexity app onto Samsung phones, but also embed its search features directly into Samsungs web browser and virtual assistant, Bixby. Back in 2023, Perplexity looked like a frontrunner in AI searchbeating OpenAI and Google to the punch in crawling the live web. But the tech giants have since caught up, with ChatGPT and Gemini now offering similar capabilities. Could a high-profile partnership with Samsung be the boost Perplexity needs to reclaim its edge? Can Perplexity find a home? In its current form, Perplexity exists in a functional silo. The answer engine is primarily accessed through its stand-alone website or app, with no natural integration into users daily workflows. In other words, people have to seek it out. Now that its web-crawling technology is being replicated across competing chatbots, some users may no longer see a reason to choose Perplexity on its own. Its main value proposition under the Pro subscription is access to other companies LLMs, like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5. (Perplexity declined to comment for this story.) Integrating a chatbot into the users workflow is key to driving engagement. Google has embedded Gemini across nearly all of its products, from search to email. As a result, the Gemini app now boasts 400 million-plus monthly active users. Meta has taken an even more aggressive approach, integrating its AI into social apps and placing Meta AI above search. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta AI now has more than 1 billion monthly active users. Other AI companies are embedding their models more subtly. While Apples Siri can now access ChatGPT, OpenAIs greatest reach comes from LLM licensing. Users dont just interact with GPT through ChatGPT, theyre engaging with it across dozens of third-party apps built on its technology. The same is true for Anthropic, which also licenses its models. Perplexity, by contrast, has limited back-end integrations via its API, and for the average user, encounters with its tech are still rare. Thats why a deal with Samsung would be a major step forward. A hardware integration would give Perplexity a critical new point of access. Meanwhile, Samsung has invested heavily in its Galaxy AI suite. Gemini is currently the default AI assistant for Samsung’s 1 billion-plus smartphone usersraising questions of whether Perplexity will displace or work alongside Google’s chatbot. (Samsung did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.) Perplexitys position in the AI race Perplexity is still growing. While the company doesnt disclose revenue or user numbers, it claims users now generate more than 650 million queries per monthup from 400 million less than a year ago. Although some reports suggest that Perplexitys growth has come at a high cost, the company disputes those figures. Still, Perplexity has a lot to prove. It reached unicorn status in 2024 after raising $62.7 million at a $1.04 billion valuation. That valuation has reportedly ballooned to $14 billion in its current fundraising round. Meanwhile, the company is said to be generating less than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, according to CNBC. To stay competitive against imitators, Perplexity needs a more direct path to users. A deal with Samsung could provide exactly that.
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One of the most striking patterns in the aftermath of many urban fires is how much unburned green vegetation remains amid the wreckage of burned neighborhoods. In some cases, a row of shrubs may be all that separates a surviving house from one that burned just a few feet away. As scientists who study how vegetation ignites and burns, we recognize that well-maintained plants and trees can actually help protect homes from wind-blown embers and slow the spread of fire in some cases. So, we are concerned about new wildfire protection regulations being developed by the state of California that would prohibit almost all plants and other combustible material within 5 feet of homes, an area known as Zone 0. Photos before and after the 2025 Palisades Fire show thick green vegetation between two closely spaced homes. The arrow shows the direction of the fires spread. [Image: Max Moritz; CAL FIRE Damage Inspection photos, CC BY] Wildfire safety guidelines have long encouraged homeowners to avoid having flammable materials next to their homes. But the states plan for an ember-resistant zone, being expedited under an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, goes further by also prohibiting grass, shrubs, and many trees in that area. If that prohibition remains in the final regulation, its likely to be met with public resistance. Getting these rules right also matters beyond California, because regulations that originate in California often ripple outward to other fire-prone regions. Lessons from the devastation Research into how vegetation can reduce fire risk is a relatively new area of study. However, the findings from plant flammability studies and examination of patterns of where vegetation and homes survive large urban fires highlight its importance. When surviving plants do appear scorched after these fires, it is often on the side of the plant facing a nearby structure that burned. That suggests that wind-blown embers ignited houses first: The houses were then the fuel as the fire spread through the neighborhood. We saw this repeatedly in the Los Angeles area after wildfires destroyed thousands of homes in January 2025. The pattern suggests a need to focus on the many factors that can influence home losses. Shrubs in Zone 0 of a home did not ignite during the Eaton Fire, despite the home burning. [Photo: Max Moritz] Several guides are available that explain steps homeowners can take to help protect houses, particularly from wind-blown embers, known as home hardening. For example, installing rain gutter covers to keep dead leaves from accumulating, avoiding flammable siding, and ensuring that vents have screens to prevent embers from getting into the attic or crawl space can lower the risk of the home catching fire. However, guidance related to landscaping plants varies greatly and can even be incorrect. For example, some fire-safe plant lists contain species that are drought tolerant but not necessarily fire resistant. What matters more for keeping plants from becoming fuel for fires is how well theyre maintained and whether theyre properly watered. How a plant bursts into flames When living plant material is heated by a nearby energy source, such as a fire, the moisture inside it must be driven off before it can ignite. That evaporation cools the surrounding area and lowers the plants flammability. In many cases, high moisture can actually keep a plant from igniting. Weve seen this in some of our experimental work and in other studies that test the flammability of ornamental landscaping. With enough heat, dried leaves and stems can break down and volatilize into gases. And, at that point, a nearby spark or flame can ignite these gases and set the plant on fire. Plant flammability testing shows how quickly twigs, grasses, plants, and leaves will burn at different moisture levels. The images on the right are from an experiment at the University of Californias South Coast Research and Extension Center to test flammability of a living but overly dry plant. [Image: Max Moritz (left); Luca Carmignani (right)] Even when the plant does burn, however, its moisture content can limit other aspects of flammability, such as how hot it burns. Up to the point that they actually burn, green, well-maintained plants can slow the spread of a fire by serving as heat sinks, absorbing energy and even blocking embers. This apparent protective role has been observed in both Australia and California studies of home losses. How often vegetation buffers homes from igniting during urban conflagrations is still unclear, but this capability has implications for regulations. Californias “Zone 0” regulations The Zone 0 regulations Californias State Board of Forestry is developing are part of broader efforts to reduce fire risk around homes and communities. They would apply in regions considered at high risk of wildfires or defended by Cal Fire, the states firefighting agency. Many of the latest Zone 0 recommendations, such as prohibiting mulch and attached fences made of materials that can burn, stem from large-scale tests conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. These features can be systematically analyzed. But vegetation is far harder to model. The states proposed Zone 0 regulations oversimplify complex conditions in real neighborhoods and go beyond what is currently known from scientific research regarding plant flammability. A mature, well-pruned shrub or tree with a high crown may pose little risk of burning and can even reduce exposure to fires by blocking wind and heat and intercepting embers. Aspen trees, for example, have been recommended to reduce fire risk near structures or other high-value assets. In contrast, dry, unmanaged plants under windows or near fences may ignite rapidly and make it more likely that the house itself will catch fire. As California and other states develop new wildfire regulations, they need to recognize the protective role that well-managed plants can play, along with many other benefits of urban vegetation. We believe the California proposals current emphasis on highly prescriptive vegetation removal, instead of on maintenance, is overly simplistic. Without complementary requirements for hardening the homes themselves, widespread clearing of landscaping immediately around homes could do little to reduce risk and have unintended consequences. Max Moritz is a wildfire specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension and an adjunct professor at the Bren School at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Luca Carmignani is an assistant professor of engineering at San Diego State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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