Speeding the path to synthetic jet fuel with AI, automation and biosensors
When it comes to powering aircraft, jet engines need dense, energy-packed fuels. Right now, nearly all of that fuel comes from petroleum, as batteries don’t yet deliver enough punch for most flights. Scientists have long dreamed of a synthetic alternative: teaching microbes to ferment plant material into high-performance jet fuels. But designing these microbial “mini-factories” has traditionally been slow and expensive because of the unpredictability of biological systems.
New developments in renewable energy are making headlines and inspiring hope in communities worldwide, from a remote Arctic village working to harness solar and wind power under challenging conditions to a U.S. Air Force base planning an advanced, utility-scale geothermal power system. As much of the world grapples with mitigating…
Data is the fuel that makes artificial intelligence run. Training machine learning and AI systems requires data. And the quality of datasets has a big impact on the systems’ results. But compiling quality real-world data for AI and ML can be difficult and expensive. That’s where synthetic data comes in.…