He wakes before the sun, and for a moment everything feels possible. Then he tries to move. Nothing. A thousand tiny tensions hold him down—threads across the arms, cords at the ankles, pins in the fabric, stakes in the ground. Individually, they are laughable. Together, they hold. On his chest, committees have formed: one argues […]
ABLC mornings begin, as they always do, with coffee, conversations, and small acts of confusion. This year, a grandfather—tasked with entertaining his grandkids between sessions—handed them ABLC conference swag lip balms, confidently explaining how to speak into them as if they were microphones. The children obliged. For a moment, the room was full of voices, […]
By the time the Bioeconomy Policy Forum opened at ABLC 2026, the ground had already shifted. Oil had surged past $119 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz was in play. And inside the room, the instruction was simple: be candid, be fierce, and don’t waste time pretending things are fine. “This session is notorious for […]
At the beginning, it’s simple. Not easy—never easy—but simple. There is one problem, and it’s enormous: can this technology work? For years, that’s the mountain. Teams gather around it, capital circles it, skeptics point at it, believers climb it. Everything reduces to a single question: is this even possible? And then, one day, it is. […]
“Threepio! We’re all going to be squashed! Tell them to shut down the garbage mashers on the detention level!” Deep inside the Death Star, the walls are closing in. Metal groans. Pipes shudder. Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca are knee-deep in the Empire’s trash.Over the comm, C-3PO’s voice rises in panic. “Shut them all down! […]
By Huckleberry Finn (mostly) Special to The Digest You don’t know about me, Huck Finn, without you have read Mr. Mark Twain or this here Digest before, but that ain’t no matter. I been ridin’ along with Mr. Jim lately, and I he’ped him write his “H’ain’t We Growed Up Yet?” essay about the bioeconomy. […]
The laboratory is cluttered with circuit boards, glassware, and a curious metal suit no larger than a briefcase. Hank Pym studies it carefully. For years he has chased a single impossible idea: that matter itself might be compressed — that the vast distances between atoms could be folded, the way a map folds into a […]
Last week on the Florida Turnpike, Flavia and I pulled into the Fort Drum service plaza for gas. Off to one side sat the electric charging area — and it was jammed. Every charging space was occupied. Several drivers stood nearby with the slightly strained patience familiar to anyone waiting for a “fast charge” that […]
Every March, the sports world waits for the same thing: the Cinderella run. The improbable team that survives the early rounds and suddenly finds itself under the brightest lights of the tournament. This year, the bioeconomy has two. In one bracket, SunGas Renewables is advancing with a technology that turns forestry residues—sawdust, bark, and wood […]
