The Sunday Review
The highlights from last week and some thoughts
Hey there,
For the new subscribers, I write this email for those that might be too busy to open emails throughout the week. We cannot all exist at inbox zero. If this is too many emails just reply to this and let me know. I am a bit conflicted on if I should send this email. Some of you have told me that you really enjoy it, but it feels redundant to me. I decided to add some of my thoughts here with the highlights of last week to reduce the redundancy.
The first quarter of the year is nearing its end as are some of my projects at work. I’m at the place in a few projects where I need to start handing things over to other people and focus my time on the next projects. Our new CEO wants faster product development and for new products to launch sooner rather than later. This can cause stress in a research and development group especially when you don’t have an obvious technical path forward on your project.
I think as scientists in industry we tend to go through a cycle of emotions. Success in the lab is typically the high point for me followed by the grind of doing all the requisite work to validate results and optimize. Typically, something bad happens financially with the company and R&D functions have a lot of anxiety about job security and morale drops. Interactions in the lab are often punctuated with rumors of “I heard X is leaving” and then usually a few months or weeks later X is gone and you are left to finish their projects and your own. Sometimes you play the role of X. You get used to your smaller team and you move on, but that anxiety of “is my job and economic security safe?” still remains until the financial numbers improve or you get the high of a new job.
It’s part of the reason why I started this newsletter. I wanted to create something that was 100% my own. Something I could point to that is outside the laboratory. A representation that I am more than my occupation. If you are a scientist or engineer remember that you are more than your job despite all of your education and time spent in your occupation. My only advice to relieve some of this job anxiety is try and get to an area where there are abundant jobs for a person like you. So if you need to you can get another job. You can have a bunch of jobs in life, but you only get to live once.
Tuesday - Peak Phosphorous and Feeding 9 Billion People by 2050
This is about how phosphorous is a finite element that is critical for growing food and thus feeding the world’s population. Organophosphates are also a key component in making polymers and plastics fire retardant and having fire resistant buildings post Grenfell Tower is something that is on the minds of many developers. Further, fertilizers and nutrients that are spread on conventional fields can be washed away during rainstorms. Hydroponics and vertical farms offer a potential solution to nutrient runoff, but they have high costs. I got the chance to talk to some scientists at Verano365 about their new product that seeks to make nutrient absorption more efficient in hydroponic settings and could help reduce costs by 25%.
Friday - Shell Unveils Strategy for Net Zero Emissions by 2050 While Pipeline Freeze in Texas
Shell has announced game on to its competition and it seeks to accomplish some ambitious goals—at least until shareholders tell them to stop. The stock is up about $6/share since the announcement of the plan so perhaps shareholders really like this plan? I also wrote about how the gas pipelines froze in Texas and brought the state to its knees. Weatherization was the issue here, but I think it should show how fragile our infrastructure network is and how dangerous it can be when things fail. Living in New England in the winter you realize how dangerous the cold can be if you have no heat.
Interesting Stories that are Good to Read.
🚀 Anuvia Plant Nutrients Lands $103 million Series C for Bio-based Fertilizers
🚚 Is the road to sustainable asphalt paved with tires?
Careers and Job of The Week
I’ll follow up here in a few weeks when I have something new to add.
Talk to you Tuesday,
Tony
The views here are my own and do not represent those of my employer nor should they be considered investment advice.
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