SPECIAL ISSUEJINN i. ELEY te ae BiaEs DECEMBER 24, 2021 VOL.177_NO.22 ence’ | 08 16 26 America’s | Medical | Planet Paradigm Marvels Protectors | Shifters Greatest | sn Goaitegee | | mesestns 1 ieee Scere cee Disruptors | 2: ee ee Introducing Newsweek's inaugural ietossOsetauariesinnce staal p 22 30 and pioneers whoare transforming | Mind Hallof Artistic the world through technology. | Blowers Famers Advocates Cutting-edge Visionaries whose Working to ensure breakthroughs careerlongactions | inclusion and thatarejustsocool | havehad far equity inthe creator oroutthere reaching impact economy Enterprising < Idealists x Usingleading edge * solvesocaland Z MEDICAL HELP community challenges m cosedtotas over ane 40 lab sampos A ee —_ Fun& eraihemio Gamers Myf technology that’s pushing the edge 1 . of what’ possible / \ Pos | 44 sf 4. Badan ' Disruptors Dy) | Promising innovators | on the verge of & = ‘major breakthroughs For more headlines oto 5 NEWSWEEK.COM au| Newsweek | DECEMBER 24, 2021 VOL.177_NO.22 Ne Need Lizzo Elon Musk Informing and transforming The Thomas Edison of ‘ur ideas about beauty. ‘the digital age. SPECIAL ISSUE 1 @ DISRUPTORS a» s x a % ee 2 NEWSWEEK.COM 9a ronon nner Naney Cooper ‘spur Eoon-n-cner Diane Haris ‘eon. Michael Gonele crecTor Joana Pignataro (3708 Joeh Hammar ‘ae Hank ion Fred Gute = ener Dar Pinty Nanci Keshnamoorty Newsweek Magazine LLC oreJeg ander tea ONVGion RAT 758 Ta From Aatmanirbhar Gujrat to Aatmanirbhar Bharat VIBRANT GUJARAT GLOBAL SUMMIT 2022 From Aatmanirbhar Gujarat to Aatmanirbhar Bharat (OD vanuary, 2022 MAHATMA MANDIR, GANDHINAGAR GUJARAT, INDIA Inauguration by Shri Narendra Modi - Prime Minister, India “Gujarat has always been the hub of growth and development. ‘Aatmanirbhar Gujarat to Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ strengthens our commitment towards the same.” Shri Bhupendra Patel, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Gujarat, India Global Trade Show & Exhibition CT aC Led CTR ae 4 Wey | Parallel to the Summit will unfold VIBRANT GUJARAT es GLOBAL TRADE SHOW 2022 from January 9 t013 at iNDEXTb fone of India's Largest Exhibition Venue spread over 200.000 sq mtrs. SEEM contin tint, assSrv0 For more information visit www.vibrantgujarat.com | Helpline: +91 79 2324 0000, Fotow wson: © wbraniguorat @ vcrtgujarat @ worant_gujrat EQ werontguaratLLL AMERICA'S GREATEST 4 Pere Pee erties)t first glance, Lizzo, the singer, rapper and style icon, might not seem to have a lot in common with Katalin Kariko, the molecular biologist whose research on mRNA technology enabled rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Nor perhaps does Bela Bajaria, the Netflix executive whose global content strategy led to the streaming phenomenon Squid Game, seem naturally connected to scientist Tammy Hsu, who is making eco-friendly blue jeans, or engineer Amay Bandodkar, who is developing batteries powered by human sweat. Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur who's doing everything from pioneering reusable rockets that send well-heeled tourists into space to fostering Al enhancements to the brain, and Darnella Frazier, the young woman who ignited a worldwide social justice movement with her cell ot what you'd call an intuitive pairing. Yetall ofthese people, and theother | by good intention and may, in some 43 visionaries and innovators on | cases, have unanticipated negative Newsweek's inaugural list of Greatest | repercussions, the disruptors on our Distuptors share this critical quality: | list are largely driven by a desire to They are agents of change who are | contribute toa greater good, often in using technology in ways that will | spired by personal experience—and, profoundly impact our lives—mostly | so far atleast, thelr work seems on a or wholly for the better. path to fulfill that promise. The Oxford Dictionary defines | Consider neuroscientist Aadee! “disruption” as radical change to an. | Akhtar, who was inspired to develop existing industry or market due to | affordable human-like bionic limbs technological innovation. The work | by seeing litte girl missing a leg us. being done by our 50 inductees in| ingatree branch asa crutch during a the 2021 Disruptors class certain- | family trip to Pakistan when he was? ly fits that description. What truly | years old. Or energy entrepreneur Bill, sets these pioneers apart, however, | Gross, whose interest in carbon emis. is their humanity. Whereas disrup- | sions capture was sparked by memo: tion generally, by this or any other | ries of his family living through the meee | definition, isn’t necessarily spurred | 1973 oil embargo, getting by on $5 of 6 NEWSWEEK.COM DECEMBER 24, 2021rationed gas every other day. Or com. puter scientist Rana el Kaliouby, a pioneer in emotion AI, who was mo- tivated in her work teaching comput. ers tounderstand human emotion, by her own feelings of loneliness after moving from Cairo to Cambridge, ‘Massachusetts for her Ph.D, Or NYU Langone surgeon Robert Montgom: cry, whose own need for a transplant due toa rare, progressive disease of the heart muscle helps inform his work—including his recent, first-of its-kind transplant of a pig kidney Into a human being, In the six months that Newsweek has been working on the Greatest Distuptors initiative, we have contin: ually been fascinated and inspired as wwe learned more about the motiva: tions driving truly disruptive achieve. ment and the humanity behind the razzle dazzle, sometimes sci-fi-like gee-whizzery of the cutting-edge technology. We hope you find the | By Diane Harris, storiesand achievements of these 50 | Deputy Editor in Chief Great Disruptors as moving and as | and Fred Guterl, awe-inspiring as we do, Special Projects Editor How We Created the 2021 Disruptors List: ere is a partial list of the many experts who offered nominations or helpful insights over the course of this project. Newsweek is grateful for their wise counsel and our list is better for it. ‘ScottAnthony MichaelHytor Sensoe Pectnes President, CeO, Innostaht The Executive ———_____ | easeeship counesi ‘Shannon Austin —— Founder, Work in Progress Consulting ErikBrynjlfsson Diector, Stanford Dsgstel Economy Leb: Peafessor, Stanford Institute for unan-Conteces AT ‘Stephanieaftin, Executive Dizector of Ceeative Affaies for Wade Davis JosephLeDoux Professor of Neusat Sesence and Psychiatry at RYU JoshuaGans RitaMeGrath Peofarsor of Professor, Colunbia Strategic Managanent: business School. university ef Toconte ee Bernard Meyerson thief Innovation Officer Enecitus, 10M MerkGreeven Professor of Innovation ang strategy. Intecnational Institute | AdamPiore for Management Development | Science joucnalist: | author, The Body Builders John Hall Inside the Science of Co-founder. ‘the Engineezed Hunan Caleneae com a ‘Camila Russo ‘ArlanHomlton Founder, The Defont Founder 6 Mansging i Partner, Backstage Josh Suskewice Capitan Pactner, Invostght FranHauser NoraD.Volkow Startup anvestor. futhor of The Myeh of tthe Nice Gael: Acnseving a Coseee You Love Without Becosing bisector, National Inetatute on Deus Abuse, National Institutes of Heeltn 2 Porson You Hate ‘Amy Webb ——_______ | founder, ce0, Futuee Linda Hi Today Institute Deafarsor of Business Agninssteation Maxwell Wessel acvacd Gusinees EVP and Chief Leazning Sehoal oftces, SAP NEWSWEEK.COM 7MECLIJICAAL_. An Affordab Bionic Hand AADEEL AKHTAR ~ FOUNDER AND CEO, PSYONIC Fed vesice: jh changed se His parents took him to see family In Pakistan, where they'd been born, and they were walking into a store when he saw her. She was missing her right leg. “That was actually the first time I had met someone with alimb difference, he says. "she was about my age, using a tree branch as crutch, living in poverty." He never learned her name, never spoke to her or saw her again. But he never forgot her. He got a Ph.D. in neu roselence, and now, at 34, Is founder and head of an Illinois company called Psyonic, He and his team of about 30 make prosthetic limbs that are smatt, durable, responsive to their users’ needs and—this is key—afford able, In the US, Medicare says it will cover the cost of Psyonic’s prosthetics, and Akhtar says other insurers will probably follow, It's estimated that at least 1.6 million Americans live with the loss ofa limb, and Akhtar says only 10 percent of those who needed bion 8 NEWSWEEK.COM ic limbs inthe past could afford them, Medicare's approval should ultimately increase that to75 percent. “We're pushing the boundaries of what's possible, but also making them accessible and leveling the playing field for all those people who couldn't get access to this kind of technology before” Akhtar says. Psyonic put its first commercial product, called the Ability Hand, on the market nationally in September. In size and design, t resembles a nat ural hand, albeit with batteries and electronies packed inside. Akhtar says the fingers come close to mimicking the movements of human fingers, and they give instant feedback—the limb vibrates against your skin when its fingers meet resistance, signaling that if you're gripping something delicate (say, an egg or your child's hand) you should stop squeezing, Bleetrodes in the base of the hand sense when you tighten existing muscles and use those signals to make the fingers move Akhtar gathered input from mili tary veterans who tried out prototypes,other testers had lost limbs in dents or to diseas “They were using technology that hadn't changed in, like, several decades. And we wanted jethem toth he says. He’s worked for years with Dan St, Pierre, a commercial diver who lost his left hand in 2009. In a video, St. Pierre, wearing the Ability Hand, catches a water bottle tossed his way. Akhtar also arm wrestles him, and, of course, loses, 1 spent many years trying to finda ‘good prosthetic that worked and did what I needed It to do, and I couldn't find ity says St. Pierre, Other prosthetics on the market tend tobe either rudimentary (ahook) (or expensive (up t0 $70,000). Akhtar says the Ability Han $10,000 to $20,000, depending on the user's needs. The Psyonic team saved money by making molds for parts with 3D printing, While much of the hand is acl from carbon fiber, many parts.are silicone or rubber, materials which are both cheap and flexible Users had com plained that earlier prostheses, made ‘of hard molded plastics, easily broke, Eventually Akhtar would like to make prosthetic legs and expand over: seas, He says he can imagine, someday surgically attached prosthetie—no batteries needed because movements would be controlled by the user's tendons. But for now, he says he’ en abling one person ata time ‘Our veterans, they've gone through. hell” he says. “And to be able to give them something back—that’s been Incredibly rewarding” —veD portER “We wanted to upgrade [military veterans] to the 21st-century.” NEWSWEEK.COM 9DIsRUPTORS SYNTHETIC DNA AT COMMERCIAL SCALE EMILY LEPROUST ~ CO-FOUNDER, CED, TWIST BIOSCIENCE ADissolvable Pacemaker JOHN a. RoGeRS — ornecroR OUERREY SIMPSON INSTITUTE FoR atoeLectaonscs, NORTHUESTERN UNIVERSITY Bad Somers senaror is nero nxresive row 20 EaROR and not easily scalable. Twist has found a way to help automate and commercialize the process by creating a technology for writing synthetic DNA onto tiny silicon chips, which can be manufactured cheaply and easily distributed to pharmaceutical companies and research labs. The technology has already had a big impact on public health: During the COVID-19 pan. ‘demic, Twist created a synthetic version of SARS-CoV-2 that was used in tests Eventually, their synthetic DNA could also help identify specific cancers for targeted treatments and lead to ways of making spider silk at an industrial scale, This year, Twist launched Exome 2.0, tool for bioscientists to analyze genes responsible for rare diseases and genetic disorders. —M.. Medicine Delivered By Mist NADHAUE GAUINI, RATHI SRINIVAS ~ cO-FOUNDERS, DROPLETTE For people who suffer from epider: molysis bulosa, disorders that cause the skin to become fragile and biter, applying topical treatments is painful ‘ordesl. Machavi Gavini and Rathi Sr nivas looked fr a better way ta deliver medical help. Their solution: a hand: held device that acts lke @ nebulizer ‘and can deliver treatments and pain relievers vie @ superfine and powerful mist that penetrates deep into the skin. While developing the technology, with funding from the Notional Institutes ‘of Health, tho two inventors decided to broaden its applicability to more common skincare concerns, such as treating wrinkles and blemishes with retinal, collagen and glycolic acid mist treatments. The par say their device al lows the akin to absorb larger molecules than are typical in topical treatments The approach has garnered glowing reviews in Iniyle, Laptop Mog and ‘other publications. More than milion ofits skincare treatment capsules been sold since itlaunched a year ago, The Paris aleo working with researchors fom MIT, Tuts and Welter Reed Army Institute of Research on developing the device, called Droplete, for a variety ‘of diseases including genetic disorders, ‘wounds and skin infections. NASA, 00, has come calling, awarding them a grant to tost arpacts oftheir toch on the Intemational Space Station. “They ‘were fascinated by the fluid physics that drives our device” says Srinivas. KR. 10 NeWsweeK.com For patients who need temporary help regulating their heartbeat, such as those who've had open. heart surgery, a heart attack or a drug overdose, Rogers and his team created a new kind of implantable pacemaker—wireless, battery-free and, best of all, dissolvable. After five to seven weeks, the pacemaker, made of natural materials like sili cone and magnesium, is absorbed by the body. Since patients don’t re- quire surgery to remove the device, they avoid the attendant risks of infection, tissue damage and blood clots, Rogers’ device gets its ener- gy wirelessly from a small device placed on the chest. ‘The pacemaker is the second bio: degradable implant for Rogers—the first, developed in 2018, speeds the regeneration of damaged nerve tis sue. Although both devices need fur ther development and testing before they can become commercial prod ucts, Rogers is confident that biode- ‘gradable electronics have a future in medical devices to monitor and treat a range of conditions. KR.COMMUNICATING BY THINKING, NOT TALKING THOMAS OXLEY — CEO, syNcHRON n his practice as an interventional neurologist, Dr. Oxley has Bhiee: paralyzed stroke patients who were unable to commu nicate with loved ones and carers. few years ago, he began working, on the idea of bypassing speech and connecting his patients’ brains directly toa computer, so they could communicate merely by think: ing. As founding CEO of Synchron, he helped develop a tiny device, called a Stentrode, that a surgeon snakes into the brain through the blood vessels, where it acts as a brain-computer interface. Last year, two paralyzed patients in Australia used Stentrode implants to text and type words just by thinking about them. The implant converts signals from the patient’s neurons into com- mands, which are beamed wirelessly to a computer: The surgical procedure takes two hours and involves no cutting of the skull or sewing wires onto the brain's surface. In July, Synchron got the green light from the FDA to start clinical trials. Ifall goes well, Syn- chron's technology could help patients with neurological damage and paralysis communicate with family, share business ideas with colleagues, pay their bills—in short, to reclaim their lives. —M.c. NEDICAL MARVELS Robot Medical Assistants MOREA THOMAZ, VIVZAN CHU 0-FOUNDERS, DILIGENT nogoTEcs Toincrease the amount oftime nurses ‘and other medical staff have for patient care, Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu designed a robot, called Mox, to tackle menial tasks—such as delivering person- a protoctve equipmont and medicines, carrying tests o lab samples, and picking ‘upor dropping off items to pationts— ‘hich can consume 30 percent ofa shift The idea proved critical during the pandemic, when staff were overwhelmed with patients and had to impose pro- tocol to lessen transmission isk. Ina single shit, Mos can compete as many ‘2875 different 10-minute tasks ina shi frecing hours of nursing stafftime to care for patents, Mo! is alady used in sev cera Texes health care systems. recently launched at Ceders‘Sinaiin Los Angeles, ‘and is curently integrating into a half ‘dozen other health care systems. “Instesd ‘of having robots that take jobs away from humans” says Chu, “wo wanted to ‘create robots that eased the stress and ‘workload of one of the most demanding {obs in society, nursing.” —K,A Membrane That Sucks Impurities From Water ROONEY PRIESTLEY, XIAOHUI XU PROFESSOR, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ORE THAN 800 MILLION | water, requires no additional energy people worldwide lack ac- | source beyond sunshineand is poten: cessto safe drinking water. | tially cheap to manufacture. Over half the US. population drinks | ‘The two engineers stumbled on from water with detectable lead levels, | their new approach while working on studies suggest. And even as thi a project to make artificial skin help demic reminded usof theimportance | heal wounds. Skin typically acts asa of frequent handwashing with soap | selective shield—keeping pathogens and water, three in 10 people around | outof the body, while still permitting the globe can't do that in their own | water to pass through it, To make ar homes. The World Health Organi- | tificial skin, they created a hydrogel zation and UNICEF warn that these | (a complex polymer that will not dis numbers are likely o get worse in the | solvein water) with a molecular struc next decade unless societies create | ture that would permit the passage of and improve water infrastructure—a | water and block contaminants. vvast and expensive proposition, As they developed and tested this A new tool for meeting this chal- | material, Xu realized the hydrogel lenge has emerged from the labora- | might potentially have another ap. tory of Princeton University chemical | plication: water purification. That engineers Rodney Priestley and Xiao- | spurred a new project, in which the hhui Xu. They have created a material | two researchers modified their hy that removes impurities in drinking | drogel in a few Key ways so it would CUTTING-EDGE BREAKTHROUGHS THAT ARE BUST SO COOL OR OUT THERE 12 NeWsweeK.com DECEMBER 24, 2021“We just realized there was a huge opportunity in this space to try and do this ina sustainable manner.” notonly filter impurities, but actively draw water in as wel They designed their hydrogel so that itacts asa heat sensitive sponge. At room temperature, compounds in the hydrogel attract water molecules, ‘When heated, the molecular struc- ture changes and the gel releases ‘water. “Inside iis highly porous soit can store the water” explains Xiaohul Xu.“When you heat it, the volume of the material will shrink [and] all of the water inside will be released.” ‘Then they covered the layer of spongy hydrogel with different poly. ‘mer that acts asa filter. As the sponge draws in the water, the outer layer keeps impurities from entering. These layers sandwiched together form athin, sheetlike “membrane.” In their testing to date, they've found the combined layers can block problem particles ike lead and nitrates from agricultural un ff. "It effectively just sucks inall ofthe pure water while eaving out all of the ‘contaminants? Priestley explains. Priestley and Xu's invention has many advantages over water purifica tion systems already in use by NGOs. It needs no power source—no electricity to run a pump—other than sunshine, ‘which makes it easier to deploy. And the membrane is potentially cheaper to produce than conventional filters and can be manufactured without us Ing harsh chemical solvents. “We Just realized there was a huge opportunity in this space to try and do this ina sus. tainable manner Priestley says. Michael Brown, CEO of AquaPao, the company developing and com mercializing this technology, notes that the material can be used not only for filtering water but for col lecting drinkable water from the at mosphere. If you put the membrane outside, it wil start attracting water ata pretty significant rate," he notes, Before the invention is ready for prime time, Priestley and Xu still need to investigate how durable the membrane is. And like other water filters and purifiers, i's not 100 per cent effective at removing all contam: inants—its unlikely for instance, 10 provide an efficient solution for de salinating sale water Sui, Priestley adds, having a sys tem that treats water for many dif ferent types of impurities could put their material ahead of many other approaches: We have shown the abil: ity to purify many different types of impurities—heavy metals like lead ‘small molecules, organic matter like microbes and yeast and oil contami nants, If it turns out that isa mem brane that can really purify 20 differ: cent impurities as opposed to just one targeted impurity, [think that would also set it apart.” —parsy yuHtAS NEWSWEEK.COM 13DISRUPTORS Pig Kidney Transplants for Humans ROBERT MONTGOMERY DIRECTOR, NYU LARCONE TRANSPLANT INSTITUTE Three years ago, doctors told Dr Montgomery, who has a rare, progres: sive disease ofthe heart muscle, that he needed a transplant. He joined ‘more than 106,800 Americans in corgan-traneplant purgatory, waiting for a donor organ—a wait 17 people {all to outlast each day. “This paradigm justisn't working.” he says."We need a renewable, unlimited source of organs.” Dr. Montgomery has devoted much cof his 20-plus years as a transplant ‘surgeon to that end, He pioneered the use of organs from donors infected with hepatitis C and performed the rst “domino paired donation," which com- bines two or more donors and recipients ina kidney swap. In September, he and. his team succeeded in transplanting 2 igenetcally-engineered pig kidney into ‘3 human body (since it was a testcase, the recipient was a patient who had lost brain function). The body did not reject the kidney, and over a 54-hour test run, the pig organ performed tke ‘8 normal human kidney He expects ‘similar procedure to be performed cna live patient inthe next year or so. Montgonery is optimistic that within ‘2 decade, pig organs willbe a viable ‘option for those on dialysis orn need of kidney transplant—and eventually hearts, lungs and other organs. KR. FIRST HELICOPTER FLIGHT ON MARS AMER PROJECT MANAGER, NASH'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY Aung has had a very good year. On April 19, the six-year, project she led to get a helicopter to fly in the thin atmo: sphere of Mars finally reached fruition: The extraterrestrial air- craft Ingenuity took off from the planet's surface for a 39-second flight. It has since made 15 more trips to gather data and photos and help guide the Perseverance rover. This first-of-a-kind venture had many challenges to over: come: the thinness of the planet's atmosphere, which is less than one percent the density of Earth’s, the intense cold of Mars and the seven-month voyage through space to get there. Also, the communications delay between Earth and Mars meant that the helicopter largely had to pilot itself. Aung recently moved on to a new challenge: building a network of satellites for broadband internet connection in her new job at Amazon's Project Kuiper. Her former team of engineers and scientists at NASA will carry on creating Ingenuity’s successors—larger aircraft capable of carrying rock samples. —K.RHIND BLOWERS Biologically-Inspired Robot Swarms RADNIKA NAGPAL — COMPUTER SCIENTIST, WYSS INSTITUTE FOR STOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNTUERSITY By vce ‘ots will soon work together clean ing up chemical spill, building dams and inspecting bridges, "We are really fon the cusp of a revolution in robot: les she says. Nagpal and her team create ro- bots that mimic real-life organisms, self-organizing and collaborating to complete complex tasks beyond what any individual robot can do, Their role, as she sees it, is to free up hu mans from “the 3Ds"” tasks that are dirty, dull or dangerous. Her team’s first project was in spired by termites, A thousand-rabot army, the Kilobots, are now being used inlabs around the worl for research and education. In 2021, her lab built underwater robots, the BlueSwarm, that act ike a school of fish, complete with intricate migration patternsand predator evasion tactics, for monitor ing damage to coral reefs. Because there's no Wii or GPS underwater, these deep-sea explorers mimic the bioluminescence of living sea crea tures to communicate with one an other. The next commercial project, Nagpal thinks, will be aerial swarms that can inspect crops and deliver packages. When the military adopts swarm technology, it could change the nature of conflict. "As we go for: ‘ward into the future and these sys tems are deployed,” she says, “we are {going to learn lots of new lessons of ‘what that means” —MEGHAN GUNN zx DNA Printers to Spur Vaccine Development DaNZEL Gxeson (0-FOUNDER, CTO, CODEX DNA ‘few years ago, 25 scientists availed themselves of then-new technology for deciphering the genetic code of viruses, Gibson turned his atention tothe ‘opposite activity: how to take that code ‘and turn it into an actual virus, the etter to study it and come up with vaccines. At the time, scientists had to order short se quences of DNA from specialty firms and stitch them together to form long ones, Gibson's idea was to make that process quicker, easier and cheaper by automet ingit with so-called DNA printers, Gibson's BioXp 3250, a 2-by-2-foot device, gives scientists the means to synthesize ganes in the lab in eight hours helping speed the design and fabrication of new vaccine candidates ‘and other biological products Last year, Pfizer used the deviee to help develop, its COVID-19 vaccine, Today, Codex DNA, where Gibson is chief technolo officer, has sold more than 160 of the printers. Together with academic research institutions and biopharma companies, Gibson is working on vaccines, precision immunotherapy for cancer, meat substitutes and other projects. His next goal isto build @ ‘vaccine printer “capable of aynthesizing {and delivering vaccines globally atthe push ofa button," he says. “This would tenable a future whare we stamp out viral outbreaks in eal time, ata regional level, before they ever reach pandemic status." KERRI ANNE RENZULL NEWSWEEK.cOM 15“The most critical tool for success in the [food] industry—data and knowledge— is becoming cheaper by the day.”-LANE= PRCOOITECG Aland Big Data to satan ot pres ened in the short term by COVIDand Help Fee the World Jong term by climate disruption. 1s not something thats going to go away soon,” says Menker. “It’s basical- ly driven both by supply and demand. SARA HENKER ~ FOUNDER, CEO, GRO INTELLIGENCE shocks continuously happening” She was born in Ethiopia, came to the US. for college and business ¥ 2050, THE UNITED NA- | Gro says it tracks 650 trillion data school and was working asa commod tions says, we're going to | points daily—from sources such as ities trader at Morgan Stanley when reed 70 percent morefood | government and local food reports, she saw the chaos in food markets She to feed the nine billion people living | satellite imagery, long-term weather started Gro in 2014, "What alarmed. on Earth, Global nate change threat. | forecasts and greenhouse gas mea. ey she says, “was there was alot of ens toupend their lives—worsening | surements—and creates computer conversation about food security and storms, droughts, heat wavesand crop | models so that cients, such as Unile- alot of people trying to fixa system diseases, What kind of a world will we | ver and Yum! Brands, can know how that we didn'c understand, leave to our grandchildren? prices are likely to trend, anticipate History is filled, of course, with Sara Menker says the problem may | surpluses and shortages, and be more predictions of disaster that never >e even more urgent than the U.N. | resilient when climate change makes happened, And Menker says there are suggests In 2017, she gave a TED talk | food supplies harder to predict many things the world can do now in which she said a “tipping point, A type of artificial intelligence America and Europe, for instance, beyond which global food markets be- | known as machine learning is key enjoyed a so-called green revolution come too overwhelmed to functionef- | to crunching the numbers because in the last century—doubling or tr fectively, could come in justa few years. | as Allison Tepley of Gro’s staff put I pling food output because of new "Wediscovered that theworldwill be_| “The best information is often local ‘crops and farming methods. India short 214 tilion calories by 2027;'she | information, but it's often in local has had one, too, No countries in At sald, Or,in more familiar terms:Asin- | languages, in different formats and rica have yet, but they still can. le Big Machas563.alories That means | itall needs to be put together: Part of the answer, she says, is in the world will beshort 379 billion Big | This is a larger compilation of adopting many of the commercial Maes in 2027, That is more Big Macs | food-supply data than decision-makers practices that have worked in the than McDonald’ has ever produced” | can find elsewhere. Gro tracks 1,000 ‘wealthier countries—more efficient Menker cannot change the world | different crops;the US. Agriculture De markets, better transportation and. alone. But the firm she started, Gro_| partment tracks about 5O, The level of changes in farming that will both Intelligence, is providing informa- | detail says the firm, is essential to catch Increase the food supply and pro: ton that food companies, insurers, | trouble quickly and help producer tect the environment. And her own lenders and policymakers use to | takeaction to protect the food supply. ‘work shows, she says, that "the most make food production more ficient, ro has sounded alerts on African critical tool for success in the [food] and perhaps help protect against that_| swine fever in China (which cut pork. industry —data and knowledge—is. tipping point. production 30 percent in 2018) locust | mmm | becoming cheaper by the day” —N.r DECEMBER 24, 2021 NEWSWEEK.COM 17DIsRUPTORS An Eco-Friendly Alternative to Plastic TROY SWOPE ANO YOKE CHUNG Working as Intel engineers early in theircareer, Swope and Chung made ‘shocking discovery while testing plastic- wrapped supermarket foods for contamination, “No food was left Untouched by plastic chemicals leaching intoit,” Chung says. Every yearn the US., 150 milion tons of single-use plastic are used in consumer goods lke cisposable cutlery and containers. Along With the harmful health rick, les than 9 percent ofthis material gets recycled: the rest goes to landfils os incinerated, re- leasing toxic fumes into the environment. ‘Swope and Chung's solution: Create plant-based biodegradable, com- postable and recyclable alternatives to single-use plastic. Their company Footprint, founded in 2014, has already teliminated more than 60 milion pounds ‘of plastic through partnershipe with mega food retailers ike Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sweetgreen, Me- Donald's and Dunkin? Donuts, which use its plates, Bowls, packaging and related products. Now the founders ae taking their bid to save the planet tothe next level with a partnership with the NBA Phoenix Suns, aiming to makeits arena: renamed the Footprint Center this year— into an innovation lab for sustainability that can be replicatedin sports venues ‘around the world. Among the first steps: {sof October, Suns fans are getting their ‘burgore and beer served up in Foot prints plant-based cups and containers, ‘long with educational messages and ‘advice about sustainability. —M.G, 18 NEWSweEK.com PLANET PROTECTORS MAKING BLUE JEANS LESS TOXIC TANHY HSU — CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, HUUE iller-looking jeans, unfortunately, also contribute to killing the Gi planet. Chemicals such as formaldehyde and cyanide that are used to make the indigo dye that gives denim its distinctive color are ofien toxic to workers and destructive to local water sources Hsu and her team created an eco-friendly, worker-safe bio- engineered alternative by programming microbes to mimic the way color compounds occur in nature, using sugar to enzymat- ically produce the same blue shade as indigo, Huue’s dye can be manufactured in existing factories, making it easily adoptable within the industry. This fall, Huue partnered with biotech com- pany Ginkgo Bioworks to ramp up production and plans to begin shipping dye to designers early next year. —M.c.Reducing CO2 Via “Tathadahueimgetonreesys. | are stacked na tower the blocks Alternative Energy —— aecipinstcchnviogwsolve en rendering itsaer cheaper ad fon tatwarethathey produce hermal| "Theres 9 carbon forint to spesk ‘with not one but three sep- | tems That'shot enough forindustrial | cool engineering thrown in.” arate ventures devoted to | use, like steel and cement production, | Lastly, Gross’ Carbon Capture ; reducing carbon emissions through | whose high heat demands currently | makes machines that remove CO2 Hl theuse of alternative energy. ts ben | account for about a tenth of global_| from the atmosphere using Direct : alifelong interest dating back 01973, | greenhouse gos emissions (more than | Air Capture tech, Gros says:"I would : when he was. teenager in Southern | all carsand planes combined) like my collection of companies to : California duringtheoilembargoand | Meanwhile, Grose’startup Energy | someday combine to be the largest wee | his family could only buy $5 worth | Vault successfully built a system that | CO? ‘avolder’in history.” —KR, MG. DECEMBER 24, 2021 NEWSWEEK.COM 19DIsRUPTORS Better Farming Through AI RANUEER CHANDRA — CTO. RGRT FOOD; MANAGING DIRECTOR, RE SEAROM FOR TNOUSTRY, MICROSOFT Can the WiF chip in your phone help feed the world? That the question Bil Gates posed about FarmBeats, part of Microsoft's frst AgTech intativ, led by Chanda, FarmBeats aims to replace the educsted gueseworkcin farming, feeling or tasting the sil todetermine when to plant, water and harvest-withA-informed tools ond ‘songors ike heat and moisture maps that help farmers useless water and ‘save money on things ike fetlizer ‘and lime to contra the pH in cil The sticking points were price (sen sors are expensive) and ack of internet ‘2ccess.on most farm, but Chance ‘and his team developed a clever work ‘around, using TV white space (unused ‘TV broadeast spectrum, aka snow") to transmit data, Instead of farmers buying hundreds of expensive sensors. they place afew far apart. The farmer then walks around with a smartphone ‘attached toa drone orhalium balloon, taking aerial video; data from the ssensorsis sent through the white ‘pace to a computer, where everything is aggregated ito hyper-specitic AN APP TO REPLENISH FORESTS DAVID “E2RA" JAY ~ CO-FOUNDER, EXECUTIVE OI Ey oo essss tively, he's surpassed 750,000 trees planted so far: He also committed 10 trying to alleviate global poverty. The app Treetracker, an open-source, da- tadriven software platform developed by Jay and his team via Greenstand, the nonprofit he heads, attepts t0 ac: complish both goals by verifying and ‘monitoring farmersaround the world who plant and care for trees, then fa: cilitating payments to these growers from donations by partnering groups data map. Now Chanda is working = ‘on taking armBeats to growers worldwide, starting with recent part- nershipe wth Indonesia's Ministry of Agricuture and Land O'Lakes. ~MG. 20. NEWsweEK.com on, GREENSTAND Planters submit geotagged photos of their trees periodically, the app cal cculates a value for the ecological im: pact based on the tree location and rate of growth, then packages the data in a digital wallet the growers can ac cess and trade. For poverty-stricken, farmers in areas like sub Saharan Af rica and South Asia, the process pro vides income and a way to earn their livelihood by restocking forests rather than clearing them for crops. Today, the app is used by more than 4,700 ‘growers worldwide and has the back Ing of the World Bank. —K.8 SS Slee user 24, 2021Without the Chicken ‘ARTURO ELIZONDO ~ FOUNDER AND CED, THE EVERY COMPANY oO inety-nine percent of farmed animals in the US. are raised on factory farms—and most never see the sun or walk on grass. As a young intern at the US. Department of Agriculture, Elizondo learned that more than one million animals are slaugh- tered per hour at USDA facilities, and that animal agriculture is the number one contributor to deforestation and species ex- tinction. “I knew there had to be a way to make protein without, destroying the planet in the process,” he says. After more than six years of research, the startup he founded to devise a solution is finally coming out of its shell: This October, ‘The EVERY Company launched the first animal-free egg protein, made by infusing a 3D-printed DNA sequence of chicken egg pro: tein into yeast and then fermenting it, similar to the way brewers make beer. The end result isa protein that food and beverage mak ers can add to their products for nutrition, without the obvious taste of traditional alternate proteins. The process doesn't require animals and uses less water, land and energy than factory farms do. Says Elizondo: “The only way to truly transform our food system was to meet people egg xactly where they're at.” —M.c. PLANET PROTECTORS Tech Help for Food Insecurity avro nucHes FOUNDER, PLANTUTLLAGE Penn State entomologist David Hughes ‘originally started PlantVilage as aside hustle to his main work researching ant fungus (his early Twitter handle:"@ ZombioAntGuy’). But the initiative, ‘hich leverages Al. mobile phones, drones, stelites and nanotechnology tohelp small farmers combat plant diseases that threaten their crops, has since become his main gig—and passion, The greater goal: to help end {lobal food insecurity, which has 41 milion people on the brink of famine, according tothe World Food Program. ‘Among PlantVillage’s innovation: ‘2 UN-backed app Nuru (Swahili for Tigh) that uses Alo help fermers, mostly in Arica, diagnose, treat and track plant diseases, Last year, when historic swarms of ocusts posed a major Fisk to crops in Kenya, Ethiopia and ‘other countries, Hughes’ team quickly created another app, eLocust3M., to track and forecast the insects’ move: ment, helping ave food for 40 milion people. According to users. Hughes says, the two apps together have increased farm profits by 160 to 500 percent. Even bigger initiatives ie ahead. At the (COP26 climate conference last month, the US. Agency for International Devel- ‘opment awarded $39 milion to establish the Feed the Futuee Innovation Lab for Current and Emerging Threats to Crops at Penn State~to be led by Hughes ‘and powered by PlantVilage. KR. NEWSWEEK.COM 21HALL CIF -AMERS VISIONARIES HOSE CAREER-LONG ACTIONS HAVE HAD FAR-REACHING IMPACT Developing the Tech that Made COVID Vaccines Possible KATALIN KARIKG SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BIONTECH ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ATALIN KARIKO ADMITS | something” she says now: “I hoped that at the beginning of | that maybe I would live long enough 2020, when word began to | tosce one person who would benelit spread of anovel virus called COVID-19, | It has not been an easy path. Born she really didn't think it would turn | and educated in Hungary, she came Intoa pandemic. She wasas surprised | with her husband and daughter to Phi as anyone. But there was one differ- | adelphia in 1985, hoping to work her ence: She was ready. she'd been getting | way upasa research scientist studying ready, in a sense, for almost 40 years. | mRNA at Temple University But what Karik6, a molecular biologist, | wasthe stuf good for? stroke patients? had been working since her student | Cancers? Cyste fibrosis? Diabetes? All days on messenger RNA—mRNA for | of these and more,atleastin theory, bu short—a compound in living cells | mRNAwas stubbornly difficult to work that carries genetic instructions for | with, and early experiments failed. So making proteins for all sorts of pur- | grant money was hard to come by. poses. has turned out tobe the key | and without funding, the American Ingredient in the COVID-19 vaccines | system is unforgiving to young Ph.Ds. jointly made by Pfizer and BioNTech, | In a few years she moved to the Uni and by their competitor Moderna. | versity of Pennsylvania, where she “I thought this would be good for | bounced from lab to lab, once 2k | —— 22 © NEWSWEEK.coming a demotion when more senior scientists couldn't afford to keep her Then, in 1998, waiting to usea copy ing machine, she got to talking with Dr Drew Weissman, an immunologist who was trying to develop a vaccine for HIV, and thought her experience with mRNA might be helpful. They began to work together: (One of the difficulties with mRNA was that while it can get a cell to ‘make all sorts of proteins, it can also provoke a strong inflammatory reac tion, In 2005, Kariké and Weissman, Found a way to modify itso that It ‘wouldn't—a critical advance in mak ing mRNA vaccines possible. The med teal world paid little attention at the tume, but by 2013 she got a job offer from BioNTech, then a small German startup. They began to produce mRNA vaccines, When COVID-19 appeared and its genetic code was deciphered, Kariko’s colleagues were able to de velop the chemistry fora shot in Ie than a day By that time, we knew’ says There still needed to be clinical trials In the US. and other countries, but the selence behind mRNA vaccines had been established. “No ma ‘what vaccination we did—influenza, herpes, HIV—mRNA was so much better than anything available Now, with more than 200 mil lion Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, Karik6’s life is a succes. sion of award ceremonies, honorary lectures and declarations that she “saved the world.” Afterall those years struggle, she is the toast of the sei entific universe. She gotten choked upa few times at peo ple’ gratitude, but she fends off any stion that she's a hero, Rather, she wishes there had never been a pandemic to make her look ike one always think that the people who are the health care workers, who were taking care of the patients—they ‘were risking their lives every day." she says, “Me? I was not a hero. I never risked my life. went tothe lab” —.r its that she's “I thought this would be good for something. | hoped that maybe I would live long enough to see one person who would benefit.” NEWSWEEK.COM 23DIsRUPTORS Altering DNA to Cure Disease ENNIFER OOUDKA ~ CO-FOUNDER INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS In defending themselves against attack ing viruses, bacteria use a naturaly-oc- curring technique of slicing up a virus genetic material and pasting itnto their ‘own. Jennifer Doudna, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley ‘and co-founder ofthe biotechnology firm intelli, Found she could mimic this ‘technique to edit the DNA of humans— ‘adding, deleting or replacing new genetic instructions for human celle. This method of gene-eciting, known as CRIS: PR, has proven to be faster. cheaper and. more accurate than other approaches, It has already shaken up the word of life sciences, leading to new treatments for genetic diseases auch as sickle cel ane mia and some eye and lve diseases. For this work, Doudra and fellow researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize in chemistry last year. This summer, CRISPR was used to treat a rare disease directly ‘through an intravenous infusion, rather than having to remove cals, manipulate ‘them and reintroduce them ta the body, ‘28 current methods required. “t's @ clear indication that a new era of genetic medicine isnow upon us," says Doudna. “Tm hopeful that over the next few years, those results can be replicated to other target disease areas and organs such ‘as the brain and heart, where molecular delivery is more difficult.” KR, ° THE THOMAS EDISON OF THE TECH ERA UNDER, TESLA, SPACEX are at least two faces of Musk. One is the headline-grab ing rebel-without cause whose tasteless joke-tweets have drawn the ire of financial regulators, goaded Senator Bernie Sanders about tax policy ("I keep forgetting you're still alive") and compared outgoing Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to a victim of a Stalinist purge. Al that noise obscures the other side of Musk—the one who is, arguably the most prolific and disruptive technologist of the 2ist century. At 50, Musk has racked up an impressive string of firsts or near-firsts. He’ had a hand in building a pioneering digital payment system (PayPal), a reusable rocket (SpaceX) that carries astronauts and supplies for NASA and tourists, and a car company (Tesla) that has played an outsized role in bringing electric vehicles and battery technology for renewable energy into the mainstream. Even bolder ventures are in progress: artificial-intelligence enhancements to the human brain (Neuralink) and high-speed mass-transit tunnels for large cities (The Boring Company and Hyperloop). And he wants to send people to Mars. ‘Musk draws comparisons to Thomas Edison, who had a sim, ilarly broad impact and di ‘ult personality. Whereas Edison was by nature an inventor, Musk is more of an impresario, as- sembling the technical, business and investing talent he needs in service of a grand engineer's vision. —r.c.HALL OF FANERS Removing Carbon from the KLAUS LACKNER - DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR NEGATIVE CARBON EMISSIONS cite ies ofrenowngear bondety rom ears ‘away of putting the brakes on climate change in 1999, and he has been de voted to figuring out how ever since. His single vision can seem ike tilting at windmalls. The prospect of keeping up with the 33 billion tons of carbon the world releases into the atmosphere each year, let alone removing enough of it to return to pre-industrial levels, is daunting. But the vastness and urgeney of the prob: Jem argues for pursuing every avail able means. Lackner's leadership has helped focus some of the world’s best minds on carbon capture For years, Lackner, a professor at the School of Sustainable Engineer ing at Arizona State University, has worked to develop a mechanical tree that removes carbon dioxide a thousand times more efficiently than natural trees and requires no energy to operate. It relies on wind to blow alr past resin-encrusted discs, which absorb the greenhouse gas (to be eventually stored permanently ‘underground or reused in industrial processes). A Dublin-based tech com: pany, Carbon Collect, ot $25 million from the Department of Energy this, summer to build three “carbon farms’ of Lackner’ trees capable of captur: ing 1,000 tons of the substance each dday—about 1,844 American house. holds’ worth of emissions. Carbon capture is now moving into the mainstream, Elon Musk, Mi: crosoft and Occidental Petroleum have made large financial commit ‘ments in the last year to technologie for taking carbon directly from tht atmosphere, Currently 19 direct-ait capture plants are operating around the world, the largest of which came online in September in Iceland. The federal government offers tax credits and the infrastructure bill passed in November includes more than $10 billion for carbon-capture projects, including $3.5 billion to build four regional direct air capture hubs. It’s too early to know if carbon capture will ever amount to more than a drop in the climate bucket. But if someone eventually figures ‘out how to make it work at scale, ‘well all owea debt to Lackner. —K.2. The Hidden Figure Behind GPS GLaDys west — waTHewarzcran U.S. KAUAL PROVING GROUND Itshardto imagine a world without the lobal positioning systom, the network of saeltes whose signals provide our clgital devices wth the ability to deter- mine, with startling accuracy, the precise location of your car stuck traficon the Brookiyn-Queens Expressway o tag your pale on socal media. GPS wouldn't have been possible without the work of West, ‘a mathematician and computer scientist. In 1956, West became the second Black woman hired by the US, Naval Proving Ground, a weapons laboratory in Dahigren, Virginia, and one of just four Black employess. Sho wrote soft ‘ware fr submarine-aunched ballistic missiles and a program to calculate the Position of Pluto relative to Neptune, ‘which won accolades from her peers In 1978, she became the project manager of Seasat, an experimental satollite designed to demonstrate the feasibility of gathering data about the oceans from low-earth orbit. That project called for @ computer program that could precisely calculate the path ofthe satelite 9 it passed over the surface of the Earth, ith ts mountains ‘and platoaus and oceans. To accom: plish it, West first had to devise a way cof mathematically representing in dota the shape ofthe Earth that could be incorporated into the software. That pioneering work eventually led to GPS, now essential to digital systems that use location tracking—of ‘trucks, packages, cellphones, missiles ‘and airplanes. onically, West het= self, who was inducted into the US. Air Force Hal of Fame in 2018 and recently tuned 91, prefers navigating by oldfashioned paper maps. —MC. NEWSWEEK.COM 25DIsRUPTORS Globalizing. Streaming Content BELA BAJARIA — HEAD OF GLOBAL TV, NETFLIX Ho WOULD HAVE GUESSED | in television. Show by show, she and that the breakout hits on | her colleagues are changing our view American television this | ing diet. In the last two years, the year would be Squid Game, a survival | company says American viewing of story from Korea, and Lupin,a French | non-English language programs has thriller about a Black gentleman | grown 67 percent. Viewing of Japa thief? Even Bela Bajaria says there | nese anime in the US. has doubled: ‘was no way to predict it, But as the | so-called K-dramas from Korea have head of global television at Netflix, | tripled, Competitors say they've seen it'sher job to find the next big show— | similar trends—shows from one coun and if it comes from an unexpected | try doing remarkably wel elsewhere corner of the planet, all the better. COVID-19 has obviously played a “There has been this pervasive idea | role: People hunkered down at home that only Hollywood exports stories, | and looked for interesting things to which I find really limits whe tell those stories” Bajaria says, "We're | Mexico trended on TIKTok or turned pushing beyond that and opening | up on best-shows-to-binge-on lists the doors to creators of all different | people binged on it. Netflix makes i getsto | watch. Ifa series from Germany or types around the world,” easy 10 cross borders; it dubs shows PEOPLE Netflix isthe world’ largest stream: | in 34 languages and offers subtitles WHO ARE USING ing service, which makes Bajariaone | in 37. Subscribers can see a larger TECHNOLOGY of the most influential programmers |_ slice of the world asa result TO CHANGE THE CULTURAL CONVERSATION —ARADICSM SHIF=TEFRS 26 © NEWSWEEK.comBajaria knows a bit about world views from childhood experience She was born in London to parents who had come from India. They moved to Zambia when she was lit tle, and brought her to Los Angeles when she was 9 years old, "I was this Indian brown gir] and I also had a British accent, and that was too many things at an age when fitting in felt more important,” she says. “When you're a kid, you just want to belong. So I ended up watching a lot of TV to get rid of my accent She says she learned American cul ture by binging on Bewitched and The Brady Burch—and sounded like other Americans in two months. ‘Now she say, “I embrace being dif ferent and think itis superpower. My ‘9.yearold self didn't know that.” Remember that television is still beyond that el opening the doors to creators of all different types around the world.” very much a business, and Netflix, with something like 175 million vie ers in the US. (the company is selec tive about what numbers it releases), is now growing most rapidly in other countries $0 it’ looking for Brazilian shows that attract Brazilian vie ‘or Spanish shows that will buld a fol lowing in Spain. If that also means a more diverse offering of programs for subseribers in Tennessee or New Jer It may broaden viewers’ perspec tives, but it also helps the bottom Line. Siil says Bajaria, “The good news is it'snot an either/or. The variety, qual ity and authenticity of our local con tent drives our business, And at the same time, great television isa mirror and a window, We think more people deserve to see themselves represented ‘onscreen, and that’s the mirror part.” So what kept Bajaria watching Squid Game? (If you haven't seen it the story, as told by director Hwang Dong-hyuk, involves people, down on their luck, forced to play chil dren’s games with win-or-die conse quences.) Did she react to it because it was different? Or because it was familiar? Bajaria says it was a bit of both. Hwang, she says, “made a very specif ic local story that was deeply Korean, but those ideas and themes connect ed much more broadly” —NP. NEWSWEEK.COM 27DIsRUPTORS IGNITING A SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT WITH A CELLPHONE DARNELLA FRAZIER ~ SOCIAL ACTIVIST G razier was not the first person to witness an act of police bru- tality, record it and have the recording go viral—that action dates back at least 30 years, to 1991, when Rodney King’s beating by LAPD officers was filmed by a bystander on a nearby balcony. But Frazier is the one who, by taking a cellphone video of George Floyd's killing by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, then posting it on Facebook, ignited a social justice and police re form movement that continues to this day—and who has inspired countless others to reach for their cellphones when they witness or are involved in racist encounters or acts of police violence. Since Floyd's death, Frazier, now just 18 years old, has received numerous accolades for her actions, including a special Pulitzer Prize this year for “highlighting the crucial role of citizens in jour nalists’ quest for truth and justice.” She's mainly stayed out of the spotlight, though, choosing instead to continue to quietly shine alight on racism, police misconduct and, occasionally, random acts of kindness, via posts on her Facebook feed. She's also still grappling with the personal impact of what she calls “a traumatic life-changing experience,” writing in a poignant post on the an: niversary of Floyd's death: “It changed how I viewed life. It made me realize how dangerous it is to be Black in America.” —M.<. (ATTE PAUL ~ OTRECTOR TECH TRANSPARENCY PROJECT ‘Trained as an anthropologist, Katie Pau road to becoming a socal media and big tech watchdog began with witnessing ‘the traficking of ancient artifacts, often ‘through Facebook groups inthe Middle East and North Afica, Now she and her team atthe Tech Transparency Project are ‘ryingto hold tech companies ike Face- book, Google, Apple and Amazon account able for adver influence and criminal ‘etsy that eccurson their platforms. For instance, in 2020, TTP issued several reports about miltia groups using Facebook to orgaize and recruit that put pressure on Facebook to ban these ‘groups and program their algoithm to flag keywords lke Boogeloo, the name ofa fr Fight anti-government extromist movement This yar, they\ve spurred Facebook to change its ad policies aftr finding thatthe site allowed minor tobe targeted by con tent promoting anorexia alcohol, gambling ‘and pil parties. "When they announced these changes under pressure, we dat just congratulate ourselves and move ‘on, We went back and examined them _2gsin, mostly o find that they din follow through on thir promises," says Paul, ‘echoing revelations made in September by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen ‘thatthe company continues to prioritize profit over stemming misinformation, polit ical polarization and criminal activity. Sil, Paul and TTP, anintative ofthe nonprofit Campsign for Accountability, plan to continue iting. Recently they ve released new reports on militia groups and toon targeting. 25 wll as tackling human smuggling and Apple's covert lobbying to prevent legato forcing changesin its ‘appstore KR.Apps for the Trans Community KATHERINE ANTHONY CO-FOUNDER, CEO, EUPHORTA Shefound her ishing there was an app that could help, “There wasn't anything at the time that helped synthesize all the infor mation regarding transition, life in ‘the US. asa trans person, or even just keeping track of all of my goals," she says, So she set about building it her self with help from her co-founder and friend Patrick McHugh, Their company, Euphoria, now runs a suite of five free apps used by an es: ‘timated 80,000 transgender peoplein the US, or about one in every 25. The flagship app, Solace, aims to bea com: pendium for gender transition, offer ing such useful information as how to find health insurance coverage and get legal assistance to change a name. Bliss, ‘anew app that launched November 15, isa tool for putting money aside for future goals such as hormone therapy or gender confirmation surgery. Also in the works: a platform focused on mental health. Overall, Anthony sa the response has been positive, with user polling showing that the apps have helped reduce stress and other negative emotions and “helped alot of people become who they are.” —K.R. PARADIGH SHIFTERS CELEBRATING BEAUTY Ltzz0= siycer-enrree, aovocare Forget body positivity. Lizo, the singer rapper turned style icon, ie lsing social media to advocate “body neutrality" and she's doing it just like she does everything e'se—fiercely ‘The goal is to get people to embrace ‘amore inclusive definition of beauty and ta decrease pressure, as Lizzo said ea: fr this year, "to show a digitally distorted version of ourselves, reinforcing the idea that our beauty in real life isnot good enough” And she's using Twitter and Instagram a8 her megaphone, with posts showcasing her curves, hr fashion sen- sibility, her twerking prowess and her point of view. Then there was the unedit fed nude selfiein April, posted when she announced her involvement in Doves Self-Esteem Project. More recently, IN ALL FORMS he's posted videoclips admorishing “the haters" in her latest single “Rumors” (sample lyri: "While you're spending al your time tryna break a woman down/ Realershitis going on, baby, take look around") and of her appearance at Art Basel, where she created a painting with her behind and appeared onstage ina white-sequined leotard with the ‘words "The Body" emblazoned anit Lizzos message's one of se accep- tance and ultimately, es she told Essence ina cover story out this month, shed Tike to help sift the cultural conver- sation away from how people look to their inner beauty, “I's exhausting.” she sai, "And that's the point. [don't ‘want fo tak about this anymore, We should be neutral about bodies.” -00, NEWSWEEK.COM 29AFRTISTI FADVOCSAT Making Sure Musicians Get a Fair Shake Via Blockchain DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR and the many, many others who have to do something else to pay the bills. That was true in the days of Mozart, who died in debt. It was true in the golden age of rock music, when re cord companies promoted a few stars like The Beatles and Michael Jackson And it’ still true in the age of Spoti fy, Apple Music and other stream services, when most musici pennies for their work, If you're on Spotify right now. listening to my band, you'd have to for me to beable to buy a single cup of coffee,” said Joey La Neve DeFran cesco of the punk rock group Down town Boys during a protest in March. m one of our songs 786 tim: George Howard, a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, is out to make the future more just. He's introducing new technology to make sure musictans get a fair shake v's tragic thrust in all my work these days is to ensure that no more will any of us create tools or applications forartists inthe room.” he says. "My main without artists bel GEORGE HOWARD BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC Howard's experience includes heading up an independent record label and advising clients such as Na tional Public Radio and singer Carly Simon. More lotof his time in blockchain—the on line technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Although blockchain is mostly used for finan cial transactions, Howa can also be used for copyrights and contracts to protect artists and help them earn more money. The advantage of Blockchain is that 1's decentralized, There's no middle- ‘man to takea percentage and no con trolling banks or record companies to slow things down, Howard and colleagues at Berklee and MIT have cently, he's invested a says it “I’ve never been more optimistic.” started a blockchain platform called RAIDAR, designed to help musicians connect with potential clients (per haps filmmakers or video game de signers who need theme music) and get paid for their work withoutlosing, ‘ownership. When a client wants to license music, a record of the trans action is kept on multiple computer servers connected online—Iiterally a chain of ledgers, or “blocks” That keeps everyone honest, because if ‘one block is altered it won't match the others, The blockchain uses “smart ccontracts"—computer programs that issue licenses and process payments. For now, RAIDAR ia pilot program for students. But Howard says he hopes to influence a new generation (of musicians to “lean into technolo He tells young artists that they don’t need a recor -ompany label if they can leverage technology to help spread their mameand get gigs. { is no longer acceptable for an artist to go, ‘All'm going to dois just becomea master at my instrument’? he says In the future he envislons artists moving from the stage and the record ing studio to the metaverse, an online world where virtual performances may someday be as energizing as alive event. That kind of technology could put musicians in direct contact with Tanger audiences, giving them a chance to profit with fewer intermediaries. I've never been more optimis Howard says, “but it’s only going to ‘work wellif the artists are part of the 7 creation process.” NEWSWEEK.cOM 31DIsRUPTORS A PLATFORM FOR FANS TO SPONSOR THEIR FAVORITE ARTISTS ACK CONTE, SAM YAM —CO-FOUNDERS, PATREON ACK IN 2013, MUSICIAN JACK. | to-determine the artis’s next project Conte spent 50 days recreat- | and other perks. Says Conte: "We're ing the Millennium Falcon | allowing people to makea living do- from Stars Wars for a music video, | ing what they love." maxingout credit cardsand draining | — Patreon really took off during the his savings to fund his vision, even | pandemic when artists stymied by though he knew he'd likely earn just | the inability to earn income from {$100 from it via YouTube ads. I got | concerts, festivals, galleries, craft sick thinking about all ofthis time,en- | markets and other public gathering ergy, money and for what!? $100? The | spaces, turned to the site as a lifeline creative system was clearly broken for | Creators have joined in record num: artists, There had to bea better way" | bers over the past two years, bringing Conte's solution, built with former | thecurrent total to 250,000, support: college roommate Sam Yam,an expe- | ed by some 8 million fans; artists rienced coder and start-up veteran: | earnings over the period have tripled Patreon, a firstof-its-kind platform | aswel, according to the site. Next up: ‘that allows fans to directly spon- | Conte is planning an offering that sor their favorite musicians, artists, | will alow creators to host videos di gamers and other creators via a re- | rectly on the ite (vs. uploading from curring monthly or annual member- | third-party platforms) and has teased ship, often in exchange for exclusive | interest in diving into cryptocurren: access, bonus content, voting rights | cy with its own digital token. ADigital Showcase for Black Artists KINBERLY onEW ACTIVIST anb cugaToR vorce Working atthe intersection of tech, art and activism, Drew has spent her career so far—she's just a decade out of college—work- ing to innovate within the art world institutions, to ensure fair and diverce art represen tation ina digital age and, particular, to amplify the work of Black creators. As she puts it "Ihave tried my best to. use igital communications to invite broader audiences into conver sations about art and culture." ‘That work started in 2011 With Drew's Tumblr blog called Black Contemporary Art which ‘made a big splash in the art world by showeasing digitized fart by and about people of ‘rican descent. She also spent three years asthe social media ‘manager forthe Metropolitan ‘Museum of Art (her own Twitter handle: @museummammy). Now she's one of the inaugural curators ofthe residency pro: fram at Voice, an environmentally friendly NFT platform, working on NET projects from emerging Black ereators lke Devin N. Mor- Fis, UniQu3 and Papi Juice. an ‘art collective that aims to affirm and celebrate the lives of queer and trans people of color. Drew says, "Each ofthese artists has had a profound impact on the world and 'm honored t play ‘a small part in supporting their work in the NFT space" —M. DECEMBER 24, 2021 ]ARTISTIC ADVOCATES ASafe, Open Marketplace for Digital Art CO-FOUNDERS, OFENSEA 2021 GOES DOWN IN THE HISTORY BOOKS as the year non-fungible tokens, or NFT, really took off —witness headline: making Is like Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days {ching $69 million at auction and Jack Dorsey's rst tweet selling for $2.9 million—OpenSea may ‘be the reason, Not because the site facilitated the sale of those instantly iconic works (it didn’), but because the platform, the first and largest NFT mar ‘ketplace, has provided a safe, open environment for all the other creators and collectors who want to get in on the digital art craze, ‘More than 90 percent of all purchases and sales of NFTs—which essentially represent proof of ownership for unique digital works of art stored ‘ona ledger known as a blockchain—now happen ‘on Opensea; in November, the site that Finzer and Atallah built surpassed $10 billion in all-time sales. ‘More mainstream artists and brands, like The ‘Weeknd and Vogue Singapore, have taken notice, launching NFTs on its marketplace. Success attracts competitors, including Coin: base, the world’s second largest crypto exchange, hich announced in October that i's building its ‘own NET marketplace. But OpenSea's founders are betting their formula will continue to be a winning ‘one. As Atallah told Yathoo!: We've suck to our core principles, which is building an open marketplace that allows developers to beas creative as they want. That provides safety measures for buyers, includ Ing the longest running collection, verification and. safety ists in the market.” —K.2. NEWSWEEK.COM 33E=NTERPRISS TS broadly, without a specific disease fo cus, knitting together researchers and Collaborative eee wae Tech to Develop New, irate Affordable Drugs es agencies inthe US. India, Brazil, U.K. and the European Union. Their goa PARA isto create and support a communi: ty that will “come together and work rapidly, collaboratively and in real AYKUMAR MENON ~ CO-FOUNDER, 01 rund worl theshow tar | oimetindsase ahh hcg th op smalls isanautagetha ion affee| (hepa orderings ey dug calaorton th pines the Lally help mitions of people realize | co-founder and pharmaceutical inno the “human right to healthcare In- | vation consultant, who put out aca spied by the software worlds concept | for open source drug development of ‘Open Source where developers | ina 2006 article in Nature, the scien make their code freely available for | tific journal few open source pro} capes others ouse adapt and sharin 2014, | ects followed, ncuing OpenSource It’s an outrage that hecofounded the OpenSource Phar. | Maria andthe Indian governments billions of people ma Youndation (OEP with ateam | Open Source Drug Discovery ro have no access to industryexperts Their goal:to revo. | theseand other efor has ger am the new vaccines. We | lutionize the way pharmaceuticals are | itions. Menon and company want to need a new model. developed by shifting research from | createa platform that promotes open expensive, proprietary, profit driven | source drug and vaccine development 34 NEWSWeEK.com DECEMBER 24, 2021DIsRUPTORS ENTERPRISING IDEALISTS 3EANPATY 3 Ser ack iump-Starting New Tech Hub ASHLEE SEPHUS ~ FOUNOER, THE BEAN PATH EE vires plotting a $150 million transforma tion of her hometown intoa new tech hub. I'san outgrowth of the Amazon AT scientist's work for the Bean Path, ‘a nonprofit she began in 2018 that has provided tech consulting to more than 500 local businesses and individ: uals as well as youth programs. This new side labor of love involves reno- vating eight buildings and putting up five new ones over the next three years. They will house an innovation center for tech skills, an electronics lab, a photo studio, apartments, restaurants anda grocery store. ‘By 2025, Sephus hopes to have cre ated 1,100 jobs in tech and the arts, 450 housing units, 20 grocery stores and restaurants and added more than 3.5 acres of event and green space to the area. The city has kicked In a $250,000 grant; Sephus has put in $500,000; and Amazon, Entergy, Airbnib, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and several local partners are also backers. If successful, the venture could provide a model for other cities, But for Sephus the motivation comes from wanting “people educated in the state to have similar opportunities in STEM within the state as they do out side of it” she says. “Lastly, | wanted more people who looked like me or hada similar background, tobea part ofthe tech movement and have thelr fair chance at innovation.” —K.2. 36Fighting Digital Stop-and-Frisk ATT MITOMELL FOUNDER, CRYPTONARLEM Over-palcing of marginalized neigh borhoods doesrit just happen on the streets: I's a serious issue online oo. ter the murder of George Floyd, cope routinely scoured socal media for pro tester names and locations, @ phenome: non Mitchell cali “digital stop and frisk ‘Since 2013, Mitchell has una clinic in Manhattan called CryptoHariem, providing encryption tools and cyberse- curity workshops. During last summer's racial reckoning, CryptoHarlem created guides to help protesters across the country protect their digital identities. “As hackers, we don't have the most faith inlaws and how they are enforced,” aye Mitchel, a former data journalist at The New York Times. “But we know that polieyand law isan important front of the fight against surveillance Mitchell believes that Black ‘communities act as beta-testers for powerful surveillance tools that might s00n become ubiquitous. CryptoHar- lem works withthe American Civil Liberties Union on surveillance and privacy legislation, euch asthe Public Oversight of Survilance Technology ‘et, which New York City passed in 2020 o increase transparency in police surveillance. “Now we just have shard time enforcing it and getting the NYPD to.cooperate," Mitchel says. “So Cryp- toHtariem ison the streets taking photos, researching tech, making sure what we see is what has been declared.” MS, FINTECH HELP FOR LOW-INCOME AMERICANS 2UWMY CHEN — FOUNDER AND CEO, PROPEL EFORE CHEN FORMED PROP pel and launched its signa ture free app, EBT Fresh, in 2016, the convenience of mobile bank- ing had passed food stamp recipients by. Even though benefits areawarded in the form of an Electronic Benefit ‘Transfer card, which acts ikea prepaid debit card loaded with food stamps or cash, the more than 41 million people who participate in SNAR, the US. food stamp program, had no way of check ing their benefits balance except by calling toll ree number or manually relogging into.a website each time. “L wondered why there wasn't a ‘mobile banking app for the EBT ca says Chen. “You probably don’t call your bank to check the balance of your account, why should you have to call the EBT card to know your balance?” ‘The app is now used by more than 5 million SNAP households and has helped SNAP recipients extend their benefits an extra day per month on average, a Harvard study found, This summer Chen launched a major ex pansion of the platform, now renamed Providers. Among the new offerings: afreedebit account with no monthly overdraft, minimum balance or inae- tivity fees nformation and updateson ‘government programs; direct deposit ‘of income and benefits, in some cases, three to five days early; and personal ized discounts. To support the service, ‘the company sells ads from health care, grocery and food companies. Says nominator Shannon Austin, a fintech consultant: Propel proves you can do good and also do well, and that tech nology has the potential to dramatical ly improve the financial lives of those who struggle"—xc NEWSWEEK.COM 37DIsRUPTORS High-Tech Poop Analysis to Improve Public Health ARIANA HATUS, NEWSHA GHAELT ~ CO-FOUNDERS, BLOBOT ANALYTICS viruses, bacteria and drugs are soon to become public health concerns, But getting at that data requires de tecting extremely low quantities of drugs and viruses, Matus and Ghaeli have developed highly-sensitive technology that can not only detect small levels but also tease out subtle insights from the data. For instance, it can distinguish between opioids that people have taken versus those they've flushed down the toilet. The technology has proven invaluable in giving officials carly warning of disease outbreaks or rises in drug abuse, making it possible to target tests or treat ments where they're needed, It also provides a more complete picture of ‘what an area Is experiencing than other health surveillance and diag. nosis techniques. "Everyone has a volce in the sewer, where even hard ly reached and underserved popu lations can be taken into account, without bias,” says Nora D. Volkov, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Matus and Ghaelis company, Biobot Analytics, has analyzed the wastewater of 98 million Americans. It has been instrumental in identifying surges in COVID-19 before testing results are in. Over the summer, Biobot worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US, Department of Health and Human Services to sam ple more than 350 communities in 50 states and is actively testing in 140 communities, up from an initial seven 12020. The company has aso helped the World Bank establish wastewater analysis in Latin America. —K.2, ENTERPRISING IDEALISTS Making Voting Systems Safean Transparent BEX aDrOR DIRECTOR, vOTINGUORKS Many Americans are losing faith inthe ballot box-—and digital technology thet Provides no way of checking the results, Adida, a software engineer s working to restore that trust by bringing anew traneparency tothe tech: nology of voting machines. In 2018, Adida founded VotingWorks, a nonprofit that is building voting machines ‘and election management software that are fully open source, in which developers collaborate openly and make their code public. As Adida putsit, “Two voters in the fame town might disagree on ‘every issue yet vote using the same equipment. That equip ‘ment must be transparent, source code and all so every voter can trust the outcome.” VotingWorks developed a software tool, Arlo that ver fies voting results by compar ing randomized sampling of paper ballots with the cigital ‘machine count. VotingWorks hhas used Arlo to ausitelec- tion results in 10 states. This November, North Carolina ‘counties used the program to verify election results without retaining VotingWorks to manage the audit, suagesting the technology can be man ‘aged by local officals...FOOD PRESERVATIVES THAT AREN'T TOXIC AMES ROGERS FOUNDER AND CEO, APEEL SCIENCES ODAY, ONE IN NINE PEOPLE Bem around the world goes hun. produce is wasted each year. A de ago, Rogers, as a graduate student i materials science at UC Santa Barba ra, wondered why. "The problem was not in the growing of food, but keep. ing it viable once it was picked and port 10 ts final destination,” ys.A better solution than plastic tificial preservatives, s thought, was t0 “use food to food rs developed an invisible, protec is made up of lipids naturally found In the produce itself. Applied by spraying, dipping or brushing, the forms an invisible, odorless and edible (the FDA protective shield thai ture and resists oxidation. With the ive coating for produce that s I's safe) tains mois art, Costco, sompany has countries rtnerships in and recently raised funds to expand in Africa, Asia and Latin America Mc. NEWSWEEK.coM 39Master of the Metaverse DAVID BASZUCKI ~ CEO, ROBLOX MAGINE A WORLD IN | company Meta Platforms, Microsof which you can beanyone | is moving inas wel, youwant—asuperhero,a | Baszuckl Is years ahead of them, rock star,asciencefiction monster or | “We're creating a platform where aan angel. You can play games or meet | people don't just play, but they're uupwith friends. Youcan goanywhere | starting to learn together, work tc in this world in an instant. You can | gether, experience entertainment to live your fantasies. Atleast until your | gether” says Baszucki via email. "Us mother yells to turn off the computer | ers provide the variety—millions and and come to dinner. millions and millions of experiences, hat's the metaverse—a virtual | And its built on civility and safety reality online world defined, in part, | At a conference for software de bya computer engineer named David | velopers in October, Baszucki was in Jthecompany hestarted, | troduced, and loudly applauded, as Roblox Corp. Baszucki didn’t invent | “the one and only Builderman.” Buil the metaverse (the word was coined | det Baszuckia nan was his avatar—th comput by novelist Neal Stephenson in 1992), | er-generated character he created to but Roblox says it attracts 47 million | represent himself online in the ear activeusers ach day from around the | ly days of Roblox. But Roblox leaves ‘world—mostly children, who spent 11 | most of the “building” to the develop billion hours thereover three months | ers and the youngsters who use the last summer. Mark Zuckerberg of | site, much as social media sites let Facebook says the metaverse is the | you post your awn stuff. There may be future; in October he renamed his | morethan 30 million different games Uf 0 40 Newsweek.com DECEMBER 24, 2021“We're creating a platform where people learn together, work together, experience entertainment together.” ‘on Rablox, according to RTrack. The developers design games, stores, imaginary planets and such, and get paid if kids buy subscriptions and spend digital currency (‘Robux") on admission fees or digital merchandise. Baszucki, 58, schooled at Stanford, started an educational software com. pany in 1989 with his brother, teach ing kids basic science. “We saw that in addition to doing their physics homework, they were building stuff and creating stulf and watching what ‘would happen when acar ran intoa bullding,” says Baszuckl. That was the germ. He and a small team began ‘work in 2004 on what is now Roblox. When COVID hit, Roblow’s pop- larity exploded. It became a haven for kids in lockdown. By one estimate, twwo out of three children between the ages of 6 and 16 now have accounts. ‘They've made Basaucki a billionaire. If you log on, through a computer, ‘gaming console or VR headset, you'l find yourself in what resembles a vast, brightly colored video game. ‘Many beginners’ avatars are simple, like Lego figures, but Roblox provides tools to make them more elaborate. Reviewers generally say the Roblox metaverse is safe and welcoming but there have been cases of hate groups ‘or sex clubs on the site; the company saysit hasa safety team of more than 1,600 working to shut them down, A broader concern {s that as the metaverse becomes more and more enticing, the real world—with annoy: ances like work, exercise and human ccontact—will seem dreary. Over Hal loween weekend, Roblox had a mas sive outage, and social media sites filled with Jokes about the horror of children having to go outside and see ‘each other. Baszucki apologized and said his young users quickly returned, “Together,” he tells fans, “weare the architects of pla.” —N.t NEWSWEEK.COM 41DIsRUPTORS EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES IN ESPORTS owiNe Up, razto was A | traditional spots, we had to fx the B Carty level soccer ployer, | secs gp in teclogy ao sas Which he says helped him | ‘Toward thatend, Fazlo.a software get into college and see the world. | engineer, bul Nerd Street Gamers, “What was most profound about soe | a national network of faelites certo me, though, was how itequal. | that provides affordable accesso teed oppectunites for everyone, no | highauelltyequlpment, and hott n matter their background” tournaments and training camps. So i ‘Now Fazio saimingtodothesame | far,200 gamers have gone on ftom Gaming for ADHD thingfortheburgeoningesportsndus- | Nerd stret programming to profes trywherecompetitve video gamers | slonal careers and college scholar Epore MARTUCCT vle for recognition and prize money, | ships. This year, the company con: Anan GATENLAY, uTT OMEUNZCE, some supersiarpayersearnasmmuch | tInues in high growth mode, alsing as top pro athletes and viewership | $115 milion to expand its gales rls har of tition spor, One | ports platform, which offers Hrtof tigimpedimentforaspring gamers: | tind low-cost acess o coaching Akilis EndeavorRX, i the first—and 0 far, onlyvideo game approved ference ei the expensive equipment required to | campsand virtual tournaments, and ‘as amedical treatment inthis case practice, “I realized that if competi- | opening a new 35,000-square-foot for Attention-deficithyperactivity tive video games were going o be the | training and tournament esports disorder (ADHD) in children ages 8 sees | cametype of opportunity equalizer as | campus in Philadelphia. —M.G. {0 12. As company spokesperson Julie DiCarlo puts it, "For the first time, technology isnot just deliver- ing medicine, but is the medicine.” ‘Created with neurescientst Gezze ley's research and art director Omer nick’s game design, EndeavorRX is a racing game that uses sensory stimuli ‘and motor challenges to target the part ofthe brain that plays key role in attention function; as children play over time, algorithms adapt to their progress ‘and personalize the treatment. After seven years of trials and a handful of peer-reviewed studies—in ono, two: thirds of parents reported improve ment in attention after two months of ‘eatment-the FDA approved the game last year and it became widely available in 2021, via a doctors prescription for use on iPhones, iPads and Android dovices. Noxt up: Akil is exploring digital therapeutic treatments for other conditions like multiple sclaross, de pression and COVID “brain fog.” -M.G. 42° NEWSWeEK.coMFUN 6 GAMERS Taking High Fashion Digital DARIA SHaPOvALOVA, NATALIA NODENOUA FOUNDERS, DRESSX It's a familiar trend to fashion istas: Buy an outfit, show it off om Instagram, then return or trash it~an often expensive and environmentally destruc tive habit (the fashion industry is one of the world's biggest polluters) Shapovalova and Madenova are hoping to change that cycle, working with high-fashion brande and 30 designers to create a ‘marketplace ofcgital styles that cost a fraction of what consumers would pay for physica clothing and acces- sories (prices typically range from around $20 to $50), Hera’s how it works: Shop pers digitally “try on” clothing ‘made of pixals ve. tertiles via an augmented-reality tool choose their items, then send in @ photo of themselves. Within a day or two, an image of them “wearing” the outfit arrives via emai, ready to 'bo shared on socal media In addition toits own de- signs, DRESSX features outfits from more than 100 designers, including Patrick McDowell, Gary James McQueen and The Fabricant; this yearit’s also partnering with the luxury retail platform Farfeteh on a pre-order campaign of digitized looks from brands like Dalee & Gabbana and OFF White, ‘Aso in the works: an NFT offering on Crypto.com that will include limited-edition styles through a dedicated digital storefront. MG, NEWSWEEK.coM 4344° Newsweek.comFlexible Electronics That Could Someday Be Part of Your Body JIE XU — ASSISTANT SCIENTIST, ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY to be rigid anymore, It’s going to be soft, comfortable. It can even be bio. compatible ike our tissue or skin From her base at Argonne Nation al Laboratory neat Chicago, Xu is plo neering flexible, skin like electronics that could someday transform peopl lives. Implantable sensors or biochem ical pumps, assist devices to increase mobility or support weakened limbs— all ofthese could work much better if not for the tough, sometimes brittle clrcultry they need inside to function, Think of the circuit boards in com puters, Or the wiring for heart pace makers, which have been lifesaving t0 many people, but also uncomfortable. They make electronics and biology ‘seem like opposites. Xu and her col “The next generation of electronics is going to be soft, comfortable.” leagues are out to change that The killer applications, in my mind, she says, “are technology like robotics or prosthetics with skin-lke, electronic, functional coverings, and also soft medical sensors that we ‘can put on our skin or implant into sponse. That's going to be the goal Xu, 33, was born in a small town in China, and says she became fascinated asa student with the chemistry of very small things. She says it was adisadvan- tage to be a girl, but she had the advan tage of a very good education. After she {got her Ph. in 2014 at Nanjing Univer sityshe moved to Stanford in California to bea postdoctoral researcher. There n 2018, she anda team reported they'd fAgured out how to make flexible cir cuits from polymer semiconductors— sheets of electronics that kept work: ng if they were bent, twisted or even stretched to tw Polymers are materials made of long repeating chains of molecules, and they're often pliable. Wool, nylon and polyester are all polymers. o are rubber and many plastis, Scientists say there are myriad possible uses, How about fingertips fora prosthetic hand UDDING PTOFRS that give the wearer a sense of touch? (Oraflexible smartphone that bends in stead of breaking in one’s back pocket and won't scare you half to death Ifyou

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