Astera bets $500 million on how science works

On a happier note: This week the Astera Institute announced Radial, a new division committing up to $500M over the next decade to experimenting with how life sciences research is organized, funded, and shared. Early projects include open datasets for drug discovery, new infrastructure for protein dynamics data, and a publishing platform prototype. Alongside the launch, they are running an essay competition asking working scientists to identify systemic bottlenecks in their own research and propose ways to test solutions. The judging panel includes both owner-of-the-blog Matt Clancy and friend-of-the-blog Jacob Trefethen, and we encourage you to submit your best/most ambitious ideas.