Posts

A $100 Genome and a Courthouse Brawl:

Image
Scrappy San Diego startup goes toe-to-toe with gene-sequencing giant Illumina – San Diego Union-Tribune I now have comprehensive source material. Let me write the article. San Diego Startup Takes On Illumina's Sequencing Empire BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): San Diego-based Element Biosciences, founded by three former Illumina executives, has unveiled the VITARI — a benchtop DNA sequencer promising whole-genome reads at $100, half the price of Illumina's flagship instrument. The product launch lands as both companies wage a multi-front legal war spanning California, Delaware, and Germany, with Element alleging Illumina is illegally deploying its near-monopoly to stifle competition, and Illumina alleging Element is profiting from stolen intellectual property. The conflict raises fundamental questions about competition, innovation, and the governance of a technology increasingly central to medicine and biological research. SAN DIEGO — On February 19, 2026, Element Bioscience...
Post a Comment
Read more

High Tech Middle North County Students Document Community Change Through Multimedia Project

Image
High Tech Middle North County Students Document Community Change Through Multimedia Project BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Sixth-grade students at High Tech Middle North County are conducting a two-month interdisciplinary study examining rapid development and population growth in North County San Diego, partnering with seven local businesses to create documentaries, articles, LEGO models, and topographical maps exploring how communities balance progress with preservation. The project culminates in a public exhibition March 26, 2025, and comes as the region grapples with major developments like LEGOLAND's tourism-driven growth and McClellan-Palomar Airport's controversial expansion that illustrate both benefits and challenges of regional transformation. SAN MARCOS, Calif. —In an ambitious project-based learning initiative, 335 middle school students are turning their attention to one of North County San Diego's most pressing questions: How does a community honor its past w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blood on the Road: How SANDAG's $125 Billion Transit Ideology Killed Highway Projects—and People

Image
Breaking down SANDAG’s $125 billion spending plan | KPBS Public Media Blood on the Road: How SANDAG's $125 Billion Transit Ideology Killed Highway Projects—and People Twenty-one years after San Diego voters approved $14 billion for highways and transit, the region's transportation agency has abandoned promised road safety improvements, diverted billions to urban rail projects serving 3% of commuters, and rigged governance to silence suburban communities—while dangerous rural highways continue claiming lives at an appalling rate. By [Staff Writer] San Diego County, CA — February 10, 2026 Five people died in flames on State Route 67 on July 18, 2025, when a wrong-way driver's Chevrolet Silverado crossed into oncoming traffic at high speed near Iron Mountain Drive in Poway. Roberto Martinez Oros, 68, of Ramona was killed instantly along with Marcial Rivera, his son Emmanuel Rivera, and two others when the three-vehicle collision sparked a brush fire. Twelve hours later,...
Post a Comment
Read more