Works in Progress
@worksinprogress.bsky.social
Works in Progress is an online magazine about new & underrated ways to improve the world. worksinprogress.co
Learn more about this breakthrough on our website (link in bio).
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Learn more about this breakthrough on our website (link in bio).
Guy Suits, General Electric’s director of research, overruled them and approved the funds. Shortly after, Project Superpressure would make its breakthrough.
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Guy Suits, General Electric’s director of research, overruled them and approved the funds. Shortly after, Project Superpressure would make its breakthrough.
On the third occasion that the project manager asked for more money, General Electric’s research managers, having seen no tangible results and skeptical of future success, almost unanimously voted to discontinue their support.
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
On the third occasion that the project manager asked for more money, General Electric’s research managers, having seen no tangible results and skeptical of future success, almost unanimously voted to discontinue their support.
Four years of intense experimentation followed, during which Project Superpressure exhausted all of its original research budget and two additional funding allocations.
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Four years of intense experimentation followed, during which Project Superpressure exhausted all of its original research budget and two additional funding allocations.
In 1950, the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, assembled a consortium of chemists, physicists, and engineers to form Project Superpressure, an effort to synthesize diamonds in the lab.
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
In 1950, the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, assembled a consortium of chemists, physicists, and engineers to form Project Superpressure, an effort to synthesize diamonds in the lab.
It benefits us all for there to be enough new people in each generation to sustain our way of life. Learn more about parenting as a public good on our website (link in bio).
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 PM
It benefits us all for there to be enough new people in each generation to sustain our way of life. Learn more about parenting as a public good on our website (link in bio).
It is assumed that when individuals decide to reproduce, they are the ones who benefit, and they are the ones responsible for the costs. But this way of looking at things neglects that the private decision to have a child has an important positive externality.
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 PM
It is assumed that when individuals decide to reproduce, they are the ones who benefit, and they are the ones responsible for the costs. But this way of looking at things neglects that the private decision to have a child has an important positive externality.
Smaller populations are linked to slower technological development, and ageing populations seem to distort countries’ balance of political power and turn priorities away from the ambitious investments in infrastructure and innovation that we will need to face the challenges of climate change.
August 2, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Smaller populations are linked to slower technological development, and ageing populations seem to distort countries’ balance of political power and turn priorities away from the ambitious investments in infrastructure and innovation that we will need to face the challenges of climate change.
Learn more about through running in our latest issue (link in bio).
July 31, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Learn more about through running in our latest issue (link in bio).
Through running is one of the most important themes in modern transport policy. Within ten kilometers of the center of Munich, there are 1.6 million people who are served by 284 stations and 194 tram stops, all of which receive a fast, frequent service.
July 31, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Through running is one of the most important themes in modern transport policy. Within ten kilometers of the center of Munich, there are 1.6 million people who are served by 284 stations and 194 tram stops, all of which receive a fast, frequent service.
In Germany, the response to this problem was the Munich S-Bahn, which linked together 12 pre-existing suburban branch lines with a 4.3-kilometer-long tunnel. Using tunnels to link pre-existing lines in this manner is known as through running.
July 31, 2025 at 11:33 AM
In Germany, the response to this problem was the Munich S-Bahn, which linked together 12 pre-existing suburban branch lines with a 4.3-kilometer-long tunnel. Using tunnels to link pre-existing lines in this manner is known as through running.
Across the world, many cities now puzzle over how they can pay for the vast costs of developing an all-new metro system to provide easy inner city access.
July 31, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Across the world, many cities now puzzle over how they can pay for the vast costs of developing an all-new metro system to provide easy inner city access.
However, unlike the Orphan Drug Act, the accelerated approval pathway in the MUMS Act far surpassed what existed before.
Head to our website (link in bio) to learn how the MUMS Act radically altered the future of drug safety not only for animals, but also for humans.
Head to our website (link in bio) to learn how the MUMS Act radically altered the future of drug safety not only for animals, but also for humans.
July 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
However, unlike the Orphan Drug Act, the accelerated approval pathway in the MUMS Act far surpassed what existed before.
Head to our website (link in bio) to learn how the MUMS Act radically altered the future of drug safety not only for animals, but also for humans.
Head to our website (link in bio) to learn how the MUMS Act radically altered the future of drug safety not only for animals, but also for humans.
Like the Orphan Drug Act, the MUMS Act created an accelerated approval pathway for drugs targeting neglected conditions or neglected species, offered grants and tax credits to offset the costs of the trials necessary to get the drugs approved, and extended marketing exclusivity rights.
July 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Like the Orphan Drug Act, the MUMS Act created an accelerated approval pathway for drugs targeting neglected conditions or neglected species, offered grants and tax credits to offset the costs of the trials necessary to get the drugs approved, and extended marketing exclusivity rights.
Recognizing the obstacles to releasing drugs for animals (the inexperience of the FDA and small monetary rewards), the animal health industry started working from the 1990s on creating an animal equivalent to the Orphan Drug Act.
July 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Recognizing the obstacles to releasing drugs for animals (the inexperience of the FDA and small monetary rewards), the animal health industry started working from the 1990s on creating an animal equivalent to the Orphan Drug Act.
The Orphan Drug Act was intended to fix this. First, it created regulatory fast tracks, including an accelerated approval pathway. Second, it sought to minimize low revenue potential by offering tax credits and a greater length of time for market exclusivity.
July 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The Orphan Drug Act was intended to fix this. First, it created regulatory fast tracks, including an accelerated approval pathway. Second, it sought to minimize low revenue potential by offering tax credits and a greater length of time for market exclusivity.
But even though it is no longer a superpower, the demographic decline didn’t hold back France’s economy. It is still a major economic power.
Demographic decline does not inevitably lead to the death of civilisation.
Demographic decline does not inevitably lead to the death of civilisation.
April 16, 2025 at 4:09 PM
But even though it is no longer a superpower, the demographic decline didn’t hold back France’s economy. It is still a major economic power.
Demographic decline does not inevitably lead to the death of civilisation.
Demographic decline does not inevitably lead to the death of civilisation.
If the fertility transition had come a century later, there would be 250 million Frenchmen – more than Russia or Japan or Brazil. There would also be 320 million people of French ancestry abroad.
April 16, 2025 at 4:09 PM
If the fertility transition had come a century later, there would be 250 million Frenchmen – more than Russia or Japan or Brazil. There would also be 320 million people of French ancestry abroad.
We know this from language used in wills: did testators refer to God and Paradise and ask for perpetual Masses? Or did they use secular language?
Ideas, not Napoleon, were what caused France to stop being a superpower.
Ideas, not Napoleon, were what caused France to stop being a superpower.
April 16, 2025 at 4:09 PM
We know this from language used in wills: did testators refer to God and Paradise and ask for perpetual Masses? Or did they use secular language?
Ideas, not Napoleon, were what caused France to stop being a superpower.
Ideas, not Napoleon, were what caused France to stop being a superpower.