Sat, 11/20/2021
Welcome to ‘Tech Roundup,’ where we highlight some of the most significant tech news items from Nebraska and the surrounding area. If you have a news item you would like to see in the Roundup, please email neil.rutledge@unl.edu.
Local/Regional
Ag Colleges Turn to Agribusiness, Industry Projects as Tax Dollars Dry Up
Nebraska Public Media
- Iowa State University has developed the Kent Corporation Feed Mill and Grain Science Complex, a working feed mill that serves as a chance to advance research on the process of how corn is turned into animal feed. They funded the enterprise with money from companies most likely to benefit from the advancements the mill could identify,
- As lawmakers across the country began to cut deeply into tax subsidies for higher education, ag schools have turned increasingly to places where they could get private money — particularly wealthy alumni and companies eager to promote research, training and facilities likely to benefit their industries.
As More Nebraskans Buy Electric Cars, Utilities Work to Keep Them Charged
Nebraska Public Media
- Purchases of electric vehicles in Nebraska grew more than 1,700% in the past 10 years by one count. The state’s power agencies are investing in charging stations to keep those cars and trucks fully charged.
- Officials want powerful public chargers to be no more than 75 miles apart to reassure drivers that they won’t find themselves stranded. Nebraska Public Power district, the state’s largest electric utility, installed five public-use stations in the past year and plans to install nine more within the next year.
- The utility is willing to pay up to half of the expenses for businesses to install a charger, and will also cut checks for private chargers in homes.
- “We know that in five to 10 years, almost everywhere is going to need some sort of electric vehicle charging station,” NPPD sustainable strategies consultant Chad Pinkelman said.
Viral traffic: Study reveals viruses’ grand theft of essential molecular motor
Nebraska Today
- The extraordinary smash-and-grab of a molecular motor from one type of cell may explain how herpesviruses power their way to the sanctuary-granting, replication-enabling nucleus of another, says a new study in the journal Nature.
- Nebraska’s Gary Pickard and Patricia Sollars, Northwestern’s Greg Smith and colleagues have been developing an alphaherpesvirus vaccine platform that recently outperformed another leading candidate in animal trials. That vaccine works in part by thwarting an especially diabolical quirk of alphaherpesviruses: their ability to enter the nervous system, where they take refuge from immune responses and persist for a lifetime in their hosts, human or otherwise.
Investment Firm Paid University to Study Farmland, One of Its Biggest Assets
Nebraska Public Media
- In 2013, mammoth U.S. investment company TIAA-CREF gave $5 million to the University of Illinois — to study an area of investment where the company has made a, sometimes controversial, name for itself.
- The money aimed to fund a research center, branded with the company’s name, that would explore the financial niche of farmland investment.
- However, there have been concerns. A report published by a nonprofit group concluded TIAA-CREF acquired property through working with a known land grabber in Brazil, an area of the world where the company is active.
- The company chose to invest at the University of Illinois because the state has no anti-corporate farming laws, which were passed in states like Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri in an effort to protect the farm interests of families and other “authorized” entities.
Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission Approves Solar Farm
Nebraska Public Media
- The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission approved what would be the biggest solar energy installation in Nebraska Wednesday.
- Solar panels will cover more than half of the about 3,000-acre land east of Lincoln. However, some neighbors don’t support the solar farm. In last month’s meeting, the board didn’t have enough votes to approve the permit for half of the project in the county’s zoning jurisdiction. Commissioner Dick Campbell motioned to decline the proposal Wednesday, but it didn’t pass.
UNMC Leading an International Study for COVID-19 Pill
Nebraska Public Media
- The University of Nebraska Medical Center has begun recruiting and screening for a COVID-19 prevention clinical trial. Lead researcher Dr. Diana Florescu is contributing to the international study of Molnupiravir, a COVID-19 pill.
- Dr. Florescu said a separate study looked at the same drug and its effectiveness for outpatient care following a confirmed COVID infection. Dr. Florescu and UNMC’s study examines the pill’s use for preventative care.
Local Startup Spotlight
- “VidaNyx offers cloud based digital video evidence management solutions. The first release is designed for the specific needs of Child Advocacy Centers, to provide technology innovation that supports the victims of childhood sexual assault and abuse in a collective effort with the National Children’s Alliance, Project Harmony, FBI, and an advisory council with expert attorneys, prosecutors, therapists, forensic interviewers, Child Advocacy Centers across the U.S., Government Officials and Philanthropists.”
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