Sewage has a long and storied history worldwide, from Mesopotamian clay pipes and Roman baths’ drainage to the 1.3 million miles of US sewer systems operating today. Popularized in the 1920s and revamped in the 1970s, stateside sewer systems haven’t changed all that much in the past four decades.

That is, until now: Sewers are getting the high-tech treatment in cities ranging from Salt Lake City to South Bend, Indiana, thanks to an emerging crop of tech and science startups helping detect area pathogens, offload unnecessary cleaning for public works teams, and even avert sewer flooding.

• It’s all part of a growing trend of cities investing billions to modernize sewage systems.

One example: An increasing number of US cities are using sound science to assess blockages in sewers by way of an acoustic device called the SL-RAT. Here’s how it works:

• Open up two neighboring maintenance holes and place the SL-RAT’s transmitter in one and the receiver in the other.
• During a three-minute assessment, the transmitter sends sound waves down the pipes, and the receiver picks them up. If the sound signal stays completely intact, the pipe is clear; if it’s garbled, there may be a blockage.

We’ve broken down three of the key technologies that cities are plunging into their deepest depths. Keep reading here.—HF

This story is part of our new package exploring smart cities—click here to view the full interactive series.

It’s been said that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but in the case of food megagiant Cargill, conventional wisdom does not appear to be a limiting factor.

Founded in 1865, Cargill has cemented itself as one of the country’s largest companies and food suppliers. But being a legacy food giant hasn’t stopped Cargill from trying to stay ahead of the technological curve.

In fact...The company—which reported $165 billion in revenue in 2022 and was ranked by Forbes as America’s largest private company in 2021—has invested in the field looking to disrupt conventional meat suppliers: alternative protein.

• In 2019, Cargill created an alt-protein division and placed Elizabeth Gutschenritter, a 17-year Cargill veteran, in charge.

“Cargill is a big ship, and then there are little boats. How do we create little boats around new categories, emerging trends, new technology, and innovation? How can those smaller boats help drive the bigger ship?” Gutschenritter, who led the company’s retail beef division before becoming managing director of alternative protein, told Emerging Tech Brew.

Read the full story on how Cargill is navigating the future of food.—JM

Investment in digital health has exploded in the past decade as the healthcare industry and consumers increasingly saw technology as a vital tool to potentially optimize everything from patient care to how we develop pharmaceuticals.

• Digital health tech has even permeated many of our everyday lives, with the rising popularity of telehealth services like BetterHelp and wearables like the Fitbit your mom bought you for Christmas in 2016. (Let’s be honest, you wore it religiously for three weeks and then never touched it again, right?)

Looking ahead: But analysts predict investors could be a bit pickier with their money in 2023.

While venture funding for digital health hit an all-time high last year—jumping to $29.2 billion in 2021 from $8.1 billion in 2019, according to data from digital-health seed fund Rock Health—2022 has been a sobering year. Funding dipped to $12.6 billion for the first three quarters, and Tom Cassels, CEO of the fund’s consulting arm, said he expects 2023 to be “pretty much in line with 2022.”

So, where might investors be aiming their dollars in 2023? Read Healthcare Brew’s story to find out.—MA, MS

Stat: Nearly seven in 10 US tech workers said they feel less confident about their job security now than they did a year ago, according to a survey run by Blind on behalf of Emerging Tech Brew.

Quote: “This is a watershed moment in the history of food.”—Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti after receiving the FDA’s first-ever approval for cultivated meat in the US. In May, we chatted with Upside’s COO about the challenges of scaling up cultivated meat.

Read: Fast Company’s next big things in tech.

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Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

• Tesla is going to enable drivers to make Zoom calls from their cars.
• Microsoft and Nvidia will team up to build an AI supercomputer…in the cloud.
• Taylor Swift is offering a free metaverse version of The Eras Tour for those unable to get tickets this week.
• Intel announced a deepfake-detection system that works by analyzing, uh, the “blood flow” in video pixels.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Amid tech industry cost-cutting, workers are getting worried
• Why a major herb grower is switching to a 90% indoor setup
• How the IRA could shape the renewable energy workforce