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A YC startup is putting $1M behind 5 unsolved materials science problems for AI; plus, AI hardware startup Nominal triples its valuation

November 10, 2026 · 6 min

Show notes

While frontier AI models have solved a remarkable series of outstanding mathematics problems and made progress in the life sciences, they have yet to truly plumb the complex physics in advanced materials.

Also, Nominal, a startup that offers an AI platform for hardware engineering and claims Anduril as a major customer, has raised another big round of financing that triples its valuation.

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