Cool things are afoot—and sometimes they’re happening in what can appear to be otherwise boring places. Pulling into the office park in Rancho Bernardo where bionics company. Psyonic recently upgraded to a larger space, I was admittedly underwhelmed. Office parks, after all, scream dull utilitarianism—built for efficiency and affordability, rarely aesthetics.
But inside, that monotonous narrative quickly shifts.
Psyonic makes the Ability Hand, an advanced prosthetic that the company hopes will soon change lives in remarkable ways. (See this issue’s cover.) One corner of Psyonic’s office houses a dozen or so iterations of the Ability Hand, each encased in glass, like museum artifacts. The earliest models are as big as volleyballs. They appear clunky and nearly unusable, but these large robotic limbs portend something greater to come. As you follow the line, each model grows smaller and more, well, hand-like, eventually evolving into what today is perhaps the most advanced bionic hand to ever exist. Together, the prosthetics show the slow, painstaking progression of what it takes to build something the world has never seen before. They’re a quiet reminder that wild ideas must start somewhere and that there’s really no telling how far they might go.
Psyonic isn’t alone when it comes to making moves and dreaming big. Across the county, researchers and engineers are decoding medical mysteries and developing tech that is changing lives here and around the globe—though you might not know it.
San Diego has a way of disguising its breakthroughs. Just as Psyonic hides in an ordinary office park, countless other labs and workshops are scattered across the county, working every day to develop technologies and medical advancements that rarely announce themselves until they’re suddenly indispensable. All around us, researchers are pushing into new frontiers of health, medicine, and biotech. Psyonic is simply a part of that fabric, a reminder that global impact often begins in modest, fluorescent-lit rooms.
In this issue, we’re exploring San Diego’s thriving STEM undercurrent and we examine the city’s role as a hub for longevity, learning how our community is leading the charge in understanding how we can all live our best, longest lives. Medical execs, doctors, and researchers explain some of the most pressing issues in healthcare today. We also bring you our annual list of the top doctors in the city, your guide to finding the people who can help you live your best, longest life.
Beyond STEM, we’re taking you inside an incredible home in Solana Beach full of interior design ideas you’ll want to borrow, and, our content chief and food critic heads to Carlsbad’s Lilo, which earned a Michelin star less than two months after opening. Not to give anything away, but it’s probably a good idea to book your reservation now. The team there is doing impressive work.
Ingenuity is everywhere.
Those glass-encased prototypes do more than mark engineering progress, they chart the stubborn patience behind any leap forward. Each clunky, oversized hand carries its own quiet dignity, evidence of an idea willing to stumble before it walks. Together, they become a meditation on iteration, showing how breakthroughs emerge not from sudden flashes of brilliance but from countless, unglamorous revisions. Standing before them, you see persistence materialized—a lineage of imperfection pointing toward something profoundly bigger.
Step back from the display, and the pattern is clear: Cool things are afoot. Or maybe I should say cool things are at hand.
PARTNER CONTENT
