The Download: Expanded carrier screening, and how Southeast Asia plans to get to space

It’s a scorching October day in Bangkok and I’m wandering through the exhibits at the Thai Space Expo, held in one of the city’s busiest shopping malls, when I do a double take. Amid the flashy space suits and model rockets on display, there’s a plain-looking package of Thai basil chicken. I’m told the same kind of vacuum-­sealed package has just been launched to the International Space Station.

It’s an unexpected sight, one that reflects the growing excitement within the Southeast Asian…