š Finally, some good news: Pasta might be able to physically heal you. But itās not as simple as cleaning a plate of penne alla vodka (sadly). Researchers are working on a recipe for ānanopastaā ā the worldās thinnest spaghetti, invisible to the naked eye ā that could eventually be used to bandage wounds, deliver drugs, or aid bone regeneration. To answer the obvious question here: Yes, you can technically eat it, and one researcher did take a bite.
š§ On the pod:Even Gen Z hates working with Gen Z. Why they should give themselves a break.
NEWS FLASH
š Great, more people bragging about running a marathon. But this time could be worse, since the winner might have bested a robot. A half-marathon in Beijing is pitting 12k+ human runners against dozens of humanoid robots from 20+ companies. While 13 miles as a human doesnāt sound fun, the bots might actually have it worse: No bipedal bot has successfully completed that long of a race. To qualify, bots must have two legs and be able to walk and run in an upright position without wheels. They also need to be vaguely human-sized, between 1.6 and 6.5 feet tall, and can be remotely operated. The top three finishers will win prizes ā bots and humans alike.
šŖ Craving a Post Malone Oreo? Realistically, no, but too bad ā youāre getting one. The artist is collaborating with Oreo on a limited-edition swirled-creme cookie that combines salted caramel and shortbread flavors, a first for the MondelÄz brand. The cookies feature nine different prints representing Maloneās career, including a butterfly, guitar pick, and truck. Oreo isnāt the singerās first brand collaboration: Heās lent his star power to Bud Light, Crocs, and Doritos, among others. And yes, we think āPost Mal-Oreosā was a missed opportunity.
š¤ Escape rooms for bots: A coder known only as Aaron B created code he calls Nepenthes ā named for a type of carnivorous plant ā that traps AI web crawlers in an endless maze, effectively wasting company time and resources. Website owners can use it to prevent their pages from being scraped by AI training bots or, Aaron Bās website reads, if they ājust want to see these AI models burn.ā Aaron B, who considers his work a kind of art project born of rage at how āthe internet is evolving into a money extraction panopticon,ā told 404 Media that bots have since hit his sites millions of times.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
CNN is laying off 6% of its staff ā about 210 employees ā as the company moves away from cable news to invest $70m into new digital plans.
Walmart will now pay its 400+ market managers, who oversee ~12 stores each, up to $620k per year, including bonuses and stock awards. Starting salaries will increase ~25% to a cool $160k.
Comcast launched a $70/month sports-centric streaming bundle that includes live games, access to 50+ news and sports channels, Peacock, and more. DirecTV offers a similar deal, while Venu, a sports bundle from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, folded before it even launched.
THE BIG IDEA
Who knew cursive would ever actually be useful?
Of all the skills that computers have rendered obsolete, reading and writing in cursive seem like some of the easiest to abandon.
Cursive was part of national education standards until 2010, and while some states still require it, the explanation that cursive might be useful in adulthood became increasingly flimsy as computers took over.
Unless you like reading old documentsā¦
The National Archives needs volunteers who can read cursive to help transcribe some of its 300m+ digital documents, perUSA Today.
Many documents date back to the Revolutionary War, when everyone still wrote in the ridiculous, looping script that, until recently, tormented modern schoolchildren.
āReading cursive is a superpower,ā National Archives community manager Suzanne Isaacs told USA Today.
If you know the weird cursive G from the weird cursive H (or even the maniacal cursive Z), go sign up to help.
What about other āuselessā skills?
Learning cursive still doesnāt seem too important, but there are other skills that the unending march of technology is also rendering irrelevant.
Technology has already killed elevator operators, video store clerks, and switchboard operators.
And mail sorters, tax preparers, train engineers, and even sports referees could be next.
Plus, AI specifically could eliminate several specialized jobs, from marketers, graphic designers, and data analysts, to coders, radiologists, and lawyers.
Jobs that benefit from a human touch are safer, like counselors, food service workers, and elementary school teachers, who, coincidentally, may have forced you to learn cursive.
Genuine creativity is one irreplaceable skill anyone can have, so just do whatever you do better than a computer could.
Luckily, we handwrite this newsletter every morning in cursive, so weāre safe.
Similarly, Jean-Jacques Guiony, the CFO of LVMH, which owns several Champagne brands, said that the drink is linked to celebration and that perhaps the ācurrent global situation… does not lead people to cheer up and to open bottles of Champagne.ā
AROUND THE WEB
š On this day: In 2006, The Walt Disney Co. announced its $7.4B purchase of Pixar.
