P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #396
Spooktacular
my story 🚀
fun facts 🙌
Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. Absolutely amazing stuff. “Here we bring you the lead winners in both the adult and youth categories, as well as a few more of our favorites.” ~ learn more
First images from Euclid mission. The space telescope launched by the European Space Agency is mapping a huge portion of the sky. Consider this a 150 second video reminder that we’re all just stardust. ~ learn more
How do porcupines mate? This is weird start to finish. “You see, the biggest holdup to porcupine reproduction is location. Except for mamas raising babies—which are known adorably as porcupettes—porcupines are mostly solitary creatures. And when the female is ready to mate, she has just an 8- to 12-hour window of fertility to work with.” ~ learn more
oh, chicago 🏆
Chicago rapper Lil Durk charger in murder-for-hire plot. “Long a star of the Chicago drill scene, Lil Durk’s celebrity has grown in recent years. He’s been photographed with Mayor Brandon Johnson, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and local aldermen. He was recently invited to join the Chicago Bears on the field for their game in London. Banks is the largest individual donor to Johnson, giving $150,000 to his campaign in January 2023 through an LLC, according to public financing records.” ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
Introducing Torso, a bimanual android actuated with artificial muscles. I don’t know what to say. The future is going to get weird. Watch this. ~ learn more
Why lifetime value is relevant again in software. “If paybacks are 4.5 years & LTVs are five years, that data should provoke strategic questions about the company operations.” ~ learn more
better doing 🎯
Fallacies that aren’t fallacies. “Fallacy implies it’s dumb because it runs against cold, hard, scintillating, pure, perfect logic. But I don’t agree with some of that perfect logic.” ~ learn more
Even good people make teams go slower. “I have a simple model of why adding more people to your team – even good people who are working hard, etc – can make your team go slower.” ~ learn more
to your health ⚕
How Bryan Johnson has avoided baldness. “Genetically, I should be bald. I started to lose my hair and go gray in my late 20s. Now, at 47, I’ve got a full head of hair and ~70% of my gray is gone.” ~ learn more
retail therapy 💸
Luxury e-commerce is a tough market to be in. I know very little about any of this, as I am not a luxury consumer! It seems the money-losing business was burning a hole in the owner’s pocket. “Mytheresa has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) from Swiss conglomerate Richemont, the companies confirmed on Monday.” ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
BiomeSense continuous microbiome studies are coming. There’s a study launching soon with consumer gut health brand Pendulum that’ll be among the first to capture time-series microbiome data. “With continuous data collection and insights into shifts in microbiome composition, the GutLab™ system has the potential to do for microbiome science what the continuous glucose monitor did for the field of diabetes and understanding glucose trends.” ~ learn more
New drug, phase 3 study, 100% prevention of HIV. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “No participants receiving twice-yearly lenacapavir acquired HIV infection.” ~ learn more
Giving kids in Sub-Saharan Africa antibiotics reduces child mortality ~14%. The 3rd large cluster randomized trial demonstrating the same result was recently published. April 2018, February 2024, August 2024. ~ learn more
Semiconductor-free logic gates pave the way for fully 3D-printed active electronics. “The researchers' semiconductor-free devices, which they produced using standard 3D printing hardware and an inexpensive, biodegradable material, can perform the same switching functions as the semiconductor-based transistors used for processing operations in active electronics.” ~ learn more
thoughts of food 🍔
Goldfish is relaunching its beloved cheesy cracker under a new name. “The update is inspired by those who loved Goldfish as kids but now might feel pulled towards more adult-leaning snacks. “We know the love for Goldfish spans all ages. Chilean Sea Bass is a playful nod to adults that the iconic fish-shaped snack is for grown-up tastes too,” said Danielle Brown, Vice President of Goldfish.” ~ learn more
big ideas 📚
Ultra-deep fracking for limitless geothermal power. “As stated before, if these companies succeed, and manage to bring this kind of power plant to the market at scale, humanity's ongoing energy needs simply cease to be a problem. Clean, grid-responsive, 24/7, virtually limitless... There's a lot of cause for optimism here in theory, and while many unprecedented problems remain to be solved, we hope there's more progress to report on soon.” ~ learn more
It’s time to build the exoplanet telescope. Physicist Casey Handmer strikes again with another big vision, this time presenting the Monster Telescope. “The full 1 km telescope will require about 20,000 mirrors. With a 30% learning rate, running the numbers gets us down to about $300,000 per mirror and a cumulative cost of about $10 billion. The same as JWST, only 150 times wider and 22,000 times more sensitive.” How does he have the time when he’s making so much progress making natural gas out of thin air with Terraform Industries? ~ learn more
World’s largest onshore wind turbine has 430 ft blades. “The lovingly named SI-270150 turbine features 430-ft-long blades (131 m), making for a maximum swept area of 616,298 sq ft (57,256 sq m). That's equivalent to nearly 11 American football fields. According to Sany, it's also set a record for the largest onshore turbine rotor diameter at 886 ft (270 m), surpassing the previous largest onshore wind turbine on the planet, Goldwind's 12-MW design launched in 2023 with a 787-ft (240-m) rotor diameter.” ~ learn more
on the blockchain ⛓
The FBI secretly created a coin to investigate crypto pump-and-dump schemes. “As a result of the investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged three “market makers” and nine people for allegedly engaging in schemes to boost the prices of certain crypto assets. The Department of Justice charged 18 people and entities for “widespread fraud and manipulation” in crypto markets.” ~ learn more