• ☝️ The earliest known animal to show evidence of an asymmetrical body is a pancake-shaped creature that roamed the ocean floor like a "small marine Roomba vacuum" some 555 million years ago.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Cornbread Hemp

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: -0.2%; Dow: -0.8%; Nasdaq: +0.3%). | 📊 The S&P is expected to post 3% returns over the next 10 years, according to Goldman Sachs analysts; that’s compared with 13% in the last decade, and a long-term average of 11%.
• 🐭 Disney will announce a successor to CEO Bob Iger in early 2026, the company said in a statement; former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman will take over as chairman in January. | 🍏 Tim Cook on why Apple’s huge bets will pay off.
• ⚖️ Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and others sue AI search-engine startup Perplexity, claiming its chatbot violates copyright law.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 The WNBA players association opted out of its current collective bargaining agreement; the move raises the prospect of a work stoppage if a new deal isn’t reached with the WNBA by the end of next season.
• 📖 The posthumous memoir of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic penal colony earlier this year, becomes available today.
• ⚖️ Alcon Entertainment, a Hollywood production company, is suing Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery over alleged AI-enhanced copyright infringement; the companies are accused of impermissibly using images from the film Blade Runner 2049 to promote Tesla’s robotaxi concept.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Commons

• 💼🇩🇪 A four-day workweek experiment in Germany found 73% of the 45 participating companies are prepared to make four-day workweeks permanent or extend the experiment.
• 😋 Humanity’s love of carbohydrates may predate our existence as a distinct species, going back hundreds of thousands of years, per a new study published in Science.
• 🚀 The US Space Force awarded $733 million worth of launch contracts to SpaceX, who beat out United Launch Alliance. | 👂🎧 Apple's AirPods Pro 2 will soon work as a hearing aid. Here's what it's like.

*From our partners: 🌎🛒 Discover sustainable brands – earn rewards… Commons rewards you for thousands of everyday sustainable purchases. The app also gives personalized guidance to track/reduce your carbon footprint. Get the Commons app free here.

MISCELLANEOUS

• ✈️ All versions of the F-35 aircraft have failed to meet minimum combat readiness rates for six straight years, per a congressional watchdog agency; that’s despite the US military spending $12 billion, or ~21% of its aircraft budget, on the F-35 program.
• 🇲🇩🗳️ Moldova residents voted in favor of joining the EU by a razor-thin majority (50.4% to 49.6%) in a non-binding national referendum.
• ⚖️ The Central Park Five filed a defamation lawsuit against former President Trump over his remarks at the last month’s presidential debate. | 📝 The Biden admin proposed a rule to expand access to contraceptive products, including requiring health insurance companies to cover recommended over-the-counter birth control.

CLICKBAIT

• 🐶🐱 The 10 Most Popular Pet Names of 2024.