Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ⚽ World Cup kicks off
• 📈 Inflation spikes in May
• 🏛️ Gates testifies on Epstein

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.84-minute read (1,021 words).

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"Being happy never goes out of style."

–Lilly Pulitzer (1931-2013)

Scientists may have finally found a way to stop playing cat-and-mouse with mutating viruses.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have tested the first human vaccine built using AI, taking a step toward what many scientists have chased for years: a vaccine that protects against an entire family of viruses instead of playing perpetual catch-up.

Let’s break it down: Traditional vaccines target a specific virus, a process that’s effective up until that virus mutates and the vaccine becomes ineffective (the reason we need a new flu shot every year).

But instead of targeting one specific strain, researchers used AI to analyze thousands of genomes and identify genetic features that stay largely unchanged across a virus’ entire family tree, mutations included.

• Those shared features became the target of a single "super-antigen" vaccine designed to protect against all variants of a certain virus.
• In their initial trial, researchers created a vaccine to target all coronaviruses, including SARS, Covid, and related bat viruses that could someday make the jump to humans.

Moving the needle on prevention

Researchers believe the same AI-driven approach could eventually be used to create broad-spectrum vaccines for rapidly evolving viruses like influenza and Ebola. This approach aims to help stop future outbreaks before they become significant, and could also reduce the need to take new vaccines as viruses evolve.

• The first human trial involved 39 healthy volunteers, with results showing the vaccine was safe, well tolerated, and capable of generating antibodies against multiple coronavirus strains.
• Because it's DNA-based, the vaccine is generally more stable than mRNA versions, making it easier to transport and store.

Looking ahead...Experts say the mass production of universal vaccines for certain viruses is still years away, with larger trials needed to determine how much protection the new process provides, and how long it lasts.

In addition to coronaviruses, the research team is developing separate vaccines that could tackle the flu and Ebola.

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It’s time for your quadrennial reminder that the US is, in fact, capable of caring about soccer when it wants to.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow afternoon, with Mexico facing South Africa in Mexico City to open the world’s most popular sporting event.

It’s kind of a big deal

This year’s tournament is the largest in World Cup history, and not just because every uncle with a group chat suddenly becomes an expert on soccer tactics.

• The 2026 edition features 48 teams playing 104 matches across 39 days, up from the previous 32-team, 64-match format.
• It’s also the first World Cup hosted by three countries, with games spread across 16 cities in the US, Mexico, and Canada.

For American fans, this marks the first men’s World Cup on US soil since 1994. There will be matches hosted across 11 metro areas, including Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

And while ticket prices have drawn widespread criticism for being too high, host cities are still expecting the influx of fans to provide a major tourism bump.

Looking ahead…Team USA, who has the highest odds of advancing in their four-team Group D, will take the field tomorrow against Paraguay. The tournament runs through July 19, when New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium hosts the World Cup final.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 May CPI report shows inflation rises 4.2% year-over-year, up from 3.8% in April and the fastest annual pace since 2023; the core index, excluding food and energy categories, rose 2.9% year-over-year, slightly higher than April (2.8%).
• 📉 US stocks fall across the board as oil prices climb following signs of renewed conflict in the Middle East (S&P: -1.6% | Dow: -1.9% | Nasdaq: -2.0%).
• 🛢️ US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest point since 2023, at 349.2 million barrels; it’s ~2.5 million barrels off the lowest level since the Reagan administration.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏆 Actress Glenn Close, director Ridley Scott to receive honorary Oscars alongside Floyd Norman, Disney’s first Black animator.
• 🏈 KC Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes signs reworked contract worth $504.75 million over the next eight years; it’s the first NFL deal ever valued at over half-a-billion dollars.
• 🍿 Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, a sequel to his biographical drama about Facebook, drops its first trailer ahead of its October 9 release.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🧫 First patient receives high-risk therapy meant to make cells young again, moving Life Biosciences’ controversial anti-aging treatment into human trial.
• 🪸 Scientists find deep-sea coral ecosystem roughly size of Vatican City, including the largest known reef of a rare cold-water coral.
• 🗣️ Diagnostic interviews, the most common way to diagnose substance use and mental disorders including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, often fall short of establishing a “definitive benchmark” for reliability, new study finds.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 💥 Iran war: President Trump tells reporters Iran has "taken too long to negotiate a deal" and will "pay the price," saying the US would hit Iran "hard" following fresh Iranian strikes yesterday; US strikes began hours after Trump’s comments.
• 🗳️ Republican Steve Hilton advances to general election for California governor, where he'll face Democrat Xavier Becerra.
• 🏛️ Bill Gates gives closed-door testimony to House committee investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; Gates reveals that Epstein discovered the billionaire had an affair and tried to leverage that information against him.

☝️ Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass yesterday at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família, the world’s tallest church, and blessed its newly completed Tower of Jesus Christ. Construction on the church began 144 years ago, with architect Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished design later carried forward by at least nine others. It’s still under construction today, with the current projected end date in 2034.

🤔 Did you know? Mong Kok, a Hong Kong neighborhood that’s the most crowded in the world, is so densely populated that Earth would hold 19+ trillion people if the entire planet matched its density (340,000 people per square mile).

📰 Worth a read: Why some Netflix originals are designed to play in the background

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Why that song is stuck in your head
• The most “unique” items left in Ubers last year
• SCOTUS is debating which Founding Fathers were drunks

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Yesterday we covered a new report how the Social Security trust fund that helps pay retirement and survivor benefits to ~69 million Americans is expected to run dry in late 2032, one year earlier than previously projected.

❓ Our question to you: Which of the following potential solutions to Social Security would you support?

• Tax hike: 27%
• Benefit cut: 8%
• Raise the min retirement age: 13%
• Some combination of the above: 43%
• Do nothing: 9%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 801 votes and 93 longform responses.

What’s the smallest ocean in the world?

🎸 A Colorado elementary school staged a 75-minute musical inspired entirely by the jam band Phish—and yes, it was every bit as delightfully chaotic as it sounds. Students at the Watershed School performed original scenes and songs based on Phish lyrics, complete with costumes, choreography, and plenty of goofy energy.

+Note: This story previously appeared in Positive DONUT.

The Arctic Ocean

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