Good morning. A pair of sneakers worn by Michael Jordan during his “Flu Game” in the 1997 NBA Finals just sold for $1.38 million at auction.

On a related note – some call us DONUT Khaled, while others call us the Michael Jordan of newsletters. So we’d like to take this opportunity to capitalize on the MJ hype and announce that we have three computers for sale that were used to write The DONUT throughout the Covid pandemic.

We’ll give any auction house reading this the ‘ole three-for-one special. Serious inquiries only (and expect a Vookum-style negotiation).

Now, for something that needs no negotiation: the NEWS.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 5.06 minutes to read.

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

Yesterday, the USDA cleared two California-based startups – Upside Foods and Good Meat – to begin selling chicken made in a lab from animal cells to American consumers. It marks the first time US regulators have approved this type of meat for public consumption.

Both companies will launch their products in limited quantities through select restaurant partners, before potentially expanding to supermarkets.

🤔🐓 What is cell-based meat?... Not to be confused with plant-based meat, cell-based (or “cultivated”) meat actually comes from animals.

The process begins with stem cells procured from an animal biopsy, egg, or even a feather. These cells are placed in steel tanks called bioreactors, then fed a slushie of sorts that contains nutrients enabling them to multiply rapidly. Taste and nutrition are controlled by cell selection and the broth they grow in.

• Proponents of the process point to lab-grown meat’s potential to reduce/eliminate factory farming, as well as the environmental impacts of raising livestock. About one third of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions come from producing food, and animal agriculture is responsible for much of it.
• Though there is one potential problem with that pitch, according to many experts. Bioreactors require large amounts of energy to operate, so the question of whether this process would actually reduce emissions depends on the source of electricity used to power the facilities.

Other technical and economic challenges to widespread adoption include: preventing bacterial contamination, improving the creation and sourcing process enough to sell at a competitive price point, and consumer preference (50% of respondents in Australia wouldn’t eat lab-grown chicken if given the opportunity, according to a paper published last year).

🧪 Zoom out: Like many things under the sun, the idea of creating animal-based meat in a lab isn’t new. In fact, Winston Churchill predicted in 1931 that humanity would one day grow meat in a factory rather than raise and slaughter animals.

But the race to make cell-cultivated meat didn’t really take off until 2013, when Dutch scientist Mark Post – a pioneer in the field – debuted a burger that cost $325,000 to produce, Vox reports. Since then, investors like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Whole Foods founder John Mackey have poured ~$3 billion into 150 different companies dedicated to producing cultivated meat and seafood.

If you want to keep your smile cavity-free, thousands of dentists recommend CariFree, an affordable solution to dental health.

Made in the USA, CariFree toothpaste and other products work to restore the pH balance of your mouth. This helps to fight many common issues like:

• 😝 Bad breath
• 🐫 Cottonmouth/dry mouth
• 😬 Sensitive teeth

Scientifically proven and formulated for maximum effectiveness and safe daily use, CariFree has been the key to creating a healthy smile for thousands.

Save 10% on CariFree today - your smile deserves it.

🇺🇦 President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia is progressing ​​"slower than desired." Ukraine’s military has reportedly recaptured eight villages since launching a counterattack roughly two weeks ago – but progress has been slow due to nearly 80,000 square miles of Ukrainian territory having been mined by Russian forces. Military analysts have consistently maintained that it’ll take a number of weeks or months to gauge the success of Ukraine’s spring offensive, and have also warned the fight would be long and bloody.

📰🤖 Europe’s best-selling newspaper is cutting ~20% of its jobs in favor of AI. Germany’s Bild tabloid, which is owned by publishing giant Axel Springer and has ~1 million daily readers, sent an email on Tuesday saying employees “who have tasks that in the digital world are performed by AI and/or automated processes” would be let go. The move follows a February announcement from Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner saying the publisher plans to be a “purely digital media company” going forward.

🇬🇧 UK inflation remained stuck at 8.7% in May. Last month’s rate came in 0.3 percentage-points higher than economists predicted, while core UK inflation – which is typically a better gauge of price trends – rose to its highest level since 1992 (+7.2%). The latest data means the Bank of England is all-but-guaranteed to hike interest rates for a 13th consecutive time today. The UK stands out from other advanced economies, including the US and the 20 countries that use the euro, where core inflation has started to ease in recent months.

The world’s top basketball prospects are set to gather in Brooklyn at 8 pm ET tonight for the 77th annual NBA Draft, where they’ll (hopefully) hear their name called out, walk across the stage, and put on a hat that proclaims their new team. Think: the Harry Potter Sorting Hat ceremony, but basketball.

The star of tonight’s show is French superstar Victor Wembanyama, aka the “Gen-Z Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.” He’s widely considered to be the best NBA prospect since LeBron James in 2003, and it’s not hard to see why.

The 19-year-old Wembanyama stands 7-foot-4 with an eight-foot wingspan – and can dribble and shoot like a guard, in addition to defending and scoring in the paint like a center. For context, only a dozen or so NBA players have ever been 7-foot-4 or taller… and exactly zero of those possessed a skillset like Wembanyama’s, according to scouts.

🏀 Some more NBA Draft tidbits to drop in the chat:

• Wembanyama has a 99.5% chance to be drafted first overall by the San Antonio Spurs, according to DraftKings. This means a $20,000 bet would win just $100.
• This year is the third draft where the Spurs have owned the No. 1 overall pick. Both previous selections – David Robinson and Tim Duncan – were first-ballot Hall of Fame centers who won multiple championships.
• The average contract for a 2023 first-round pick is projected to be worth ~$23 million over four years.

Marvel's latest comic book TV show, Secret Invasion, premiered on Disney+ yesterday. It features AI-generated motion graphics during its intro sequence, in one of the first examples of a major studio using generative AI in a show or movie.

For those unfamiliar, Secret Invasion is a Marvel series featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The storyline centers on a faction of shapeshifting aliens, called "Skrulls," that have infiltrated Earth. The plot explores the tension and distrust caused by their shapeshifting abilities, which raises doubts about everyone's real identities, ArsTechnica reports.

• Secret Invasion Executive Producer Ali Selim revealed to Polygon that the show hired visual effects group Method Studios to create the intro.
• “We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.”

✋ Yes, but… While this sounds like a generative AI tool, Method Studios declined to comment on how exactly it designed the sequence. The show’s credits include producers, designers, and an AI technician.

📸 Big picture: Artists are becoming increasingly worried that AI creations will not only discredit their work, but threaten their livelihoods. A key sticking point in the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike is the addition of safeguards to prevent studios from using artificial intelligence to generate new scripts.

🐶💰 Pet costs can be ruff… and if you want a break, the average myBalto app user saves $1,550 per pet! How?

• 😻 Shop and save on your favorite brands and get up to 5% cashback
• 🥳 Earn points and rack up rewards
• 🎁 Monthly vet bill sweepstakes that you can enter to win

All in one easy-to-use app that will help you save while keeping everything pet-related in one place.

Start saving on pet care today. Download myBalto for free.

💬 Quoted… “This is an extremely difficult time [for the passengers’ families].”

The search and rescue mission for Titan, the submersible that disappeared while heading to explore the wreck of the Titanic, picked up underwater banging noises for a second straight day yesterday – but appeared no closer to finding the lost craft. Officials previously said Titan only contains enough oxygen to last until around 6 am ET this morning.

The five people confirmed to be onboard are:

• Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owns and operates Titan
• Hamish Harding, the chairman of a company called Action Aviation, who’s also a renowned explorer with several Guinness World Records
• Paul-Henry Nargeolet, aka “Mr. Titanic,” a former French Navy diver who has reportedly spent more time visiting the wreck of the Titanic than any other person
• Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman who is heir to one of the country’s largest family fortunes
• Suleman Dawood, Shahzada’s 19-year-old son, who a family statement described as a "big fan of science fiction literature and learning new things."

💰🏡 Stat of the Day: $250 million = the asking price for Casa Encantada, a 40,000-square-foot estate in the LA neighborhood of Bel-Air. If received, that figure would make it the most expensive private home ever sold in the US, a crown it previously held on two occasions.

🤯 Did You Know?... Rats breed so quickly that, in theory, two individuals could produce nearly 500 million descendants over a three-year period. Though in reality, there are many factors that end up limiting rat population sizes – including scarcity of food, natural predation, and human pest control.

📖 Worth a Read: The Etsy sellers paying rent with Taylor Swift merch → (The Hustle)

• ☝️ Around 10,000 people gathered at Stonehenge yesterday to welcome the summer solstice, aka the longest day of the year; Stonehenge is arranged so that the sunrise at the summer solstice – and sunset at the winter solstice – are precisely framed within the structure.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Flume

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board yesterday (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -0.3%; Nasdaq: -1.2%).
• ⚖️ The FTC filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the company “knowingly” deceived millions of customers into subscribing to Prime.
• 🪙 The price of bitcoin rose above $30,000 yesterday following a series of recent applications by traditional financial firms, including BlackRock and Deutsche Bank.

*From our partners: 💧 Lower your bill, stop leaks, save water… Flume Water Monitor & Leak Alert System helps thousands take control of their water consumption with patented machine learning technology. Installs easily in minutes. Save $50 on Flume with code DONUT.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏢🚨 The Paris 2024 Olympics organizing committee had its HQ raided by French police on Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement; it’s the third straight Summer Olympics to be investigated for corruption.
• 📰 Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, filed a federal lawsuit against Google claiming the tech giant is violating antitrust laws by holding a monopoly in the digital ads industry.
• ⚽️ The US women's national team unveiled its official 23-player roster ahead of next month's Women's World Cup. | ⚾ The Florida Gators advanced to the Men’s College World Series finals yesterday; LSU plays Wake Forest at 7 pm ET tonight to decide the other finals spot.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Chartr

• 💻⚛️ Microsoft announced plans to build a quantum supercomputer within the next 10 years.
• 🦑 UChicago scientists have genetically engineered a see-through squid, allowing for the first visual study of a living cephalopod’s nervous system in history.
• 🦕 Ancient long-necked marine reptiles (think: Loch Ness monster) were prone to decapitation by other predators, per a new peer-reviewed study.

*From our partners: 🏃‍♀️ If you’re not reading Chartr, you’re falling behind… The #1 visual newsletter is packed with infographics and data-driven insights into business, tech, and entertainment – and it’s 100% free. Join 400,000+ data lovers and see what the hype is about.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏫📉 Math and reading scores among 13-year-old Americans fell to their lowest levels in decades last year; that’s per new data from a continuous federal assessment known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”
• 🦗 Millions of Mormon crickets are currently invading large swaths of northern Nevada, covering towns with a pungent smell local residents say is akin to burning flesh.
• 🏛️ The House voted along party lines yesterday to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for comments he made several years ago about investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🎶🧠 The No. 1 type of music for focus and concentration, per Harvard neuroscientist – and it’s not classical.

*Sponsored post

Yesterday, we covered a pair of new reports that shed more light on the contentious debate over where the Covid pandemic originally came from.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, which of the following is the most likely explanation for Covid’s origin?

• 🧪 Lab-leak hypothesis: 62%
• 🦇 Natural transmission: 23%
• 📊 Other: 15%

Click here to read the best responses from yesterday’s poll.

+Note on sample size: We received 11,688 votes and 1,057 longform responses.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Restaurant hired fake priest to get sin 'confessions' from workers: feds → (NY Post)
• No more rides to Hel on bus 666 in Poland → (APNews)
• ‘40 goats in my yard’: Goats invade neighborhood, graze in yards → (WFAA)
• Watermelon snow turning mountains pink and red in Utah → (UPI)
• 'An unusual problem': Firefighters rescue tiny dog stuck behind a toilet → (9Honey)

Sixteen-year-old Zayneb Abu-Khader is quite the cook. She recently became the youngest person ever to graduate from the Henry Ford College culinary program.

👩‍🍳 Prove them wrong... Zayneb said the most challenging obstacle to overcome was earning her fellow students' respect in the kitchen. 

• "A lot of people in the field thought of me less in some way because I was younger but I never let it bother me and I never let it stop me," said the confident teen. "No one can dull my sparkle!" 
• The talented cook hopes to travel the world learning more about international cuisine before eventually opening her own restaurant or bakery. 

The Titanic sank roughly 450 miles off the coast of which Canadian province (pictured above)?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

Newfoundland