Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🛰️ A next-gen US satellite is poised to revolutionize weather forecasts
• 👙 Shein says: when in doubt, try the UK out
• 🤔 Woke kidney transplants?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~5.09-minute read (1,354 words).

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“Wrong turns are as important as right turns. More important, sometimes.”

–Richard Bach (b. 1936)

NASA is preparing to launch a new weather Nostradamus of sorts later today, in the form of a high-tech satellite created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The new satellite, called “GOES-U,” marks the 19th version of the NOAA’s GOES satellite series, which has been feeding scientists a steady flow of weather-related data from space since 1975. GOES-U carries state-of-the-art equipment the NOAA says will revolutionize how scientists forecast weather events – both on Earth and in space.

On Earth, the new satellite will serve as a vital tool for:

• Tracking hurricanes and forecasting their intensity
• Providing early warnings of severe storms and tornadoes
• Collecting data to help reduce weather-related flight delays
• Monitoring ocean surface temperatures
• Lending a hand to Smokey Bear and identifying lightning strikes most likely to ignite wildfires

And when it comes to space weather, GOES-U will be just as important. The satellite carries specialized equipment that can detect major solar flares and other space radiation before it reaches Earth, then warn communication systems and power grids of potential disruptions.

• This includes the Compact Coronagraph, which provides up-to-date solar flare data every 30 minutes instead of every eight hours (the current pace) – allowing scientists to predict solar storms 1-4 days ahead of time.

👀 Looking ahead… SpaceX, which is contracted to place GOES-U in orbit, has a two-hour launch window starting at ~5 pm ET this evening. If everything goes according to plan, the NOAA says GOES-U will operate until the next generation of satellites is ready to take over in the mid-to-late 2030s.

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🇪🇺 Apple is the first target of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The EU filed charges yesterday alleging that Apple violated the bloc’s new antitrust law by preventing developers from directing users to cheaper payment options outside the App Store. Apple, which says it’s confident the App Store complies with EU legislation, now has a chance to respond to the allegations. If found guilty, Apple could face fines worth up to 10% of its ~$383 billion in annual global revenue.

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone outlawed child marriage. Under the new law, offenders could face up to 15 years in prison, and young girls affected by early child marriage are guaranteed access to education and support services. Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of child marriage, early pregnancy, and maternal mortality in the world, with one-third of all girls in the West African country having been married before their 18th birthday, per the UN children’s agency.

💥 Israel-Hamas war: Yesterday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s still committed to Israel’s proposal for a ceasefire deal with Hamas, which would lead to the release of all remaining 120 Israeli hostages. Netanyahu’s comments came one day after he appeared to walk back his support for a full ceasefire in a public interview. The proposed ceasefire, which President Biden endorsed and Hamas didn't accept, is the only framework currently on the table for an end to fighting in Gaza.

Shein is saying goodbye to the Big Apple, and hello to Big Ben. After receiving significant pushback to a New York IPO, which it attempted to file for in November 2023, the fast-fashion giant has filed to go public in London.

The two biggest reasons Shein received pushback from US officials:

1. Its alleged use of forced labor in its supply chain. Shein denies using forced labor and says it’s compliant with US law – but also uses many China-based micro-manufacturers, whose supply chains are difficult to track, to make its products.
2. Its use of the de minimis exception, a Department of Homeland Security trade rule designed to facilitate the flow of small packages that allows parcels valued under $800 to enter the US duty-free per person per day. Shein’s approach of shipping products on an order-by-order basis vs. importing its products in bulk to sell from a US warehouse allows it to bypass the heaviest American import taxes.

The UK appears more receptive to Shein. And its IPO market could stand to eat a red-and-white-dotted mushroom or two🍄🚀. ~$1 billion was raised in the UK via IPOs last year, the lowest level in decades, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

👀 Looking ahead… Shein, which could fetch a valuation of ~$63 billion at IPO, still needs approval from both UK and Chinese regulators before it can go public in London. The company is also weighing other options, including a listing in Hong Kong.

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Earlier this year, Metro Boomin went and made some drums – and in doing so, helped to usher in a new era of music.

The famed producer remixed and released a track called “BBL Drizzy” on May 5, 2024, in response to being dissed by Drake. The interesting thing: the voice used in the original “BBL Drizzy” track was created by someone named King Willonius using Udio, an AI music startup founded by former Google DeepMind engineers – making Metro Boomin one of the first major producers to sample an AI-generated track.

Now, Udio and Suno, another big name in generative AI music-making, are being sued by a group of record labels that include the big three – Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Records – for allegedly violating copyright law “en masse.”

• The labels say musical artists across genres and eras had their work used to train the companies’ AI models, which create music tracks based on text inputs, without consent. They’re seeking damages of up to $150,000 per work, along with other fees.

This isn’t entirely unexpected. In a Rolling Stone profile written about Suno in March, the startup’s execs and early investors acknowledged the possibility of lawsuits from record labels. AI companies are also facing copyright infringement lawsuits across numerous other industries, including news, book publishing, photography, and more.

“During surgery, I was even able to show John his kidney.”

• Medical researchers at Northwestern University recently developed a new method that can shorten the hospital stay associated with kidney transplants from roughly a week to less than 24 hours, turning a highly complex surgery into essentially an outpatient procedure. The only catch? It involves the patient staying awake for the entire surgery. Northwestern doctors used a spinal anesthesia shot to ensure the patient felt no pain during the procedure, which marked one of the first times an organ transplant has been performed on an awake patient. Additionally, the patient required “zero opioid narcotic pain medication” following their procedure – unlike normal kidney transplants, where patients are typically prescribed opioids to manage post-surgery pain.

🚘🔌 Stat of the Day: Used electric vehicles are now less expensive than their traditional gas counterparts for the first time in the US, per a new report from industry watcher iSeeCars. Used EVs were $2,600+ cheaper on average than equivalent gas vehicles in May – a stark reversal from one year earlier, when the average used EV was $8,000 more expensive than a gas equivalent.

🤔 Did You Know? Melanoma, a condition responsible for a large majority of skin cancer deaths, is ~30x more common in white people compared to Black people, and ~6x more common in white people compared to Hispanic people, per the American Cancer Society.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside Netflix’s bet on advanced video encoding → (The Verge)

• ☝️ Alex Trebek is getting a stamp: The US Postal Service announced a new postage stamp honoring the late Jeopardy! host, as well as the show’s 60th anniversary.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Wine Insiders

• 💰 US markets closed mixed yesterday (S&P: -0.3%; Dow: +0.7%; Nasdaq: -1.1%). | 📉 Nvidia shares have fallen 13% in the past three trading days – including a 6.7% dip on Monday – after it briefly became the world’s most valuable company last week.
• 📊 Jain Global, a new hedge fund led by Bobby Jain, raised $5.3 billion in the biggest hedge fund debut since ExodusPoint in 2018; Jain Global will reportedly start trading July 1.
• 🛍️ Target announced a deal with Shopify that will help the big box retailer discover hot items and quickly make them available to its online shoppers.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏒🏆 Stanley Cup Finals: The Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 last night to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. | ⚾🏆 Men’s College World Series: No. 1 Tennessee defeated No. 3 Texas A&M to win their first baseball national championship in program history. | 🏟️ Charlotte (NC) city leaders approved a $650 million public contribution toward renovations at the Carolina Panthers' stadium, which is one of the oldest in the NFL.
• 🎶 Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” is the first No. 1 single of her career, per the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart.
• 📺 Paramount Global is raising the price of Paramount+ by $1-$2 per month.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Purple Carrot

• 🚀 Yet another Starliner delay: The crewed return of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule has been delayed for a third time, with officials now targeting July 2 at the earliest; Starliner’s first crewed mission was initially supposed to run from June 5-12.
• 🧠 A UK boy with severe epilepsy became the first patient to trial a new brain implant aimed at controlling seizures; the neurostimulator, which sends electrical signals deep into the brain, successfully reduced his daytime seizures by 80%.
• 🤖📹 Drexel University researchers developed an algorithm that can identify AI-generated video content with 98% accuracy, representing the highest such percentage on the market, per a new pre-print study. | 🤔 Wanna test how you stack up against the algorithm? Check out this 10-picture AI-generated challenge by the NY Times.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌊 Minnesota’s Rapidan Dam is in "imminent failure condition" due to flooding of the nearby Blue Earth River, officials warned yesterday; as of this writing, the dam is still intact and there are no plans for mass evacuation.
• 📝 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department that will free him from prison and resolve his long-running legal saga. | ⚖️✈️ US prosecutors are recommending the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Boeing after the planemaker violated a settlement related to two fatal crashes, per multiple reports.
• 🏛️ The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will decide whether states can restrict gender-transition treatments for transgender minors, including puberty blockers and hormones. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🐶🐈 Is having a pet good for you? The fuzzy science of pet ownership.

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• 🏫 A record 7.5 million American students, or 15.2% of the public-school student population, qualified for special education in 2022-23 for reasons including autism, speech impediments, and ADHD, per a WSJ analysis. (Read more)
• 🏖️📅 The average US employee is allotted 12 vacation days each year, the lowest among 11 developed nations surveyed by Expedia and Harris. (Read more)
• 🏒🏆 The Edmonton Oilers are the first NHL team since 1945 to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-0. (Read more)
• 🇺🇸 23% of Americans say they would support their own state seceding from the US, per YouGov polling (including 20+% among both Democrats and Republicans). (Read more)
• 👀 84% of US parents use some form of digital tracking to monitor their kids, per a recent survey from cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes. (Read more)

Yesterday, we covered TikTok’s first legal briefs in a lawsuit that will determine whether its Chinese owner, ByteDance, will have to sell the social media app’s US operations within the next nine months or face a ban.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, should TikTok be banned from every device in the US?

• 👍 Yes: 46%
• 👎 No: 35%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 19%

Click here to read the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 3,375 votes and 342 longform responses.

Meet Wild Thang, an 8-year-old Pekingese from Oregon who just claimed the title of World's Ugliest Dog.

🐶 You read that right: The World's Ugliest Dog contest has been held for nearly 50 years in celebration of "the imperfections that make all dogs special," according to its website. 

• This year's competition featured nine adorably ugly competitors, with Wild Thang claiming the top prize – $5,000 and a feature on NBC's The Today Show.

🌱 Trivia: Which plant is the most common cause of hay fever?

🎓 True or False?... Philophobia is the fear of philosophy.

🤔 Riddle Me This: Two mothers and two daughters are in a car, yet the vehicle only contains three people. How can this be true?

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🌱 Trivia: Ragweed

🎓 T/F: False, it’s the fear of falling in love

🤔 Riddle: They are a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter