Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 💪 It’s hard to get swole in space
• 🤖 AI is playing the role of Anti-Hero this election season
• 🤔 Why Gen Z struggles with typing

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.96-minute read (1,320 words).

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“Optimism, when applied to your life, develops strength and peace within you.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)

Bad news for astronauts that also want to be fitness influencers: #gains are harder in space, as muscles tend to shrink (even with exercise).

But, thanks to recently published research from Stanford studying the effects of space on lab-grown muscle, we have more information as to how – further enabling scientists to work on ways to counteract these effects for future long-distance space travel.

• The research involved growing human muscle cells in a lab, then sending the samples to the International Space Station, where astronauts tended to them for a week.
• The space cells, which were grown in enclosed chambers, formed shorter muscle fibers than cells in identical conditions on Earth, similar to how a disorder called sarcopenia affects human biology and causes muscles – which comprise ~40% of all body weight – to weaken and waste away.

However – with either of the two drugs known to help tissue repair, scientists were able to ward off some of these effects👆.

Drugs: the future of long-distance space travel?

The human body and space go together about as well as orange juice and toothpaste. Effectively, the great black void serves as a biological gas pedal, accelerating the human aging process. Per the Wall Street Journal: The immune system is shocked into a state of high alert, as if under attack by infection. Stem cells in the bone marrow are slow to manufacture red blood cells, turning astronauts anemic. Heart muscle weakens, and bone density decreases.

Most of these effects are temporary and resolve themselves when astronauts return to Earth. But what if they’re on a ship to Mars – a 2-3 year roundtrip with current technology – and can’t?

• According to scientists, the answer is technology – or drugs.
• A recent study researching the effects of space on the human kidney indicates that any astronauts traveling to Mars would receive permanent kidney damage and loss of function unless preventative measures – such as dialysis machines, drugs, or new technology – were in place.

👀 Looking ahead… NASA has a stated goal of placing the first humans on Mars as early as the 2030s, after first setting up a long-term human presence on the Moon. Another lab-grown muscle experiment is scheduled to take place in space next year, with scientists aiming to continue research on identifying drugs that could combat space’s effect on human muscles.

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💥 Israel-Palestine update: On Wednesday, hundreds of Israeli troops – armed with helicopters, drones, and military vehicles – targeted at least four cities in the occupied West Bank, in what analysts described as Israel’s largest raids in the area in months. The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah factions said in separate statements that their gunmen fought Israel’s military in the West Bank. At least 10 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s operation, per local health authorities.

🇩🇰 Denmark’s Lego is moving towards using 100% renewable plastics for its bricks. Yesterday, Lego CEO Niels Christiansen said the company is on track to replace fossil fuels used in brick production with renewable and recycled plastic by 2032, which will increase the cost of producing bricks by up to 70% – though Christiansen says any extra costs won’t be passed on to consumers. Lego says bio-waste and recycled materials will replace fossil fuels currently used in its plastic production process.

🇫🇷 French authorities issued preliminary charges against Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The charges include complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs, and hacking software on the popular messaging app. The decision indicates French officials believe there’s enough evidence that Durov violated local laws requiring online platforms to limit harmful content and cooperate with authorities. Durov, who was released on a $5.6 million bail, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $560,000 if convicted.

Unlike what you may have recently seen on social media, Taylor Swift didn’t endorse former President Trump earlier this month; Ryan Reynolds wasn’t photographed wearing a pro-Kamala Harris shirt; and Trump wasn’t captured on camera planning his own assassination attempt with the man who shot him.

• These false claims and dozens of others have gone viral in recent weeks thanks to AI-enhanced tools, according to a newly launched database from researchers at the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education group.

More details: The latest and most visible example of this trend emerged in mid-August, when Trump shared a collection of pictures on his Truth Social account showing Taylor Swift fans in “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts, along with a graphic of the pop star endorsing his candidacy. But upon closer inspection, analysts discovered 15 of the Swift fans in Trump’s post – all but one – were generated using AI tools.

Big picture: The News Literacy Project estimates 1 in 10 viral political posts contain fake endorsements from celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Bruce Springsteen, and Aaron Rodgers – many of which use AI tools to provide fake “proof” of their claims.

• The legal ramifications of such posts are unclear; analysts say they could potentially violate laws surrounding unauthorized commercial use of people’s likenesses.

📝 Bottom line: “As a general rule, if you see a celebrity wearing a T-shirt with an explicitly political message, there’s a good chance it’s fake,” News Literacy Project senior manager Dan Evon told CNN.

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“I never learned to type because I wasn't that generation, and now I regret it,”

A growing number of tech-savvy Gen Zers can do anything on a computer – except type in a timely and accurate manner. Experts say a significant portion of educators and parents in recent years have falsely assumed the generation’s tech-savviness would automatically translate into typing skills, so many teens today never learned how to type.

Breaking it down: The percentage of US high school graduates who took a keyboarding course has fallen from 44% in 2000 to just 2.5% as of 2019, per the most recent Department of Education data.

• Evidence also indicates Gen Z’s lack of typing proficiency on computers stems from their preference for touch screens over traditional keyboards, even when completing writing-heavy schoolwork. According to online platform Canvas, 39% of all assignments that students submitted between March and May of this year were uploaded from mobile devices.

👀 Looking ahead… Typing.com, an online typing tutor offering student education programs, predicts more schools across the country will reprioritize typing education in the near future, as an increasing number of states move their analog standardized tests to computers.

• ☝️ Paris hosted the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games yesterday, which run through September 8; all 22 Paralympic sports will be broadcast or streamed live this year for the first time.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Flip Side by Game Show Network

• 💰 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -0.6%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -1.1%). | 💼 July unemployment rates in 2024 were higher than last year in 350 of the 389 metropolitan areas covered in a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
• 📝 Nvidia reported earnings outpacing analysts' expectations; revenue grew 122% year over year; this follows three straight periods of year-over-year growth north of 200%; shares fell 8% in extended trading.
• 💸 Berkshire Hathaway became the first non-tech US company to surpass a $1 trillion market cap. | 🤖 OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise capital at a valuation of $100+ billion; the company was valued at $86 billion in an employee share sale completed earlier this year.

*From our partners: 🥳👓 Look what they did… Game Show Network is premiering Flip Side on September 16, hosted by Jaleel White of Family Matters fame. Watch players guess how different groups feel about the same issue to win $10,000. Watch the Flip Side preview here.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🗽📺 YES Network and MSG Network – two rival New York-based regional sports networks that locally air the Yankees, Rangers, Knicks, and others – are launching a combined streaming app this fall; it’s believed to be the first time two regional sports networks have combined their apps into a bundled option.
• 🏈 Tom Brady would face unique and severe restrictions in his role as a Fox broadcaster if the former quarterback’s bid to become partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders is approved, per an ESPN report.
• 🎾 US Open: Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic were among the favorites who advanced to the third round yesterday on the women’s and men’s side, respectively; full highlights from Day 3.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Caliber

• 👪 US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory warning that high levels of stress among parents in America represent a significant public health issue.
• ☀️⚡ Solar Landscape, a community developer of solar energy, is renting 8.5 million square feet of rooftop space from US self-storage giant National Storage Affiliates Trust, with plans to roll out 100 megawatts of solar capacity across 42 states.
• 🚀 A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket broke apart early yesterday while attempting to land after the successful launch of 21 Starlink satellites, ending a string of 267 consecutive successful SpaceX booster recoveries dating back to February 2021. | 🧑‍🚀 SpaceX once again delayed the launch of its Polaris Dawn mission, this time due to “unfavorable weather”; the next possible launch window is tomorrow.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🇨🇳🌐 Hackers backed by China’s government have penetrated several US internet service providers in recent months, gaining access to at least two major US ISPs with millions of customers as well as several smaller providers, per a new Washington Post report.
• 🎓💰 The Supreme Court denied President Biden’s request to lift a temporarily block on his administration’s latest plan to forgive student-loan debt; the order prevents the plan from taking effect while the federal court system decides whether it’s legal.
• ⚖️📰 A former elected official in Clark County, Nevada, was found guilty yesterday of murdering a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter who investigated him; the former official was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. | 🔍 The gunman who tried to assassinate former President Trump likely wasn’t motivated by a specific political ideology, and more closely fits the profile of a mass shooter than a politically motivated assassin, FBI officials said yesterday.

CLICKBAIT

• 🌊🐉 First-Ever Loch Ness Holograms Reveal "Micro-Monsters" Are Lurking In Its Waters.

🏨 Stat of the Day: American hotels are increasingly catering to the Logan Roys of the world, rather than the Al Bundys. Over the first half of this year, 80 US hotels had an average room rate of at least $1,000/day, up from 22 in 2019, per new data from real-estate analytics firm CoStar Group. Analysts say the stark increase – which far outpaces the opening of new hotels – shows that while inflation-weary budget travelers are pulling back on spending, more affluent US consumers still have vacation money to blow.

🤔 Did You Know? The Paralympic Games began in 1948 as a way to help motivate and rehabilitate military servicemen and women who had returned home from World War II after sustaining a spinal injury.

📰 Worth a Read: Mongolia’s ‘Forbidden Zone’ Is Guarding an 800-Year-Old Secret → (Atlas Obscura)

☝️ Round one: On Tuesday, we covered a series of recent TikTok videos from singer/songwriter Chappell Roan in which she shared her discomfort with “creepy” fan behavior in recent months, including what she described as abuse, harassment, and stalking.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, do celebrities “owe” it to fans to be available for pictures or greetings when in public?

• 👍 Yes, most or all of the time: 14%
• ↔️ Some of the time: 28%
• 👎 No, not at all: 45%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 13%

+Note on sample size: We received 3,267 votes.

✌️ Round two: Yesterday we covered how a growing number of teachers across America are reporting feeling demoralized, exhausted, and burnt out before the 2024-25 school year even starts.

❓ Our question to you (long-form): Calling all 25,000+ classrooms using the DONUT: How would you deal with increasing rates of burnout and stress among teachers in America?

• “As a teacher we need more support from our community, government and administration. We need more resources for parents and all teachers should have access to free therapy to help deal with burnout. Teachers need a pay increase to help ease the burden of needing a second job and actually use the summer break for restorative practices.”
• “Better administrative support. Increasingly the administration sides with the student. In many cases this is done without even asking the teacher for their input on the situation. It's hard to not be stressed knowing that your every action could result in a reprimand.”
• “Remove all cell phones from students and install limited pay phones. Allow teachers to suspend unruly students and expel the constant misbehavers. Require parents to seek professional help for their mentally disturbed children and require parents to audit classes at least once per semester.”

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

+Note on sample size: We received 289 longform responses.

A little boy recently visited the Hecht Museum in Israel and got extra curious about a large ceramic vase from 2200-1500 BC. 

• While trying to peer over the top of the vase to see what was inside, the boy tugged a little too hard and sent the 3,500+-year-old artifact tumbling towards the ground, shattering it on the tile floor.

The boy's dad said he was "in shock" when the vase hit the ground and broke, and immediately found a security guard to report the broken item. There are no hard feelings, however; the museum invited the boy and his family back for a private guided tour.

🧑‍🍳 Cook: This Reddit thread is a gold mine of lazy, one-pot meal ideas that’ll keep the kitchen relatively clean.

📵 Back in time: Does doing away with a smartphone for high school-aged kids have a significant impact on their well being?

🧑‍🔬 Science: A recent study out of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston found “higher intake of red meat — particularly processed red meat — was associated with a higher risk of developing dementia.”

☑️ Plan: It can always feel like you’ve never got enough time in the day to accomplish all your tasks, and that may be the problem. Daniel Willingham recommends organizing by how much time you need to complete a task, as opposed to just the task alone.

🎨 Artsy: Check out Phoenix: or, Drawings of This Amazing Place, a 200-page art book filled with unique and creative illustrations, stories, comics, and more. Celebrate the unique history of Phoenix, Arizona; every copy comes signed w/extras.*

*A message from our partners.

Which of the world's major deserts derives its name from the Arabic word for "desert"?

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The Sahara Desert