Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🤔 Homework: good or bad?
• 🥊 Yelp vs. Google
• 🤖 AI rizz on dating apps

… and more.

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

P.S. Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here for free.

"It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude."

–Hilary "Zig" Ziglar (1926-2012)

A growing number of US schools, teachers, and academic experts are rethinking whether homework still carries value for younger students – an issue that has major implications for the long-held (and helpful) dietary staple of dogs.

The latest example came on Saturday, when California’s legislature overwhelmingly approved a bill recommending that school districts evaluate the mental and physical health impacts of homework, and create new policies to decrease students’ homework-related stress while still boosting learning.

The Golden State isn’t alone. Last year, 37% of 13-year-old US students said they had "no homework assigned" on the day before a National Center for Education Statistics survey, up from 29% in 2020 and 21% in 2012.

• When it comes to nine-year-old students, 35% said they had no homework the day prior in a NCES survey from 2022, the most recent year data is available. This figure has increased steadily since a recent low of 18% in 2008.

Driving the trend… Teachers and school districts cite a variety of reasons for deciding to cut back on assigning homework, or eliminate the practice altogether.

• Some point to experts who say research has yet to prove a conclusive link between homework and academic achievement among younger students.
• Others say eliminating homework helps increase the overall social-emotional health of students, who consistently cite homework as a major source of stress.

There’s also the AI elephant in the room. Following the rise of easy-to-use chatbots, a significant portion of students are turning to AI for assistance with their homework – or just asking it to spit out the right answers.

• A recent Pew survey found 39% of US teens say it's acceptable to use AI tools like ChatGPT to solve math problems, while 20% say it's acceptable to have AI chatbots write school essays for them.

Looking ahead… California’s homework bill now heads to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom for signature.

📊 Flash poll: In general, to what extent do you think homework was harmful or helpful to your personal education?

• Very helpful
• Somewhat helpful
• Neither helpful nor harmful
• Somewhat harmful
• Very harmful

Proper organization boosts productivity and can ignite creativity. It improves decision-making and allows more time for what truly matters in life. Our secret weapon to stay organized? Niphtio…

• 🖱️ Save articles, videos, and more with just one click
• 🔍 Easily retrieve past bookmarks – Niphtio searches content, not just titles
• 💾 Quickly save multiple tabs for later reading
• 📝 Attach notes for key takeaways and prioritization
• 📲 Accessible from any browser on any device

Whether it’s research for work, or studying for school, Niphtio is the simple-to-use tool to stay ahead of your workload and free up precious time.

Niphtio is free - get it here.

🇷🇺🐳 A beluga whale suspected of spying for Russia was found dead near Norway. The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, was first sighted near Norway in 2019 wearing a GoPro camera on a harness labeled “Equipment St. Petersburg.” Norwegian officials suspect Hvaldimir was trained by the Russian Navy, since he appears accustomed to humans and also swam in geopolitically valuable waters for Russia (located hundreds of miles from the nearest beluga population). Officials are currently investigating Hvaldmir’s cause of death, since he was young and had no obvious injuries. Hvaldmir was an estimated 14-15 years old, or roughly half the average lifespan of beluga whales. (+Dive deeper: Covert Creatures: The History of Spy Animals)

🇨🇳 Chinese government-backed trolls are targeting US voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. According to a new report from research firm Graphika, a China-backed network known as “Spamouflage” has created thousands of fake social media accounts pretending to be politically engaged American voters and is using them to promote divisive narratives on polarized issues like gun control and racial inequality. The fake accounts appear to be politically agnostic, targeting both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, with an overall goal of undermining confidence in US elections.

🇻🇦 Pope Francis kicked off his longest-ever foreign trip. Yesterday, Pope Francis began a 11-day trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania, where he’s scheduled to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. Papal officials say the trip will focus on inter-religious harmony in the Asia Pacific, which is one of the few regions where the Catholic Church’s membership is currently growing.

Yelp is giving Google a one-star review. Last Wednesday, the platform where your aunt rags on restaurants sued Google in a San Francisco federal court, accusing the tech giant of illegally monopolizing search and search advertising.

Background: For years, Yelp has accused Google of using its web dominance to benefit its own reviews business and steer customers away from Yelp.

• Part of Yelp’s argument is related to how Google presents search results. When consumers search for a local nail salon or Cava location, for example, the tech giant places its own results at the top, leaving Yelp and other platforms competing for the space below.
• Yelp is also accusing Google of stealing info from the review platform’s website and passing it off as its own, decreasing Yelp's traffic and revenue.

The ask: Yelp is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a declaratory judgment that Google violated antitrust laws.

On the flip side: Google says Yelp’s claims are baseless, and denies any wrongdoing. The search-engine giant says the case resembles similar claims that were thrown out years ago by the FTC.

👀 Looking ahead… The suit adds to Google's recent legal challenges, which could continue to increase. The tech giant is currently appealing two court rulings that declare its search business and mobile app store are illegal monopolies – rulings that open the door to more Yelp-like lawsuits against Google.

Want to join the 🤰 club before the new year? Get pregnant in 6 cycles or less with Mira’s handheld hormone lab…

• 📲 Key hormone scores straight to your phone on the Mira App
• 📊 Hormone patterns to pinpoint your 6 days to conceive
• 🔬 Track LH, E3G, PdG all at once
• 🏆 100k+ users are navigating fertility with Mira

Mira is designed to give you fertility confidence and help you reach your baby goals.

Save 20% on any Mira kit with code DONUT20.

“It’s that friend in the bar who’s helping you to ask someone out – but in the virtual context.”

Online dating giants are racing to build the digital Goose to your IRL Maverick. Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and Grindr (whose Chief Product Officer is quoted above) are all in the process of building or testing AI tools and chatbots that do things like generate icebreakers, build profiles, or provide feedback on user flirting.

• Like that one ex who always reaches out after their latest breakup, dating apps are hoping these AI tools can entice users back to their platforms. A joint survey by Forbes Health/OnePoll in March found 78% of dating app users had experienced burnout, with 40% of them blaming their exhaustion on repeated failures to find a good match.

📉 This fatigue has translated into poor user growth for dating apps. Bumble shares fell ~28% last month after the company slashed its revenue outlook and acknowledged that a recent brand overhaul had not yet reignited user growth. Meanwhile, the $9.6 billion Match Group is under pressure from activist investors to deliver a turnaround at its largest product, Tinder, which reported a seventh consecutive quarter of declines in paying subscriber numbers in the three months to June, the Financial Times reports.

• ☝️ The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest organizers shared a preview of some of the Highly Commended images in this year’s competition; the full list of winners will be revealed next month.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Beam

• 💰 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -2.1%; Dow: -1.5%; Nasdaq: -3.2%); all three major indexes recorded their worst days since August 5. | 📉 Nvidia shares fell 9.5%, wiping ~$300 billion off the chipmaker’s market cap; the DOJ also reportedly sent the company a subpoena related to an antitrust investigation. | ✈️ Elliott Management, an activist investment firm, now owns 10% of Southwest Airlines’ common stock, or enough to call a board meeting.
• 🍻 Molson Coors becomes the latest company to rollback DEI initiatives; last week, Ford, Lowe’s, and Jack Daniels all announced similar moves.
• 🚕 American Transit Insurance Co., NYC’s largest taxi insurer (~60% of the city’s taxi industry), is reportedly insolvent.

*From our partners: 🫐 Sleep better with a guilt-free dessert… Beam Iced Blueberry Crumble Dream is 15 calories and contains five natural ingredients that help 93% of users sleep better – no morning grogginess. Available for a limited time. Save 40% on Beam Dream with code DONUT.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🚫🎮 Sony is shutting down its team-based PlayStation 5 shooter Concord and offering refunds to all players; the move follows underwhelming sales over its first two weeks of release (~25,000 copies total); the game took eight years to develop, with unconfirmed reports placing its cost at $100+ million.
• 🍿 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the Tim Burton-directed sequel to the 1988 film, is projected to earn $100+ million at the domestic box office this weekend; if achieved, it would be the first film to break nine figures in a September opening weekend since 2017.
• 🏈💰 Americans will bet ~$35 billion on the NFL this season, a 30% increase over last year, according to the American Gaming Association. | 🏟️ The Cleveland Browns reached a 20-year agreement to rename the team’s stadium to Huntington Bank Field.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Commons

• 📱🧠 Mobile phones are not linked to brain and head cancers, per a WHO-commissioned analysis of 63 observational studies that represents the largest such research to date.
• 🫄 Accidental pregnancy can occur in more than 5% of people who undergo tubal sterilization – aka having their fallopian tubes “tied” – according to a new study.
• 🪨🪙 The Earth has a Midas touch – it can turn your countertop into gold; a new study details how earthquakes can cause quartz deposits to form into giant gold nuggets.

*From our partners: 🥳♻️ Get rewards for sustainable living… Join tens of thousands of people who are saving money with the FREE Commons app and driving the shift to a low-carbon economy. Learn more about Commons.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🗳️ Trump campaign officials “abruptly pushed aside” an Arlington Cemetery official who was attempting to ensure adherence to federal law prohibiting political activities on cemetery grounds, per an Army statement; the Army said it considers the matter closed after the employee declined to press charges; Trump’s campaign spokesperson said they had received permission to photograph in the area.
• 🥵🌡️ Phoenix, Arizona, has recorded a high temperature of at least 100°F in each of the past 100 days, marking its hottest summer on record. | ⚖️ Oregon ended its first-in-the-nation law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of heroin, fentanyl, meth, and other hard drugs; the law was enacted in 2020 via ballot measure.
• 🇨🇳🗽 A former deputy chief of staff for New York Governor Kathy Hochul was arrested yesterday and charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government; federal prosecutors say she used her position to subtly advance Beijing’s agenda in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars. | ⚖️ The Justice Department filed charges against six senior leaders of Hamas, including its political head Yahya Sinwar, accusing them of terrorism and other crimes in connection with the October 7 attacks on Israel.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🐻 How Did the Teddy Bear Get Its Name?

🥃 Stat of the Day: Macallan unveiled a new collectible whisky series this week containing its oldest and rarest bottle of scotch – and it could be yours for the low, low price of a starter home in Middle America. The new two-bottle “Time:Space Collection” – which includes an 84-year-old single malt and a smaller flask containing a historic five-year-old whisky – is priced at $190,000, with just 200 packages up for grabs. They’re expected to sell fast, as Macallan has a history of fetching the highest-ever prices at auction for wines or spirits.

🤔 Did You Know? In the US, an estimated 5% to 6% of all plastics are recycled each year.

📰 Worth a Read: Can You Outsmart a Raccoon? → (Atlas Obscura)

Louisville residents Steve Wiseman, Trace Wiseman, Kyle Reed, and Erik Howard just claimed the world record for most strikes in a 24-hour period in 10-pin bowling across four people, rolling a collective 2,032 strikes.

• In hour 14 of their attempt, the team reached the 1,200 necessary strikes to inaugurate the new record – but decided to continue for the remaining time.

🥳 Trivia: What does "Mardi Gras" translate to in English?

🤧 True or False?... Animals can be allergic to humans.

🤔 Riddle Me This: I can only live where light exists, but I die if light shines on me. What am I?

Chalo and The DONUT are bringing you a chance to win a pair of their stylish cowboy boots. They’re easy to slip on, style up or down, and made to journey with you everywhere.

Enter here for free. Good luck, pardner!🤠

🥳 Trivia: Fat Tuesday

🤧 T/F: True

🤔 Riddle: A shadow