Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 📝 How the “publish or perish” mentality is fueling scientific retractions
• ⚖️ Epic Games vs. Google and Samsung
• 🗣️ The VP debate

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.98-minute read (1,325 words).

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

"The one who boasts does so only out of a feeling of inferiority."

–Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Scientific journals worldwide are increasingly running into a similar problem: some of the papers they’ve published have significant issues with their accuracy or integrity, leading to a growing number of retractions in recent years.

By the numbers: Scientific publications have issued 39,000+ retractions over the past decade, with that figure growing by ~23% every year, according to the latest data from Retraction Watch. In 2023 alone, 10,000+ research papers were retracted globally.

• One of the most egregious examples is New Jersey-based publisher Wiley, which announced the closure of 19 scientific journals in May following the retraction of 11,300+ papers from those publications over the previous two years.

Analysts say the current system incentivizes such behavior. Scientists worldwide are often required to publish regularly in peer-reviewed journals to win grants or earn promotions. The constant pressure to generate research has contributed to a “publish or perish” environment, in which some scientists are motivated to cheat the system.

• The main workaround is the use of “paper mills,” which offer to list a scientist as an author on a fabricated paper in exchange for money. The mill submits the fabricated work to scientific journals, typically targeting publishers with less-thorough review processes.
• On the publishing side, scientific ​​journals typically charge fees ranging from $100-$10,000 per study, which incentivizes some publications to ignore fabricated submissions.

Bottom line: Research flagged as fraudulent represents a tiny percentage of the 2+ million scientific papers published each year. But its growing presence could threaten the legitimacy of the ~$30 billion/year academic publishing industry, and harm the public perception of science as a whole.

📊 Flash poll: How would you best describe your personal confidence in the scientific community?

• A great deal of trust
• An average amount of trust
• Little or no trust
• Unsure/other

Pass the hot sauce, please! Pick Your Poison is “what would you rather do” in game form with hilarious consequences…

• 🤦‍♀️ Three or more people compete to create the hardest possible scenario by combining two Poison cards
• 💀 Set includes base game, plus After Dark expansion – gives you a total of 400 cards for thousands of wild combinations
• 🎃 The perfect Halloween-themed party game – 3-10 players, 30-60 min game time

Ready to laugh? Get Pick Your Poison here.

🇮🇷🇮🇱 Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Israel. US officials say Iran fired ~180 missiles at Israel, who managed to intercept the majority of the attack with one reported Palestinian casualty in the West Bank. Iran’s attack came days after Israeli airstrikes killed several leaders of Iran-aligned armed groups – including Hezbollah – and occurred hours after Israel’s military confirmed a limited ground operation inside Lebanon. Following the attack, Iran’s foreign minister said his country exercised "self-defense" against Israel, and its action is concluded unless the "Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation." Israel’s military has signaled it will retaliate against Iran.

🇨🇭🇮🇹 Switzerland and Italy are redrawing borders due to melting glaciers. Large sections of the Swiss-Italian border are defined by glaciers, but large-scale melting has caused those boundaries to shift in recent years. On Friday, Switzerland’s government approved a plan to change part of the Swiss-Italian border to account for recent glacier movements. Italy has agreed to the move in principle, but has yet to grant official approval.

🛰️ A NASA report identified concerns with an air leak at the ISS. The leak was first discovered at a small Russian part of the ISS in 2019, and has grown from a rate of ~1 lb of atmosphere/day in February to 3.7 lbs/day in April. In a new report, NASA confirmed the leak has triggered the highest level of concern on its 5x5 "risk matrix," and said, if things worsen further, it could force the permanent closure of one of Russia’s four ISS docking ports.

Epic Games is suing Google and Samsung, alleging anti-competitive practices within the Android app ecosystem.

The lawsuit specifically targets a feature called "Auto Blocker," a setting Samsung introduced on its mobile devices in October 2023 designed to automatically…block users from installing apps outside of “authorized” sources.

• Auto Blocker is an opt-out feature on newer Samsung devices, meaning users need to take an action to turn it off. It makes it difficult to install apps from places other than Google and Samsung’s app stores, with the stated aim of shielding users from potential threats.
• However, while Auto Blocker can be turned off – according to Epic, it takes “an exceptionally onerous 21-step process,” making it that much more likely users will give up somewhere in the process of downloading Epic’s new app store (or other alternatives).

Google’s response… has been to emphasize the company’s commitment to user safety and security. Google VP of Engineering Dave Kleidermacher called the lawsuit a "dangerous move," arguing that opening up the Android ecosystem to alternative app stores could fragment the platform, increase security risks, and potentially expose users to "less safe" apps.

⚖️ Déjà vu (kind of): Epic Games previously accused Google of running an illegal app store monopoly in 2020, in a case where the jury eventually ended up siding with Epic. Though in that instance, Samsung was like an injured Air Bud – sitting happily on the sideline.

Voted “Best Mat of 2024” by New York Times Wirecutter, JadeYoga’s Harmony Mat is loved by beginners and experts alike. It provides a solid foundation for your practice, enabling you to push yourself into advanced poses without fear of slipping.

• 🧘‍♀️ Crafted from natural, open-cell rubber to provide superior cushioning and support compared to synthetic rubber alternatives
• 🌎 Rubber is sourced from rapidly renewable rubber trees, and JadeYoga plants a tree for each mat sold (2.5M planted and counting)
• 🌈 Available in 13 colors to style with your fav yoga fits
• 🦅 All mats made in the USA – free shipping on orders over $64.95

Get the most out of your yoga practice with JadeYoga.

"For each match-up, vote for the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears.”

Fat Bear Week, an annual March Madness-style contest put on by Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska to determine the chonkiest bear of them all, officially begins at noon.

Meet the contestants: There are 11 competitors, with names ranging from 128 Grazer (the defending champ) to 32 Chunk to 164 Bucky Dent. The biggest adult male brown bears often weigh 1,200+ pounds in the late summer and fall, up from 700–900 lbs mid-summer, while adult females are smaller by one-third to one-half on average, largely due to the energetic costs of raising cubs.

• Bears fatten up throughout the summer to survive winter hibernation, where they can lose about one-third of their body weight, according to the National Park Service.
• Fun fact: Bears don’t necessarily sleep the entire time they hibernate – but for months, they don’t eat or drink, and rarely urinate or defecate (if at all).

This week’s contest is off to a deadly start: In a prime example that nature truly is metal, this year’s bracket was released one day later than scheduled after a male bear killed a female bear – on livestream, with people from around the world watching.

📸 Big picture: Last year’s Fat Bear Week saw ~1.4 million votes cast from 100+ countries. You can cast your vote for this year’s contest here, and follow the contestants on Big Brother-style live cams here.

• ☝️ The first – and only – vice presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle took place last night between Senator JD Vance (R-OH) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D); the two candidates clashed over a range of topics, including the economy, immigration, foreign policy, climate change, and healthcare. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Manscaped

• 💰 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -0.9%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -1.5%).
• 💼 US job openings increased in August following two straight monthly decreases.
• 😋 PepsiCo is buying tortilla chip maker Siete Foods for $1.2 billion.

*From our partners: 😎 Like a little scruff?... and a deal that’s irresistible?... The Chairman™ Pro from MANSCAPED® includes a SkinSafe® stubble trimmer attachment for the perfect slightly-dangerous look. Use the SkinSafe® four-blade foil for a full refresh. Get The Chairman™ Pro and unlock 20% OFF their newest tool.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾ MLB Playoffs: Game 1 for all four Wild Card series took place yesterday; the Tigers prevailed over the Astros, the Royals shut out the Orioles, the Mets beat the Brewers, and the Padres shut out the Braves; Game 2 in all four series will be held later today.
• 🍿 Reacher is getting a spin-off: Amazon Prime Video has greenlit a new series focusing on the character Frances Neagley (played by Maria Sten).
• ⚖️ Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing sexual assault allegations from 120 new accusers that go back 20+ years, per Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee (who’s representing the accusers).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Armoire

• 🎗️ Rates of breast cancer in US women rose by 1%/year between 2012-2021, per a new American Cancer Society report; on the flip side, breast cancer death rates fell 44% between 1989 and 2022.
• ☀️🪐 Astronomers have discovered a new planet orbiting the closest single star to our Sun (located ~6 light-years away). | ✋🚀 The FAA grounded SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket while the company investigates a recent malfunction in the launch vehicle’s second stage.
• 🧓 Older adults who experience injury-causing falls are more likely to develop dementia within a year of their accident compared to elders who have other kinds of physical injuries, per a large new study.

*From our partners: 👗🙌 Fashion freedom awaits… Wardrobe getting stale? Unlock a dynamic and personalized closet of premium designer clothes with Armoire Clothing Rental. Starts at $89/mo – free shipping and cleaning. Save up to 50% on your first month of sustainable and commitment-free fashion with Armoire.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 Hurricane Helene update: As of last night, the death toll from the storm had risen to more than 160 people across six states, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in North Carolina; hundreds of people remained missing yesterday as rescue efforts continued; the Southeast US has been drenched with 40+ trillion gallons of rain over the past week due to Helene and other storms (enough to fill Lake Tahoe).
• 🏛️ The Biden administration rolled out tougher asylum restrictions for migrants at the US-Mexico border; the new rule shuts down most asylum claims unless apprehensions of migrants entering the US illegally drops below a rolling average of 1,500/day for 28 days (instead of seven days previously).
• 🇲🇽 Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in yesterday as the first-ever female president of Mexico, after receiving nearly 60% of the vote in June’s election; Sheinbaum has promised to continue the policies of outgoing President Andres Manuel López Obrador (her political mentor).

CLICKBAIT

• 😋🌆 The Best Foodie Cities in America in 2024.

🇺🇸🧓 Stat(s) of the Day: Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 years old yesterday, marking the first time an American president has lived a full century. Carter, who served one presidential term from 1977-1981 before later winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian efforts, has remained in home hospice care for the past 19 months. Overall, the former president has lived through 40% of US history since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and has seen the US population nearly triple in his lifetime.

🤔 Did You Know? Erwin Schrödinger proposed his famous “Schrödinger’s Cat” thought experiment – in which a cat in a sealed box is both alive and dead until viewed by a conscious observer – to illustrate how he thought some people were misinterpreting quantum theory. In other words: Schrödinger was pointing out the absurdity of quantum theorists who believed the cat could be both alive and dead at the same time.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside the economics of corporate swag → (The Hustle)

💍 That was the case for Rachel Hundertmark and Rashad Polk, who shared their first kiss at a Modest Mouse concert back in 2021. When the couple went to see the artist for a second time this year, they both had the brilliant idea to propose mid-concert. 

They each told Rachel's daughter, Jasmine, their proposal plans – and she decided to keep it hidden from them and watch it all play out in real-time.

• When the moment finally came, Rachel was first to kneel and grab her ring, before Rashad started cracking up and did the exact same thing.
• Jasmine was prepared to capture the entire moment from the sidelines. 

👀 Looking ahead... The couple plans to tie the knot next September.

Name the movie associated with each of the following poorly explained plots:

1. A janitor falls in love with a biologist while she’s in a coma. Later, he visits her at work and almost gets her fired.
2. Woman tells granddaughter story about a heated romance with guy she just met.
3. Boy has unconventional pet who hurts neighbor and is taken by the government.

Craving a coffee? Copy your referral link below and share The DONUT with your peeps. Once they subscribe, you’ll get an email to claim your gift card – even easier than ordering a coffee during the morning rush🥳.

Start referring👇

1. Wall-E (2008)
2. Titanic (1997)
3. Fido (2006)