Good morning, and welcome to Friday the 13th. In this edition:

• 📝 Iran is in nuclear breach, UN says; Israel strikes
• 🙏 Air India crash
• 🧠 Our weekly news quiz

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.85-minute read (1,290 words).

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"You'll have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren't paying attention to."

–Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting (1997)

The UN's atomic watchdog yesterday formally declared Iran to be in breach of its nuclear nonproliferation obligations—designed to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon—for the first time in 20 years.

In response to the declaration, which cited Iran’s repeated refusal to explain undeclared nuclear material discovered in the country six years ago, Iran said it will escalate its nuclear program and establish a third uranium enrichment facility.

Why it’s a big deal: If Iran follows through on its threat to add a third enrichment site, it would allow the country to further speed up nuclear development.

• Iran currently has enough highly enriched uranium to make ~10 nuclear weapons, and is adding more at a rate of about one weapon’s worth per month. But with a third site active, its rate of enrichment would increase to ~6 nuclear weapons’ worth per month.
• However, Iran has consistently said its nuclear program is for civilian use, not to develop weapons.
• The US says it doesn’t have any evidence that Iran has decided to develop a nuclear weapon, but that if Tehran wanted to, it could likely develop working nukes within a few months.

The UN-Iran fallout comes at a critical time

The Trump admin recently reopened negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, in an attempt to strike a deal under which Tehran stops or sharply reduces its production of highly enriched uranium in exchange for reducing sanctions that have crippled its economy. But an agreement doesn’t appear imminent.

• President Trump said earlier this week that he had grown less confident about striking a deal with Iran, and that military action is on the table if nuclear talks fail.
• Israel has also long warned it will launch targeted military strikes at Iran if it believes Tehran is starting to build a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s pledge was finally fulfilled last night: Israel’s defense minister said the country carried out a preemptive strike on Iran—reportedly targeting nuclear and military sites, as well as Iran's top military officials and nuclear scientists. He also announced a special state of emergency across Israel in expectation of a retaliatory strike from Tehran.

Meanwhile…The US and Iran were scheduled to hold a sixth round of recent nuclear negotiations on Sunday. This won't be happening anymore, according to Iranian state media.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, how far should the US go to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons?

• Up to and including military action
• Use all possible options outside of military action
• Make some efforts, but don’t push too hard
• Don’t get involved
• Unsure/other

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$84M+ has already been invested in StartEngine, but the window is closing soon.

As humanity gives robots voices, they appear to be doing the same for us.

For the first time, a brain implant has allowed a patient with a severe speech disability to speak expressively in real-time and even sing, effectively creating a new digital vocal tract, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Nature.

The new technology, designed by UC Davis researchers, uses a specially designed AI algorithm to instantaneously translate the patient’s brain activity into speech.

“The holy grail in speech BCIs”

Previous speech brain-computer implants (BCIs) have focused on translating brain waves into written words—a situation scientists liken to texting, given the delayed nature of conversation.

• By comparison, UC Davis’ new tech is more like a voice call (near-instantaneous communication), which is the end goal for many speech BCI projects.
• It’s also the first known BCI to reproduce not only a person’s intended words, but also features of natural speech like tone, pitch, and emphasis, which help to express meaning and emotion.

It’s been a breakthrough week: In a separate Nature Communications study published Tuesday, researchers uncovered key details about the complex process that grants axolotls, a species of aquatic salamander, the unique ability to regrow its limbs—with the goal of one day allowing humans to do the same (like Deadpool, but without the required torture to activate).

A24, the production studio behind Ex Machina, Eighth Grade, Moonlight, Uncut Gems, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Warfare, and more, yesterday announced it has greenlit science-fiction horror film The Backrooms, based on the popular YouTube horror series that bears the same name.

• Since its debut in 2022, The Backrooms has amassed 190+ million views on YouTube.
• A24’s version will be directed by Kane Parsons, A24-year-old a 19-year-old who created the YouTube series. He’ll be the youngest director in the studio’s history.

A proven formula

Over the past decade, studios have increasingly trawled YouTube in search of opportunity (like Scooter Braun). HBO's Insecure (formerly Awkward Black Girl), as well as Netflix's karate-centric Cobra Kai and dating show Pop the Balloon, originated as YouTube series’ before being picked up by the Hollywood machine.

It’s about risk reduction: This wait-and-see approach allows studios to be assured there’s demand for the content. For creators, signing on the dotted line ensures they’ll receive money up-front, as opposed to self-financing videos and relying on performance to recoup costs.

If you’ve never seen The Backrooms…Dive in here. Warning: It’s creepy, and addictive enough that you may need to clear your afternoon.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 Chime, an online banking provider, saw shares rise 37% in its Nasdaq debut; the fintech company had a market cap of $13.5 billion at close.
• 🚫 Google's cloud suffered significant outages yesterday, disrupting services like Spotify, Snapchat, OpenAI, Shopify, and Twitch. | PE firms General Atlantic and Apollo both halted early recruitment of bankers following pushback from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
• 🍏 Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference ends today. Everything announced so far.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Your Everyday Heroes

• ⚖️ Harvey Weinstein's rape charge ended in mistrial following alleged threats to the jury foreperson; another trial could occur this fall; this follows Weinstein’s conviction on Wednesday for one count of engaging in a criminal sexual act, and acquittal on a second count following a retrial.
• 🏊 Summer McIntosh, an 18-year-old three-time Olympic gold medalist, broke three swimming world records in five days; the last person to perform this feat at a meet was Michael Phelps.
• 🤖 Disney and NBCUniversal sued generative AI company Midjourney over copyright infringement; it marks the first legal action from Hollywood against the generative AI industry.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 OpenAI released o3-pro, a new advanced AI reasoning model that the company says is its most capable yet.
• 🚰 MIT engineers developed a window-sized device that can efficiently produce clean drinking water out of thin air—all without requiring an external power source.
• 🌐 Wikipedia froze its project testing AI summaries for articles after less than a week in response to pushback from human editors.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with Wantable

• 🙏 A Boeing passenger jet in Ahmedabad, India, carrying 242 people bound for London crashed seconds after takeoff yesterday; a single passenger reportedly survived the crash without life-threatening injuries; five deaths and ~50 injuries were also reported at the crash site (a residential area).
• 🎓 The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which oversees the State Department’s academic study abroad program, saw 11 of its 12 members resign, citing “unprecedented” interference by the Trump administration. | Health Secretary RFK Jr. named eight new doctors and researchers to the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, after firing all 17 members earlier this week.
• 🏛️ The House narrowly approved a “DOGE cuts” bill codifying $9.4 billion in federal spending cuts; it includes cuts to USAID, as well as the entity that funds NPR and PBS. | Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security press conference about deportation efforts in California.

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☝️ You’re looking at some of the world's best photos of this week’s historic strawberry moon.

🤔 Did You Know? Fungus-growing ants have been practicing agriculture for at least 50 million years, according to a 2003 study. During that time, the ants have been locked in a perpetual battle with a certain weed species—found nowhere else in nature—that seeks to infect ants’ fungus gardens.

📰 Worth a Read: How similar should you and your romantic partner be, according to psychologists?

🖱️ Clickbait: The secret to retaining the best employees: ask them these four questions

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

🏀 The WNBA’s national TV viewership has declined 55% since Indiana Fever G Caitlin Clark was injured on May 24, per Nielsen data.

🧠 The average human mind is blank between 5%–20% of the time, according to recent research.

📉 Japan recorded 686,061 births in 2024, down 5.7% from the prior year; it’s the first time new births have dropped below 700,000/year since records began in 1899.

🚫 YouTube has taken down 220 million videos since 2018, including 8.6 million last quarter.

⚡ The average ChatGPT query uses ~0.34 watt-hours of energy, or about what a high-efficiency lightbulb would use in a couple of minutes, per Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

🦮 Thousands of Golden Retrievers and their owners congregated in Golden, Colorado, for the sixth-annual Goldens in Golden event. See the day in action here.

😮🎽18-year-old Eagle Scout Jimmy Poirier just joined a less-than-1%-club by achieving all 139 merit badges available to Boy Scouts.

🧸 The Pittsburgh International Airport team posted a desperate plea on social media after finding a poor lost stuffed bunny at baggage claim. It turned into an adventure: The stuffy was given a VIP tour of the airport and sent home after staff tracked down its owner—a 6-year-old named Waylynn.

+Note: These stories previously appeared in a February edition of Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter delivering awe (and awww) inspiring stories you won't hear in the news. Sign up for free here.

Below are three lists of ingredients. Your job is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

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• Onion powder
• Sour cream
• Canola oil
• Ground beef
• Salt
• 4-cheese blend
• Green onion
• Crispy fried onions

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Buttermilk
• Salt
• Bone-in, skin-on chicken
• Lemon
• Ranch seasoning
• Dill
• Chives
• Parsley

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Quick-rolled oats
• Mixed seeds
• Dried fruit
• Kosher salt
• Cinnamon
• Unsalted butter
• Brown sugar
• Golden syrup

🍫 Explore: How Dubai Chocolate conquered the world.

🤔 Interesting: A visual deep dive into drug and alcohol abuse among music stars.

🏍️ Fast-paced: What it’s like to operate a motorcycle during a high-speed race (sound on).

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☝️ Recipe #1: Chili dip

✌️ Recipe #2: Ranch chicken

3️⃣ Recipe #3: British flapjacks

1. Count determined as number of unique email addresses in StartEngine’s database as of 03-07-2025. One individual may have more than one email address. Note that in In May 2023, StartEngine acquired assets of SeedInvest, including email lists for SeedInvest’s users, investors, and founders.

2. The underlying companies held by StartEngine Private Funds LLC, and StartEngine Private LLC (together, “StartEngine Private”) are not participating or involved in the offering. The availability of company information does not indicate that the company has endorsed, supports or otherwise participates with StartEngine Private or any of its affiliates. StartEngine Crowdfunding LLC purchases shares from current and former employees, early investors, and advisors of the companies and sells the shares to StartEngine Private for each offering. When you make an investment in a company on StartEngine Private, you are purchasing an interest in a series of StartEngine Private Funds LLC or StartEngine Private LLC, each a Delaware limited liability company (together the “Series LLCs”), which were created to hold shares of privately held companies. An investor will not directly own or hold shares of the private company but instead will own member interests in a series of the Series LLCs, which either directly or indirectly, will hold shares in the company. There may not be a one-to-one economic parity on the value of the Series LLCs interests and the underlying shares.

3. Based on our 2024 Form 10-K. This revenue growth has been driven by StartEngine Private, a new product line that offers funds in late stage companies. This product line has driven over $28 million of the $48 million in revenue from 2024. Net loss also increased to $16.5 million. To understand the impact on margins, see financials.