Good morning. In this edition:

• 👶 Gene-edited babies
• 🐝 Bees learning Morse code
• ☁️ How much do clouds weigh?

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.90-minute read (1,037 words).

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Last week, we mistakenly stated that each penny costs $3.69 to produce, instead of 3.69 cents. 🤦 Thanks to everyone who brought this to our attention. In related news: the US Mint officially struck the last new penny ever yesterday.

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”

–Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

AI truthers have a new arrow in their quiver when participating in debates over the technology’s usefulness.

Analysts have widely expected companies’ advertising budgets to tighten in recent months, following US tariff battles and waning purchasing power among consumers.

But giants like Meta, Google, and Amazon have instead seen a boost in ad spending and revenue growth, largely due to AI’s ability to improve ad targeting and enhance platform engagement.

How they’re doing it: Google and Meta have both rolled out AI ad-creation tools that automate some of the process of launching ad campaigns, saving companies money on production costs.

Other examples:

• Meta’s recommendation algorithms, now powered by AI, boosted time spent on Facebook by ~5% last quarter, equating to that many more ads presented to users.
• On a recent earnings call, Alphabet said AI summaries are driving more Google Search queries, including commercial ones, which bolster shopping and ads.

Efforts are paying off

US ad spending, including political ads, is projected to increase by 8.5% this year, with that figure rising as high as 10% if current trends in tech-ad growth persist, per advisory firm Madison & Wall. For the top-three ad giants in particular—Meta, Google, and Amazon—their market share is projected to reach 56+% this year, up from 51% in 2023.

AI is boosting the industry in other ways, too. Along with improving existing campaigns, the tech is also helping boost overall ad spending by making it easier to launch and scale new businesses, which then need to pitch themselves to customers.

Bottom line: Showing gains from AI is crucial for many tech giants, as they start to feel pressure from investors over a recent string of massive spending commitments on AI infrastructure.

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Artificial intelligence and satellite internet are so yesterday. Now, Silicon Valley is turning its attention to a new cutting-edge tech: tweaking babies’ genes before they’re born.

A startup called Preventive, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, recently secured $30 million to explore how to safely create genetically edited babies, marking the largest investment to date in the once-taboo technology.

It’s a compelling pitch

The idea is to use gene-editing to eliminate hereditary diseases before they start, as well as lower the risk of common conditions like heart disease or osteoporosis. At its most extreme, the tech could potentially be used to fine-tune traits such as IQ, height, or eye color.

• Outside of Preventive, several startups—including Orchid, Nucleus, and Herasight—already offer “genetic report cards” for IVF embryos.
• For a price of up to $50,000, prospective parents can use these genetic tests to rank IVF embryos for future IQ, lifespan, height, and other traits.

But not everyone’s impressed. Many scientists warn that the process of editing human embryos can be unpredictable, and any mistakes could affect generations of people.

• Opponents also cite a desire to avoid America’s sordid history with eugenics, which includes the mass sterilization of Americans with “unwanted” characteristics.
• The use of gene editing in human embryos is currently illegal in the US (and many other countries), so Preventative and similar companies are located overseas.

Looking ahead…While most designer-baby companies are still in the research phase, many experts say it’s inevitable that editing human embryos will become commonplace in the future.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏛️ Federal economic data for October—including jobs report and CPI—will “likely never” be released despite a deal in Congress to end the gov’t shutdown; officials say the closure made it hard to gather the necessary data last month.
• 🤖 Anthropic announces $50 billion investment in new domestic AI infrastructure, including new data centers in New York and Texas.
• 🩲 Skims, the apparel giant owned by Kim Kardashian, raises $225 million in new financing at a $5 billion valuation; company was previously valued at $4 billion in 2023.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎩 Sabrina Carpenter tapped to star and produce an untitled movie musical based on Alice in Wonderland for Universal Studios.
• 🏀 NBA unveils new “USA vs. World” format for All-Star Game; it features three teams of eight players—two American squads, one international—in a round-robin format.
• 👜 The Devil Wears Prada 2—featuring the return of Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway —drops its first teaser trailer ahead of May 1, 2026, release date.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚘 Waymo's self-driving cars will soon be able to travel on freeways without a human driver in San Francisco, Phoenix, and LA; the vehicles have so far been confined to local roads with lower speed limits.
• 🐝 Bees can learn a simplified version of Morse code by processing the duration of flashes of light, new study reveals; it marks the first evidence that insects have the ability to process time, like vertebrates do.
• 🧬 Neanderthals likely disappeared gradually via genetic extinction due to interbreeding with our species, Homo sapiens, per new research.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🏛️ The gov't is reopened: House approves funding package to reopen the federal government and end the longest shutdown in US history; President Trump signs the bill into law shortly after. | Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) was sworn in this afternoon by House Speaker Mike Johnson, 50 days after she won a special election to fill the seat held by her late father; it narrows the GOP’s House lead to 220-214.
• 📝 House Democrats release new emails from Jeffrey Epstein in which the late financier discussed President Trump; Republicans accuse Democrats of cherry-picking, and release 20,000+ pages of other Epstein documents hours later.
• 🚨 DOJ arrests former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on charges of conspiring to skim $225,000 from a dormant campaign fund that belonged to a Biden admin official.

☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the 16th annual Epson International Pano Awards celebrating the top panoramic photos of 2025. Italy’s Alessandro Cantarelli, aka Alex Wides (top left), took home the top prize out of 3,423 entries.

🤔 Did you know? The average cumulus cloud—the big, fluffy kind you see on a sunny day— can weigh over a million pounds due to the accumulated water. But despite its weight, a cloud’s water droplets are very tiny and spread out, so gravity can’t pull them down all at once.

📰 Worth a read: Why do fall and winter make us sleepier?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Frog skin contains secret superpowers
• “Golden blood”: Just 50 people have this ultra-rare type—and it could transform medicine
• The psychiatrist who evaluated top Nazis at Nuremberg

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Yesterday we covered how the Senate officially approved a bipartisan package to fund the federal government and end the record-long shutdown after roughly a month-and-a-half.

❓ Our question to you (long-form): What are your thoughts on the upcoming end of the US government shutdown?

• “Both political parties and their leadership need to learn from the eight that moved from the left to a more central location enabling the process to end the shutdown to move forward. They were willing to put the needs of the people ahead of the goals of the party.”
• “I am equally disgusted and disappointed with both sides. The shutdown accomplished nothing other than political posturing. America is on a downward path until all parties agree to put the interests of the average citizen first. They both claim to do so, but both fail. There has never been a better case for federal term limits than there is at the present.”
• “Government shutdowns should not be a "negotiating tool." A shutdown holds the entire nation hostage. Other means - that do not cause harm to citizens - must be developed. Members of Congress swear to "act rightfully and impartially for the sake of the citizens and the society." The vast negative effects of a shutdown clearly violate their oath.”

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful responses.

+Note: Some comments may be edited for length/clarity; Sample size: We received 94 longform responses.

In which Southeast Asian country is the Helix Bridge located?

🤘 374 bagpipers convened in Melbourne, Australia, to snag the world record for the largest bagpipe ensemble. Their song of choice? It s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" by AC/DC. 

Singapore

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