Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🪐 Japan to collect Martian moon samples
• 💰 Anthropic & Elon Musk’s major public donations
• 🤔 How you could be a secret psychopath

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.88-minute read (1,033 words).

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“Never put off to tomorrow what you can do to-day.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Your next romantasy obsession could soon show up beside your favorite 47-minute video essay about why the McDonald's ice cream machine is always broken.

YouTube is in talks with publishers about developing an audiobook feature that could launch as early as 2027, per a new WSJ report, potentially putting the video-sharing giant in direct competition with Amazon's Audible and Spotify.

The industry has a story worth telling

US audiobook sales have boomed in recent years, reaching a record $2.43 billion in 2025 on the back of 9% annual growth, per data from the Audio Publishers Association.

• Spotify says audiobook listening hours jumped 60% year-over-year as of May 2026, while its Audiobooks+ add-on has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
• Amazon-owned Audible reported double-digit growth in total listening time worldwide over the past year, with its audiobooks reaching listeners in more than 225 countries and territories.

How would it work on a video streamer?...Details are still being ironed out, but YouTube is reportedly considering bundling audiobooks into its existing Premium subscription, which starts at $15.99/month in the US.

It's currently unclear whether users would receive unlimited listening, a monthly allotment of hours (like Spotify), or the option to purchase individual titles (like Audible).

YouTube already has a built-in audience. A recent industry survey found 45% of audiobook listeners had listened to a free audiobook copy on YouTube in the past year, giving the platform an opportunity to turn existing listeners into paying customers.

The years of coaching one person at a time built you some real skill. It’s time to share that skill at a broader level. Life-Changing Workshops helps coaches, healers, and teachers bring their gift to a room of ten, twenty, or more.

However, group leadership is a completely different craft from a private session, and nobody hands out a manual. Their free live online Masterclass on Oct. 26 puts you in the middle. Over three hours, trying hands-on exercises, practicing group facilitation, and reflecting on your style.

Discover how some workshops can be life changing and leave with tools you can bring to your own session.

Japan launched a first-of-its-kind mission yesterday afternoon to collect samples from Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, in hopes of solving a mystery about the red planet's past.

The five-year Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission aims to become the first to venture onto Phobos—as well as the first to bring back samples from the red planet or one of its moons.

Harvesting a “space potato”

Scientists have long debated the origins of Phobos and its smaller sibling Deimos, two oddly shaped moons dubbed "space potatoes” by NASA researchers.

There are two leading theories:

1. The moons were asteroids that became trapped in Mars' gravitational pull.
2. They formed from debris left behind by an ancient collision involving Mars.

Scientists hope Phobos' composition will settle the debate over the moons' origins and reveal clues about Mars' history.

Looking ahead…MMX is expected to reach Mars in August 2027 and spend three years studying its moons, before returning to Earth with 10+ grams of material from Phobos in 2031.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🤖 Anthropic announces plans to launch a public benefit fund and commits 5% of its shares; the pledge would amount to $100 billion if Anthropic reaches an IPO value of $2 trillion, on the high end of what the AI startup is aiming for.
• 🚀 Elon Musk announces plans on X to “give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many"; SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell previously committed to gifting a share to each of 2 million Trump accounts, a pledge now worth nearly $300 million.
• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia postpones its Future Investment Initiative conference, widely known as “Davos in the Desert,” from next week to sometime next year; it follows recent missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports and its capital city by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the remainder of the NFL season after doctors find multiple blood clots in his lungs; Hurts’ prognosis is “very good, and we expect a full recovery,” per his agent.
• 🏀 NBA regular season tips off tonight with a triple-header of marquee matchups: Boston v. Detroit (2 pm CT), Philly v. New York (6 pm CT), and Oklahoma City v. San Antonio (8:30 pm CT).
• 🙏 Noah Adams, writer, broadcaster, and longtime host of NPR's All Things Considered radio program, passed away at 84.

Apparently, even relaxing comes with homework now. Between sleep scores, activity rings, and stress alerts, your watch has become another thing to manage. "WAVwatch takes a quieter approach, with calming sound frequencies to support your well-being without all the digital nagging."

WAVwatch organizes 1,250+ acoustic frequencies into 166 easy-to-select sets for sleep, energy, vagus nerve support, and more. Just choose a setting and carry on, no WiFi, Bluetooth, or subscriptions required.

SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 New fat-reduction injection kills off fat cells instead of just shrinking them, reducing visceral fat by ~12% in a small clinical trial; separate tests in rats suggest it could help prevent weight gain after human patients stop taking GLP-1 drugs.
• 🪸 Coral bleaching reversed in just seven weeks after researchers place bleached corals in contact with healthy, genetically identical ones, allowing beneficial algae to transfer between them; it is the fastest documented recovery on record and could help accelerate reef restoration.
• 🧠 Lasting depression relief linked to three brain pathways in people receiving deep brain stimulation for severe, treatment-resistant depression, new study shows, suggesting even millimeters in electrode placement can affect treatment outcomes.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• 🌎 President Trump says he'd be open to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss how to end the Ukraine war; Trump suggests the meeting could take place without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while also ramping up criticism of Zelenskyy.
• 🩺 Department of Health and Human Services to establish a new women’s health division within the NIH under executive order signed by President Trump; the division will expand scientific research into conditions including menopause, infertility, endometriosis, while a new White House task force will coordinate women’s health initiatives across federal agencies.
• ✈️ Amelia Earhart’s missing plane remains undiscovered after new expedition determines a mysterious object in satellite imagery—thought to potentially be Earhart’s plane—is likely a collection of fallen trees with a shiny mineral coating.

☝️ The 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returned to Los Angeles on Sunday for the first time in 19 years, featuring musical performances from Megan Moroney, Megan Thee Stallion, Tate McRae, and KATSEYE. A highlight of the night was the $50 million Fantasy Bra donned by Kylie Jenner (bottom left), featuring 4,410 natural diamonds set in an 18-karat white gold armature.

🤔 Did you know? Peanut butter can be traced back to the ancient Incas and Aztecs, who ground roasted peanuts into a thick paste. But peanut butter would later disappear for hundreds of years, until the modern version emerged in the 1890s when nutritionist and cereal pioneer John Harvey Kellogg filed a patent for a proto-peanut butter.

📰 Worth a read: Your favorite song might make pain hurt less.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• You could be a psychopath and never know it
• The safest destinations to travel in 2027
• Should you put your books in the freezer?

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Yesterday we covered how President Trump changed course on a new round of economic sanctions against Russia, a move which Trump framed as avoiding driving Moscow away from potential talks over ending the Ukraine war, as well as a recent US deal to allow some Russian diesel onto global markets in a bid to lower fuel prices.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support or oppose easing sanctions on Russian diesel and other categories in an attempt to ease prices for US consumers?

• Support: 14%
• Oppose: 76%
• Unsure/other: 10%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 565 votes and 46 longform responses.

🧠 Too long, didn’t watch: 4 ways to fix your attention span (~5 min video).

🎰 The house always wins: I deliberately bet like a problem gambler. DraftKings made me a VIP.

👥 Pop. quiz: See an in-depth demographic breakdown of your US state, county, and nearest large city.

💼🚀 One small habit that can upgrade your career…Start your mornings with The Assist. The 4x-weekly newsletter delivers practical resources, leadership insights, and career tips trusted by 310,000+ professional women. Subscribe free to The Assist.*

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❓ Trivia: Where did the tradition of Christmas trees originate?

🎓 True or false?... Napoleon Bonaparte was unusually short for his time.

(keep scrolling for the answer)

🏆 A 13-year-old from Connecticut has been named “America’s Top Young Scientist” after developing an invention that could help protect marine life.

Inspired by her love of collecting seashells, Raji Doshi created an algae-based system designed to reduce ocean acidification, earning her the top prize and $25,000 in the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

❓ Trivia: Germany

🎓 T/F: False; Napoleon stood an estimated 5’6” to 5’7” feet, roughly average for his time; the “short Napoleon” myth likely came from British propaganda and confusion between French and English measurement systems.

Advertise with us: Want to reach other smart and inquisitive readers like you? Become a DONUT partner.

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