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Apple iPad ad obliterates the tools of human creativity with a hydraulic press to hype its ‘thinnest product yet.’ Offended consumers reversed the ad to make it a less ‘horrific corporate nightmare' - Fortune (No paywall)
The spot appears to be having the unintended effect of turning people off their devices: “This ad effectively convinced me I need less technology in my life,” a user posted on X.
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Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail
Google scientists have modelled a fragment of the human brain at nanoscale resolution, revealing cells with previously undiscovered features.
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The world has (probably) passed peak pollution
Of course, emissions are not falling everywhere. They’ve fallen steeply in richer countries like the US and much of Europe. And the big turning point for the global figures has been the rapid turnaround in China. Emissions have declined rapidly in the last decade, with huge gains for public health.
The goal now is to see if countries can move through this curve much faster – and with lower levels of pollution – than countries like the US or the UK did. This should be doable: we’ve learned a lot over the last 50 years about how to produce energy with less pollution, what technologies work and don’t work, and have reduced the costs of solutions that were expensive in their early days.
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A New Book Might Convince You About “Plant Intelligence”
Most modern humans regard plants as alive but a bit boring by the standards of creatures that can move around freely. They're wrong.
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Made in America: The Ridiculous History of 'OK'
In the early 19th century, new printing technologies dramatically reduced the cost of publishing a daily newspaper, and there was a resulting explosion of inexpensive new dailies known collectively as the penny press. Competing for readers, penny papers in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Boston published not only straight news stories, but also witty takes on the latest political scandals, social scenes and popular trends.
In addition to the abbreviation craze, 19th-century Americans thought it was really funny to purposely misspell stuff. Read, the etymologist, cited the example of the comic writer George W. Arnold, who used the pen name "Joe Strickland" to write mangled letters to his fictional family, like this one from a trip abroad: "when I got here tha axt me if I was evver in Turky before. no ses I. but i've had a darn menny turkeys in me."
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Under Joe Biden, America struggles to reassert itself in Africa - The Economist (No paywall)
As Chinese and Russian influence rise, the odds are against it
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To stay fit, future Moon-dwellers will need special workouts - The Economist (No paywall)
Running around the inside of a barrel might help
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What strategies actually work to fight dying? - The Economist (No paywall)
A prominent biologist tackles a morbid topic
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Thailand's cooling rice dish to beat the heat
The sweltering heat during Buddhist New Year calls for Thailand's cooling khao chae, a fragrant and refreshing bowl of rice delicately scented with flowers.
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For Ambitious Employees, a Viable Career Path Can Make Up for a Just-OK Manager | Lynda Gratton
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
In a tight labor market for talent, retaining skilled people is crucial, both to maintain an organization’s skills and capabilities and to avoid the costs and disruption of recruiting. So understanding why people stay and why they leave is important.
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Friday 10th May 2024
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