🔧  The repair revolution

👋  Good morning. You already know the Big Bang, but have you heard of the Big Freeze? Unfortunately, that one hasn’t happened yet, and it might be how this whole thing we call the universe comes to an end. Astronomers are back to bickering over the fate of the cosmos after a new study was published this week. If that chilly end sounds scary, know that other possibilities for the expiration of the universe include the Big Rip, the Big Crunch, and the Big Slurp, all of which seem more at home on a Taco Bell menu.

NEWS FLASH 

👁  A starry-eyed startup: What’s cooler than stacking hundreds of layers of light-activated protein to make an artificial retina? Doing it in space. That’s what LambdaVision, a biotech startup looking to restore sight to the 200m potential patients with age-related eye degeneration, is up to. Artificial retinas produced in microgravity are more uniform, perform better, and are more easily reproduced than those made on Earth. Plus, they waste less material. The startup has already completed nine investigations on the International Space Station and its next launch is scheduled for later this year.

🤖  Hope for the best, prepare for the bots: Anthropic says it’s not trying to replace workers — swear! — but the company unveiled a plan this week for how governments should handle mass unemployment caused by AI. The company outlined three different proposals, depending on hypothetical unemployment rates of 5% and 10%, or "unprecedented unemployment.” The proposals range from capital accounts seeded at birth to “income replacement” in the most dire situation.

🚁  It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s another air taxi concept. Startup Beta Technologies unveiled the Alia 250, a battery-powered air taxi that can hold five passengers, travel almost 300 miles, use just ~$28 worth of electricity per hour, and recharge in less than one hour. The company plans to one day shuttle passengers between airports and city centers, but will need to overcome regulatory, affordability, and infrastructure hurdles first. 

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• Hear that? It’s the sound of AI. Deezer launched an AI music detector that can scan your playlists across 20 different streaming platforms — including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music — and flag AI-generated songs.
  
•  Nvidia goes to the doctor: The chipmaker is teaming up with AI note-taking app maker Abridge on an AI model trained specifically for healthcare professionals. The tool would help document visits and eventually provide real-time decision-making support.
  
• “Something healthy-ish but filling?” DoorDash is launching Ask DoorDash, a new AI chatbot that will let users order food, buy groceries, and make reservations with written prompts or photos.
  
• Muting the phonies: Spotify pulled tens of thousands of fake podcasts promoting illegal online pharmacies, according to a Senate investigation. While 94% of the pods hadn’t been streamed, two pushing listeners to buy prescription stimulants online — using bitcoin — saw nearly 13k total streams.
  

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Bold branding strategies

THE BIG IDEA

Can Repair Cafes save a dollar and the planet?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But if it is, maybe don’t throw it away either.

Instead, consider taking it to one of many new Repair Cafes — free community-led events where volunteers (AKA “repair coaches”) lend their expertise to help people fix their belongings, whether that’s electronics, clothes, bikes, lamps, or other household items.

Founded in 2009, what began as one event in Amsterdam has grown into a global nonprofit with 59k+ members who help save 850k everyday objects from ending up in landfills every year, per The Associated Press.

They’ve proliferated as an alternative to mass-produced goods and throwaway culture, with the number of worldwide cafes climbing from 2.5k to ~4k over the past year alone.

How it works

• Instead of dropping off items, owners are expected to stay for the repair and work alongside the coach, who might be your neighborhood seamstress, engineer, or carpenter.
  
• The goal is that they learn the skill, so that next time they can potentially fix the issue themselves or pass the knowledge along to someone else.
  
• Some even have 3D printers handy for when broken or missing parts are needed.

Successful repairs aren’t guaranteed, but for the low price of zero dollars, it’s worth trying to save one more thing from ending up in a landfill, and — at the very least — a good opportunity to connect with your neighbors or learn a new skill.

Why now?

The growth of Repair Cafes comes amid a greater anticonsumerism movement.

While retailers like Amazon have made it easy to replace things when they break, it comes at an environmental cost.

• Each year, ~2.6B metric tons of waste are added to landfills. Without intervention, the World Bank estimates that number could rise 50% by 2050.

Plus, repairing old goods can be cheaper than buying new, especially right now: US consumer prices rose by 4.2% in May, the highest level since 2023.

While Repair Cafes alone aren’t enough…

… to combat the ills of consumerism — that will require change “on a much higher level,” founder Martine Postma told The AP — it’s fortunately not the only grassroots effort working toward a culture of repair and reuse:

• The Buy Nothing Project is a network of Facebook groups where people trade items they don’t want or give them away for free.

• Tool libraries let people borrow gardening resources, power tools, and other equipment, and have become a lifeline for disaster-struck communities with limited government aid.
  

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NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Price of Cash App’s new NFC-powered tap-to-pay wand, which works just like a credit or debit card, per TechCrunch, and was seemingly inspired by social media users who’ve been DIYing their own bank-connected "magic wands" to make consumerism a little more whimsical.

Online, news of the star-shaped payment hardware has riled some men, who are pressed that the accessory doesn't come in a manlier shape, like a sword or something. Lucky for them, the company plans to expand the offerings in the coming months. 

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1974, Little League Baseball moved to allow girls to play. The league, founded in 1939, had banned girls in 1951 after a 12-year-old girl disguised herself as a boy named “Tubby.” She made the team but parents complained, leading to the years-long ban.

📕  That’s cool: An archive of book covers.

🗞️  Newsletter: Millions of pickleballers turn to The Dink for trends, strategy, pro news, and more.

👀  Chill out: and enjoy this optical illusion.

🦒  Aww: Hi, Layla. 

SHOWER THOUGHT

If humanity goes on for long enough, every single style of facial hair will be associated with an evil person. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.

Editing by: Sara "If it ain’t broke…" Friedman.

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