👋 Good morning. Extending a warm welcome to Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, the two newest residents of Zoo Atlanta. The panda pair are visiting the US on a 10-year loan from China, and have been getting acclimated to their new homestead since arriving in September. Now, visitors can view the cuddly bears in all their black-and-white, bamboo-munching glory.
NEWS FLASH
✈️ Flying on fumes: California startup Circularity Fuels just raised $7m to turn cow manure into jet fuel after a six-month trial at a 5k-cow dairy farm proved it could meet aviation standards for blending with conventional fuel. The process captures methane and CO2 from manure as it breaks down, converts it into synthetic kerosene, and, because it prevents more global warming than burning the fuel causes, the company says the end result will be carbon-negative. Next up: using the new funding to build a demonstration plant. Mooove over, traditional jet fuel.
🍻 Big things brewing: Fathers Brewing landed $2m to grow its organic beer brand, and aims to become the country's next major beer. Founded in 2025, Fathers' lager and light lager are double-filtered to remove heavy metals, forever chemicals, and microplastics — ingredients we'd prefer not to have in our frosty suds, but which have been detected in scientific studies across the industry. The company plans to expand distribution throughout California in the coming weeks and months, followed by New York.
📚 Every trick in the book: Spines raised $64m to develop a platform that uses AI agents to replace and speed up traditional book publishing. Authors upload their writing to the platform, where AI takes over editing, proofreading, design, marketing, and distribution, with humans reportedly integrated into each step. The company claims to cut the publishing process from 12-18 months to just 3-4 weeks, saving 90% of costs for authors — plus, it reported 400% growth this past year.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
- Drone sweet drone: Amazon-owned Ring announced the launch of Ring Robotics with a security drone that patrols users’ homes while they’re away and a roving security robot designed for enterprises.
- Peace of mind: Mental health startup Siggy emerged from stealth with $6m in funding to build a mental health platform that combines AI-powered intake and preliminary diagnosis with therapy and medication management, and connects to wearables for daily tracking.
- Easy being green: Researchers developed soft robotic arms covered in algae that use photosynthesis to move when exposed to light. The tiny bio-actuators could be utilized for artificial muscles or underwater robotics.
- Charging ahead: Americans' credit card debt climbed to a record-setting $1.29T — a $22B increase in the third quarter. The average credit card balance is now $6,678. Just in time for the holidays, too.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MINDSTREAM
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AI goes to the Olympics
The newest entrants to the Olympic arena might be AI judges.
World Gymnastics is currently in talks to bring Fujitsu’s judging system to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The tech spots errors that human judges can miss, using AI analysis and 3D breakdowns for hyper-specific scoring.
THE BIG IDEA
How wine is shaking up the whisky industry
French wine country is a place best known for its deference to tradition and centuries-old wineries. But today, an 8-year-old company has made it the site of groundbreaking innovation — though not for the wine industry but, curiously, for whisky.
Maison Lineti, a whisky distillery launched in 2018, is using winemaking techniques to make the spirit in what’s been called “the most innovative thing to happen to whisky in decades,” per Wired.
Unlike traditional whisky-making, which relies heavily on barrel aging, Maison Lineti’s founders — Magali Picard, a chemical engineer and oenology PhD, and her partner (in life and business) Alex Cosculluela — have found that the secret to good whisky lies in the fermentation process, aided by detailed molecular experimentation and lots of data.
How it works
- They use giant concrete egg-shaped fermentation tanks, which offer better temperature control compared to stainless steel and encourage more movement of the liquid.
- Longer fermentation time (7 days compared to, say, 2-3 for Scotch).
- They use winemaking methods like lees aging, cold soaking, and malolactic fermentation to produce more complex flavors and textures.
The result: a well-rounded whisky with soft floral and mineral notes and a creamy mouthfeel that, at just 3.5 years old, has been blowing experts’ minds.
While the pre-maturation process can take weeks longer than other traditional distilleries, Cosculluela told Wired it can shave 2-4 years off the aging process and yield a spirit of comparable quality.
Plus, since less time in the barrels means less product lost to evaporation, they also save space, energy, and raw materials.
The bigger picture
Like other whisky and wine producers in recent years, the company has faced financial difficulty and nearly shut down last year before ever releasing a product.
But thanks to new funding, they’ve just launched their whisky in the UK and are planning to expand to the US market in 2028.
Already, industry experts have hailed it as “one of the most important distilleries in the world at the moment.”
What’s more exciting: Drinks writer Becky Paskin, who expects other makers to eventually adopt the upstart’s methods, told Wired it’s just the beginning for the young company.
“You're only just starting to see the tip of what Maison Lineti is capable of.”
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Lost your car key? It's not as simple — or cheap — to replace as it used to be. Here’s why.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
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How much company holiday party budgets are expected to increase by, on average, this year, according to ezCater’s 2026 Workplace Holiday Party Report.
For planners, boosting employee morale (80%) and promoting team bonding (64%) were among the main factors behind the continued investment in the workplace celebrations, which ezCater’s VP of People says help bridge the gap between hybrid and remote employees.
As for workers — 84% of whom plan to attend this year, up 2% from 2025 — the majority of them (76%) are mostly just excited for the free food and drinks.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1954, Ellis Island, which served as a gateway into America for 12m immigrants, shut down after 62 years.
🧠 Interesting: A map of every North American river by the sea it reaches.
🚨 Want to work with us? The Hustle is hiring a social media producer.
🐷 Game: Stack the piggies.
🐶 Aww: Smol boy. Baby. Tiny.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Noon only lasts an instant. Because before 12pm is morning and after 12pm is afternoon. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Ben Berkley, Singdhi Sokpo, and Danny Jensen.
Editing by: Sara "Nothing to wine about" Friedman.
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