👋 Good morning. Hope you and your wallet are ready for the weekend. Americans are expected to spend a record $29.1B this Valentine’s Day, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. What’s driving the growth? Apart from love, of course, middle- and high-income shoppers who are showering not only romantic partners but also friends, co-workers, and pets with gifts.
STARTING UP
Can probiotics flush out forever chemicals from our bodies?
❌ The problem: PFAS — or “forever chemicals” — are found in everything from nonstick cookware to drinking water. The chemicals don’t break down easily in the environment or the human body, and exposure has been linked to harmful health effects.
💡 The pitch: Copenhagen-based Cambiotics has raised ~$4.8m to develop its 46& probiotic supplement to flush forever chemicals out of our bodies. The startup’s idea, based on research published in Nature Microbiology, is that certain gut bacteria can absorb PFAS and help the body excrete them. Cambiotics’ initial focus will be on high-risk groups, like firefighters, who deal with heightened PFAS levels.
🚀 The outlook: Cambiotics plans to bring its probiotic to the US, starting with a clinical trial and commercial rollout later this year.
NEWS FLASH
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Every dog will have more days: Loyal has now raised $250m+, which it will use as it seeks FDA approval for LOY-002, a daily pill designed to help senior dogs live longer. The company says it tastes like beef and can help with age-related metabolic issues.
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From bots for bards: Mrinank Sharma resigned from his role leading Anthropic’s safeguards research team, writing the “world is in peril” from “a whole series of interconnected” crises. So, what’s next? Well, Sharma enjoys writing poetry, so he’s going off to study it.
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Well, that was a bust: Wired reporter Reece Rogers attempted to score gigs off RentAHuman, a platform where AI agents can hire humans for tasks they — lacking a physical body — can’t perform. Rogers encountered a glitchy platform and received responses for just two jobs, both marketing stunts from AI companies helmed by humans. This “Black Mirror” episode is not quite ready for prime time.
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In the fields: Upside Robotics plans to deploy its solar-powered autonomous bots, which deliver fertilizer to corn crops only where needed, across 3k+ acres of farmland this year. Thus far, the company says it’s helped customers cut fertilizer use by 70%, saving ~$150 per acre each season.
INCOME INSPO
Psst… Want to earn more income?
If we started ripping open the files in the back of your brain, we’re pretty sure we’d find one explaining why you want to start a side hustle.
Money, freedom, ownership… Obvious reasons. Fine reasons. But there’s also that secret, beautiful feeling when you’re gearing up groggy after work, already on another quest, worried about what’s coming next, yet you love it all anyway.
Find your smile-worthy side hustle — 100 (new and improved!) ideas are right here.
THE BIG IDEA
This AI device lets you smell your memories
An old photo can transport you to a moment in time by allowing you to look at your memories. But what if you could smell your memories, too? Or even someone else’s?
MIT Media Labs researcher Cyrus Clarke is answering those questions with The Anemoia Device, a “scent-memory machine” that uses AI to turn physical photos into unique fragrances.
How it works
At the top of the three-tiered machine, a user inserts a physical photo. Then, an AI-powered computer in the middle section uses a visual-language model to interpret the image’s contents.
It generates a brief narrative, which the user can modify by adjusting three physical dials that inform perspective, time, and mood to determine the characteristics of the scent. For example:
- In a trial, a photo of either an apple or pear being eaten by a couple on stone steps was interpreted from the perspective of the apple, described as “in use” and “calm.”
- The result: a fragrance with notes of “spiced apple, pear, and earthy musk,” per Dezeen.
Finally, the AI system creates the scent based on a library of 50 fragrances, dispenses it from the bottom — and boom, you can now smell memories that might not be your own, or feel nostalgia for a time you never actually experienced — AKA “anemoia.”
Unlike sight and hearing…
… our sense of smell operates on hundreds of receptor types, per the World Economic Forum, which has made it too complex to digitize until recently, when AI made it possible.
Now, AI-powered olfactory intelligence is transforming industries — it’s already spurred innovations in fragrance production, product authentication, and health care diagnostics — as well as the human experience.
Which is what sets Clarke’s Anemoia Device (which he is contemplating turning into either an at-home machine or an online service) apart from other AI and tech: Instead of diminishing human connection and experiences, it grounds them in reflection and tangible memory.
"In today's reality, our memories are externalised, usually stored in digital infrastructure and retrieved through functions, files, and feeds," he told Dezeen. "They're accessible, but they're not truly with us, and I want to change that."
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Not every business idea is genius… In fact, some entrepreneurs got rich off some pretty silly concepts. Take some inspiration for yourself.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Share of US 16-year-olds who had a driver’s license in 2022, a big drop from ~50% in 1983, per data from the Federal Highway Administration. While previous generations of American teens couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel, Gen Z is opting to remain passenger princesses for longer, driven in part by anxiety and the convenience of rideshare apps, per Business Insider.
Call us old-fashioned, but that’s like turning 21 and not going out to drink at a bar — then again, many Zoomers are, in fact, shunning alcohol and delaying adulthood in other ways, like by living with their parents through their 20s, so… guess that checks out.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 2004, Mattel announced that Barbie and Ken had officially broken up after 43 years. Russell Arons, then Mattel’s vice president of marketing, suggested that Barbie had a new crush, and that there were many “successful career women” who didn’t want to be tied down.
🧩 Game: A puzzle box.
📰 Newsletter: Subscribe to The Daily Upside for market news that matters.
🎧 That’s cool: Put in a song, get a playlist.
🐱 Aww: Surprise!
SHOWER THOUGHT
If zombie movies were accurate, the characters would put a lot more emotion towards how bad it would smell. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Scentimentalist" Friedman.
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