💍  Sleep has a nice ring to it

👋  Good morning. It’s our job to keep you up to date, so know that Merriam-Webster just added 1.4k new words to the dictionary. Don’t have time to scroll through them all? Here are the highlights: cuffing season, Sunday scaries, crashout, trash panda, uncanny valley, vibe coding, parasocial, and looksmaxxing all made the cut. And, oddly, a somewhat late Rickroll. What does all of this mean for society? Don’t think about it too much — you might have an emotional crashout. 

NEWS FLASH 

👗  Unraveling fast fashion: Ravel is developing “purification recycling” technology that unwinds the fibers of synthetic fabrics like elastane (AKA spandex or Lycra). The startup just raised $8.2m to scale its process, which converts recovered elastane into recycled plastic pellets that can be used to make new polyester. It could potentially solve a problem that’s kept less than 1% of clothing from being recycled while fashion brands crank out twice as much apparel as they did in the early 2000s.

💰  If you felt a rumble Friday… It's because an investing giant took a step down. Warren Buffett bowed out as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a position he’s held since 1970, following his retirement from CEO last year. Buffett will remain on the board and his son, Howard, will take over as chairman. The 96-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” transformed Berkshire from a struggling textile manufacturer into one of the world’s most valuable companies, and himself into one of the world’s richest people.

🚽  Nature called and New York answered: NYC deployed the first two high-tech, modular public bathrooms that open via smartphone or tap card in the city. The robotoilets, made by Throne Labs, are part of a $4m pilot program that will see 17 stalls installed across the city’s five boroughs. Be forewarned: The toilets have a strict 10-minute time limit, and the doors will slide open when the clock runs out.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• An inside job: Cybersecurity researchers used Anthropic's Claude to hack into an OpenAI employee's ChatGPT account and access internal code on GitHub as part of OpenAI’s bug-hunting program. The prize: $6.5k for showing their work. 

• Gonna need more candles: Japan surpassed a record 100k residents who are ages 100+, 88% of whom are women. Special shoutout to Kyoto’s Fuyo Kishimoto, Japan’s oldest person at 114 years old. 
  

• Cleared for takeoff: The Federal Aviation Administration is rolling out an $875m AI software program called SMART over the next 12 years to help air traffic controllers manage flight routes and stop congestion before it happens. 
  

• Robo janitors: Viabot just raised $24m to scale its autonomous outdoor cleaning robot that self-charges, self-empties, and already cleans 25m square feet of commercial property for Fortune 500 companies and universities. 
  

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THE BIG IDEA

This ring could help diagnose sleep apnea while you snooze

Whether you're proposing or trying to save Middle-earth, finding that one precious ring is crucial.

For those suffering from sleep apnea, one ring could prove vitally important as well.

A new AI-powered smart ring developed by startup Happy Health aims to help doctors diagnose sleep apnea, and potentially other conditions, in just days from the comfort of home — no fellowship required — per Business Insider.

Not-so-golden slumbers

Sleep apnea, a disorder that repeatedly causes you to stop breathing during sleep, is a widespread concern:

• Around 30m Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, but roughly 80% are undiagnosed.
  
• Untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious issues, including stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression.
  
• Undiagnosed sleep apnea can cost $149.6B in health care, accidents, and lost productivity.
  
• There's roughly one sleep doctor for every 43k Americans, and often a three- to four-month waitlist.

The quest of the ring

Dr. Dustin Freckleton, founder of Happy Health, knows firsthand how critical early detection of sleep apnea can be.

During medical school, Freckleton suffered a stroke that left him temporarily paralyzed on one side. Seven years passed before he was diagnosed with sleep apnea — despite it being a common stroke risk factor.

His health issues led him on a journey to Happy Health, which recently emerged from stealth after raising $75m.

• The FDA-approved ring gathers health data while you slumber and AI analyzes it.
  
• Patients meet with a doctor in Happy Health's network who can diagnose them and prescribe CPAP machines or dental devices.
  
• The ring costs $396, which includes one year of sleep tracking and physician consultations, and is often covered under insurance.

Freckleton hopes the ring can eventually detect other conditions.

Other startups in the world of sleep apnea

• Sunrise Group raised $29m for a lightweight at-home test.
  
• Sleep AI developed a lightweight oximeter with an AI-powered app.
  
• Eight Sleep, maker of $3k mattress covers, is pursuing FDA clearance to detect and treat apnea.
  
• Numerous startups are pursuing apnea treatments, including Somnair, Ognomy, and Apnimed, which developed a pill alternative.

Whether it's a ring or another device, remember Samwise Gamgee's inspiring words: "Even darkness must pass, a new day will come."

Hopefully after a better night's sleep.

Share this story

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Upper crust: The problem that took Uncrustables from a small startup in 1998 to a billion-dollar brand. 

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

How many full-time jobs could be lost across California if Paramount Skydance carries out its threat to move the company out of state, according to a leaked report by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., commissioned by Paramount.

The studio is using the potential fallout of its proposed departure, which also includes annual losses of up to $21B in economic output, as leverage in its legal battle with a coalition of the state’s attorneys general, who are suing to block its $110B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

If you ask California AG Rob Bonta, it’s giving blackmail!

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1996, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married under the glow of a flashlight since the First African Baptist Church lacked electricity. 

🌈  Game: Name that hue.

🤖  Random: Give your AI bot a name.

🪐  That’s fun: A solar system you can take apart.

🐈  Aww: A tiny orange friend.

SHOWER THOUGHT

I used to double check my messages and emails for typos. I now leave them in because they make my message feel more human. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Ben Berkley, Singdhi Sokpo, and Danny Jensen.

Editing by: Sara "Ring any bells?" Friedman.

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