How Boosted went bust
The Verge · 13 minAn inside look at how the beloved electric skateboard startup fell apart.
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Today’s essential reads
Lifting Weights? Your Fat Cells Would Like to Have a Word.
The New York Times · 5 minWe all know that lifting weights can build up our muscles. But by changing the inner workings of cells, weight training may also shrink fat, according to an enlightening new study of the molecular underpinnings of resistance exercise.
This Song Is About You
NPR · 14 minWhat do musicians who blend fact and fiction owe their real life subjects?
Operation Fox Hunt: How China Exports Repression Using a Network of Spies Hidden in Plain Sight
ProPublica · 43 minChina sends covert teams abroad to bring back people accused — justifiably or not — of financial crimes. One New Jersey family was stalked as part of a global campaign that takes families hostage and pressures immigrants to serve as spies.
What is Pegasus spyware and how does it hack phones?
The Guardian · 8 minIt is the name for perhaps the most powerful piece of spyware ever developed – certainly by a private company. Once it has wormed its way on to your phone, without you noticing, it can turn it into a 24-hour surveillance device.
Fascinating stories
‘Fat Burning Zone’? The Best Way to Exercise to Burn Fat
The Conversation · 4 minAs exercise intensity increases, fat can’t be metabolized fast enough to meet increased energy demand. The key is to find the intensity where fat is the predominant energy source.
Here’s What You Need to Nail an Interview — or a First Date
shondaland.com · 8 minCareer and romance may seem like two entirely distinct areas of our lives, but the doors to a killer job and an amazing relationship look remarkably similar.
Learning to Love G.M.O.s
The New York Times · 33 minOverblown fears have turned the public against genetically modified food. But the potential benefits have never been greater.
The pandemic drove women out of the workforce. Will they come back?
POLITICO · 13 minTheir absence could hurt the broader U.S. economy, so policymakers are weighing ways to help them return to work.
33 Smart Habits That Will Train Other People to Treat You With Respect
Inc. · 8 minMost of these are small, subtle changes in behavior, but they can have a big impact on how much other people respect you.
Scientists Just ‘Looked’ Inside Mars. Here’s What They Found
WIRED · 10 minInSight and Perseverance have sent back unprecedented data on everything from marsquakes to the Red Planet’s inner layers.
The Best Books to Teach Kids About Money
parents.com · 1 minIt can be difficult to teach your kids money lessons that you were never taught yourself. Even more importantly, it can be tough to predict the financial realities that your kids' generation might face in the future.
The Jessica Simulation: Love and loss in the age of A.I.
San Francisco Chronicle · 50 minThe death of the woman he loved was too much to bear. Could a mysterious website allow him to speak with her once more?
Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years
Smithsonian Magazine · 6 minHow the fruit got a bad rap from the beginning.
What does the 'perfect man' look like now?
BBC · 7 minFrom plus size to silver fox, the accepted ideal of male beauty is constantly shifting. Myra Ali explores the world of the really, really good-looking.
Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that defined Japan
historyextra.com · 14 minHow Japan used the 1964 Games to restore its global status from postwar pariah to high-tech go-getter.
‘There are no rules now’: how gen Z reinvented pop punk
The Guardian · 8 minDiverse young women have reclaimed the genre – and made it the sound of the summer.
Why the Flow of Time Is an Illusion
Nautilus · 7 minGetting human feeling to match the math is an ultimate goal in physics.
Wild Superyacht Secrets I Learned When I Became a Deckhand
Bloomberg · 1 minThe pandemic has intensified the desire to bubble oneself away from the world and widened the wealth gap further, making Bezos merely the latest business magnate fancying a life at sea (when he’s not in space).
Who Is Lisa, and Why Is She Saying ‘Gah’?
The Cut · 11 minHow a store with a gibberish name became a pandemic success story.