Good morning, it's Friday, Sept. 25. The Trump-Xi summit included discussions of AI and Taiwan policy. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: do elephants self-medicate? (Need To Know), new Taylor Swift music (Sports, Ent. & Cult.), Meta's Tamagotchi-like AI tool (Sci. & Tech.), a red panda with a toothache (Etc.), and much more.
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President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House yesterday, with brief public references to AI. Trump characterized both countries' positions as aligned against the need for regulation prior to the summit; Xi emphasized the need for human control.
The proposal comes amid reports of an OpenAI agent breaching an Australian government website containing Medicare statistics in June. A review found no evidence the agent accessed sensitive information; however, Australian officials criticized OpenAI for informing them of the hack via email three months later. Washington and Beijing officials previously discussed a new safety system that would alert the countries to AI-related threats.
In addition to AI, Xi reportedly pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence. Trump previously paused approval of a $14B arms sale to the island in May, an arrangement he characterized as a negotiating tactic. Xi also announced China will send two giant pandas to Atlanta in a diplomatic gesture. |
Oracle invoked a legal provision yesterday to shield it from financial responsibility if regulatory setbacks and local opposition delay the 2028 opening of a $165B New Mexico data center, raising doubts about the viability of AI infrastructure deals. Shares closed down 3.5%.
Project Jupiter—a campus larger than New York's Central Park—would train AI models using as much power as about 1.8 million homes. But state officials have repeatedly denied the permit for a critical natural gas pipeline, citing potential greenhouse gas emissions and dwindling water supplies. The state's largest reservoir is at about 1.4% capacity, its lowest since 1971 (see photos), and data centers can require millions of gallons daily to prevent overheating. Oracle, however, says its closed-loop cooling system will limit 15-year net consumption to the equivalent of nine average US households.
Americans' views of data centers have grown increasingly negative, with roughly 60% saying they would be uncomfortable with a new one in their area. See if there are campuses near you. |
Elephants' Forest Pharmacy |
Wild elephants in Kenya have been seen using nearly 40 plants and materials for potential medical purposes, a new study found. The observations appear to place the animal in the ranks of chimpanzees, bottlenose dolphins, some birds, and insects.
Researchers interviewed locals near Mount Elgon, including wildlife scouts and rangers. They shared observations of elephants turning to local plants, clays, and soils with known therapeutic applications. Female elephants were observed mixing plants with breast milk before administering the concoction to their young as a form of immunization. Some plants cited are known to aid digestion, improve appetite, or soften stools.
Observation of animals’ medicinal knowledge (a field known as zoopharmacognosy) has a long history. The first story suggesting elephants’ medical knowledge dates back to Claudius Aelianus’ second-century writings, in which he claims an elephant wounded by spears and arrows heals after consuming the flowers and oil of an olive tree (see “18”). |
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🫶 Humankind: Speaking of elephants, a baby elephant whose mother died days after giving birth finds a second family with three park rangers. (w/photos) |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Legendary basketball player Bob Pettit, an 11-time All-Star and the first NBA player to be named MVP, dies at age 93 (More) | Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong becomes seventh player in MLB history to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in the same season (More) | Watch him do it (More via YouTube) |
> WNBA playoff bracket settles on final day of the regular season; top-seeded Minnesota Lynx lead a field that includes defending champion Las Vegas Aces at No. 3 (More) | See graphics illustrating the league’s 30-year evolution (More) |
> Taylor Swift releases four additional tracks to last year's "The Life of a Showgirl," which was the fastest-selling album in US history (More) | Hear the tracks (More, scroll to Disc 2) | ... and how are album sales calculated? (More) |
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> Meta unveils hand-held device that lets users interact with its personal AI agent, Muse, without a smartphone; some liken Muse Charm to the 1990s Tamagotchi (More, w/image) | Watch Mark Zuckerberg explain the handheld (More) |
> "Jumping genes"—pieces of DNA that can move around within the genome—may have helped ant species rapidly diversify and multiply after the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs (More) | How "jumping genes" drive evolutionary innovation (More) |
> Biologists identify a cellular pathway colorectal cancer uses to metastasize in mice, pointing to potential drug treatments; a high-fat diet may be more likely to activate the pathway (More) |
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> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.0%) while 30-year Treasury yield spikes at 5.4%, its highest point since 2004 (More) | Mortgage rates surpass 7% for the first time since January 2025 (More, w/graph) |
> New York sues Polymarket in state court, alleging the prediction market platform is running an unlicensed gambling operation (More) | How prediction markets work (More, w/video) |
> Starbucks will close 250 stores across North America by the end of the week, its second wave of closures after shuttering 627 stores last September (More) |
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> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's UN General Assembly speech about Iran is met with a wave of walkouts (More) | ... and more than 100 people are detained outside the building, including Susan Sarandon, Hannah Einbinder (More) |
> CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists are allowed back in the White House hours after a federal judge temporarily requires access be reinstated (More) |
> Nor'easter expects to bring wind, rain to large swaths of the East Coast this weekend (More) | ... and why is it called a nor'easter? (More) |
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> Baby Health Trackers
NY Times | Staff. From fitness bands to smart rings, health trackers are everywhere—including on babies. Do the devices give parents useful insights or just more to worry about? (Listen) |
> Perfectly Imperfect Teeth
American Scholar | Joshua Bodwell. The author reflects on the shame of living with a discolored, chipped tooth in a culture obsessed with perfect smiles—and an over $11B cosmetic dentistry industry built on achieving them. (Read) |
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Historybook: Congress approves amendments that become the Bill of Rights (1789); "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve born (1952); Little Rock Nine integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones born (1969); Golfer Arnold Palmer dies (2016). |
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