Gene-Edited Dogs, Sun Photographs, and Bush Cop

Good morning, it's Thursday, Aug. 6. Gene-edited dogs could make pet ownership more accessible. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: the highest quality images of the sun (Need To Know), Perez Hilton hospitalized (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), the city of the dead (In-Depth), cats' leg whiskers (Etc.), and much more. 

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 Need To Know 

Gene-Edited Beagles

A startup created two allergen-free beagles using CRISPR gene-editing technology, according to a study published yesterday. The advance could expand the number of pet owners, while potentially shifting demand from rescue operations toward breeders. Meet the scientists and pups here (w/video). 

Scientists at Kindred Companion Sciences edited dog skin cells to disable the main gene responsible for producing allergy-causing proteins, which all dogs carry. They then inserted the edited genetic material into eggs, which were implanted into a beagle surrogate (see CRISPR 101). The surrogate birthed two puppies, Alfie and Bailey, whose saliva, hair, and dander do not contain the proteins. Alfie's and Bailey’s owners showed no allergic reaction to samples from the gene-edited beagles despite reacting to breeds that shed less. See 30 low-shed breeds.

Bailey and Alfie are being monitored for long-term health, though scientists say issues are unlikely. Dogs have naturally been born without the allergy-causing protein, albeit extremely rarely.

Turkey-Kurdish Peace Proposal

Turkey’s ruling coalition submitted a draft law yesterday outlining plans to secure peace with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The proposal has broad support in parliament and is expected to advance to a debate this week.

The law would shield about 4,000 fighters from prosecution, namely those not charged with homicide who return to Turkey within six months. It comes after the PKK’s imprisoned leader called for an end to violence last year, as Syria’s new government has made headway in reintegrating its Kurdish region, where many PKK fighters have been based. Following their leader's announcement last year, 30 fighters burned their weapons in a symbolic gesture (watch video). 

Since the 1980s, the PKK has launched an insurgency in pursuit of an independent Kurdish state or expanded rights and autonomy. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU; violence has killed an estimated 40,000 people, many of them Kurdish. See the conflict in charts.

Have You Ever Stared Directly at the Sun?

Scientists have captured the highest resolution images of the sun to date, publishing them in a Nature study yesterday. The images also reveal the existence of a physical phenomenon that can help explain the dynamics behind space weather. See here.

The photographs were captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Maui, Hawaii. Researchers had set out to test the telescope’s capabilities when photographs of the sun’s surface showed swirling, wave-like patterns. Those shapes confirmed the presence of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, a phenomenon that guides how fluids move, and that, in this case, indicated magnetized plasma passing each other at different speeds (how it works, w/video). While the instabilities had long been theorized to take place on the sun, they have never before been observed at a granular level of detail.

Solar activity can impact daily functions on Earth, including damaging satellites and causing radio blackouts. Learn more here.

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Disney and TikTok strike deal allowing select creators to make short-form videos with Disney assets; the content will appear in a new vertical video feed within the Disney+ streaming app (More) 

> NFL preseason begins tonight at 8 pm ET with the Carolina Panthers taking on the Arizona Cardinals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game (More, w/schedule) | Preakness Stakes to be the first Triple Crown race held on a Sunday starting in 2027 (More)

> Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is hospitalized after fans contact police over apparent acts of self-harm on a TikTok livestream (More) 

Science & Technology

> Scientists build nearly 700 new cancer models derived from patient tumors and make them available to researchers worldwide in hopes of accelerating treatment discovery (More) 

> COVID-19 infection may awaken dormant viruses, triggering more severe COVID-19 and lingering symptoms associated with long COVID (More) | What is long COVID? (More)

> Neanderthal-derived gene variant of the growth hormone receptor may contribute to a higher muscle mass among some adult carriers (More) | ... plus why scientists think Neanderthals were sprinters, not endurance athletes (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow +0.5%, Nasdaq -0.8%) (More) | Google shares drop amid leadership shake-up in its AI division (More) 

> Saudi wealth fund, Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake complete $55B purchase of Electronic Arts, taking the video game giant private (More) | Why companies go private (More) 

> Eli Lilly tops revenue and earnings estimates thanks to GLP-1 demand (More) | Bank of America spends over $250M per year on GLP-1 drugs for its employees, CEO says (More) | Can weight-loss drugs impact your joy of food? (More, w/audio) 

Politics & World Affairs

> Progressive Abdul El-Sayed wins Democratic primary for the Senate seat in Michigan, narrowly defeating pro-Israel centrist Rep. Haley Stevens (D, MI-11) (More) 

> Rep. Chuck Edwards (R, NC-11) says he will not run for reelection after House Ethics Committee finds he engaged in inappropriate conduct toward young female staffers (More) 

> Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC director, President Donald Trump's third pick for the role (More) 

In-Depth

> The Inflammation Revolution

NYT Magazine | Kim Tingley. Heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and diabetes—what if they share a common thread? This illustrated deep dive explores the emerging science of chronic inflammation. (More, scroll for visuals) 

> City of the Dead

SFGATE | Grace McCarty. Imagine living in a town where nearly everything revolves around death. That's everyday life in Colma, California. (More) 

West Virginia sky lit up by spectacular fire rainbow.  

Inside the science lab drowning in poop. 

Forty-one cheap tropical vacations that feel expensive. 

The fastest way to board a plane. (w/video) 

Can you beat the internet's trickiest lawn game? 

Scuba diving's most beloved dogs. (w/photos) 

... and why cats have leg whiskers.

Scroll through photos of nature's Spider-Man lizard. 

In partnership: Coal’s making a comeback with a deadline by tonight.*

Clickbait: That innocent-looking bush? It's a cop. (w/photo) 

Historybook: Actress Lucille Ball born (1911); Pop artist Andy Warhol born (1928); "Little Boy" atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, killing more than 80,000 (1945); Actress Michelle Yeoh born (1962); Voting Rights Act signed (1965); Curiosity rover lands on Mars (2012).

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