Good morning. It's Thursday, March 26, and we're covering a landmark social media decision, a long-lost musketeer, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Don’t keep us a secret: Share the email with friends (copy URL here).
And, as always, send us feedback at [email protected]. |
|
|
|
|
🇺🇸 Civics Thursday—American civil life has long been defined by who participates. This week, we're focusing on three Americans who reshaped those boundaries: Abigail Adams, who called for women's inclusion; Sojourner Truth, who advanced abolition and equal rights; and Eleanor Roosevelt, who helped expand civil rights. |
|
|
|
|
|
A Los Angeles jury held Meta and Google's YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction trial yesterday, awarding the plaintiff $3M in compensatory damages. The decision could influence more than 1,600 similar lawsuits from more than 350 families and over 250 school districts.
The case centers on a now-20-year-old woman identified as KGM who began using social media as a child. KGM accused Meta and YouTube of “addictive design,” with notifications and recommendation features she says fostered a decline in her mental health, including body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Now, after two weeks of deliberations, the jury found Meta and Google negligent in the design and operation of their platform. Meta is being held liable for 70% of the harm, with YouTube responsible for 30%.
The decision has been likened to the tobacco trials of the 1990s. Revisit the “60 Minutes” interview with tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand here (w/video). |
‘Three Musketeer’ Remains |
The skeleton of what may have been Charles de Batz de Castelmore was discovered beneath a Dutch church, local media reported yesterday. The French soldier known as d'Artagnan was the inspiration behind Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel “The Three Musketeers.”
D’Artagnan was a 17th-century Gascon nobleman who traveled to Paris to serve as a member of the royal bodyguard. He served Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV before being killed in the 1673 siege of Maastricht. His body was never found. Now, researchers believe they may have found his remains in a Maastricht church. Renovations this year revealed a skeleton beneath where the altar used to be, suggesting the person buried there was important. A bullet at chest level also supports the theory the remains could be D’Artagnan. DNA analysis is ongoing.
Learn about the history behind “The Three Musketeers”—including why they often fought with swords over muskets—here (w/video). |
The Architect of Food Safety |
Dutch food scientist Huub Lelieveld received the 2026 World Food Prize yesterday for pioneering a global food safety movement. He is credited with preventing millions of cases of foodborne illness, improving access to food, and reducing food waste.
Lelieveld, 82, spent four decades at Unilever, updating food production practices to improve hygiene and reduce reliance on salt, sugar, and preservatives. He then founded the Global Harmonization Initiative, a network of roughly 1,600 volunteers spanning 113 countries, in 2004. The nonprofit has introduced atmospheric water generation to areas with unsafe drinking water and taught communities to remove toxins that cause neurological diseases from cassava plants. (If toxic, why is cassava a staple crop?)
The award, which comes with $500K and is often called the Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture, was created by 1970 Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug. Lauded as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” Borlaug developed high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties that improved food security from Mexico to India. |
|
|
|
In partnership with Immersed |
|
The $250B Workplace Shift is Taking Off |
|
Please support our sponsors! |
|
|
|
|
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Supreme Court rejects $1B lawsuit from record labels seeking to hold Cox Communications liable for repeated piracy by its internet users (More) | BBC taps former Google executive Matt Brittin as next director-general (More) |
> Savannah Guthrie interview about her mother's disappearance airs today and tomorrow on "Today" (More) | Stephen Colbert to write new "Lord of the Rings" film with his screenwriter son after wrapping up "The Late Show" in May (More) |
> Men's NCAA Sweet 16 tips off with four games tonight (More, w/full schedule) | Mikaela Shiffrin wins record-tying sixth overall World Cup skiing title (More) |
|
|
|
In partnership with Timeline |
|
A New Breakthrough Skin Longevity Product |
Skin cells rely on mitochondria — the tiny “power plants” that fuel cellular renewal. But with age, those mitochondria become damaged and less efficient. When that happens, skin renewal slows, prolonging the time dead cells linger on the surface.
Timeline’s Resurfacing Exfoliator tackles the problem differently. It’s powered by Mitopure®, a breakthrough ingredient that renews aging mitochondria — supporting cellular energy where skin renewal begins.
The result: 83% of users said their skin felt immediately smoother, and 97% reported visibly renewed skin with continued use. Get it for 40% off now. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
> Engineers design wristband that tracks hand motion in real time, allowing users to remotely control robotic hands—a potential boost for virtual reality (More, w/video) |
> Ancient dog genes suggest dogs originated from wolves and began living with humans before farming, at least 5,000 years earlier than previously assumed (More) | Meet 10 of the world's oldest dog breeds (More) |
> Robot accompanies first lady Melania Trump to global technology and education summit, makes history as first US-made humanoid robot in the White House (More, w/video) |
|
|
|
|
|
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.7%, Nasdaq +0.8%) amid hopes for Iran peace talks progress (More) | USPS to reportedly impose first-ever 8% fuel surcharge on packages, beginning in April (More) |
> SpaceX reportedly preparing to file for initial public offering this week (More) | The what, how, and why behind IPOs (More, w/video) |
> Legal AI startup Harvey valued at $11B after raising $200M in fresh capital (More) | Meta begins laying off employees across Reality Labs and four other units (More) |
|
|
|
> Iran calls for reparations, sovereignty in the Strait of Hormuz amid other demands in counterproposal to the US' 15-point peace plan (More) |
> TSA official warns small US airports could soon close amid partial government shutdown, shortage of agents (More) | See photos of Houston airport, where more than one-third of TSA agents called out sick (More) |
> Conservative Political Action Conference begins in Texas; President Donald Trump expected to skip for the first time in a decade (More) |
|
|
|
> Seized as Infants
Criminal | Phoebe Judge. In 1934, five identical babies born in Ontario, Canada, became the first quintuplets to survive infancy. The government took the girls within months, turning them into a tourist attraction and scarring them for life. (Listen) |
> 'I Can't Burp'
Texas Monthly | Sasha von Oldershausen. After a lifetime of painful, trapped gas from a rare condition that makes belching impossible, one writer finds a surprisingly simple fix: a Botox shot to the throat. (Read) |
|
|
|
In partnership with Immersed |
|
Don’t Miss Today’s Pre-IPO Price |
|
Please support our sponsors! |
|
|
|
|
1440 Topics: Civics Thursday |
|
In celebration of America's 250th birthday, each week we're sharing what we've learned about key topics that help you stay informed and participate in the world around you. Today we're spotlighting three women in US history who helped expand the idea of participation in civic life.
> She wrote a daily newspaper column, chaired the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and redefined what it meant to be first lady. Here's the best of what we found on Eleanor Roosevelt.
> Born into slavery, she escaped and spent decades fighting for abolition and women's rights. Learn more with our topic page on Sojourner Truth.
> She was one of the most politically engaged women of her era—and one of only two people to be both the wife and mother of an American president. See what we learned about Abigail Adams.
What is 1440 Topics? A continuously updated ecosystem where we curate the best evergreen resources we've found on thousands of topics for you to explore. Have a suggestion for our Civics section? Let us know here. |
|
|
|
|
|
Clickbait: When you give a squirrel a vape...
|
Historybook: Poet Walt Whitman dies (1892); Sandra Day O'Connor, first female US Supreme Court justice, born (1930); Journalist Bob Woodward, known for reporting on Watergate scandal, born (1943); Singer Diana Ross born (1944); Bangladesh declares independence from Pakistan (1971).
|
*Please support our sponsors. |
|
|
|
"The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop'd." |
|
|
Behind the Name. In 1440, the printing press sparked a knowledge revolution. We carry that spirit forward, cutting through the noise and algorithm-driven feeds, to bring fact-driven knowledge to everyone.
Want to connect with 4.7 million insatiably curious minds? Become a 1440 partner here.
Need a breather? Snooze this email for 30 days. |
|
*Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for Immersed Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.immersed.com/. |
|
1440 Media 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1212 Chicago, IL 60654
Copyright © 2026, 1440 Media, All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
