Trillion-Dollar Trial, Airborne Radiation, and a Strava Hamster

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Aug. 18. Aircrew face an outsized risk of radiation-related cancer. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: The Big Ten headlines preseason college football poll (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), the Labrador Sea is a lifeline for deep-sea creatures (Pol. & World Affairs), how deli meat is made (Etc.), and much more. 

Don’t keep us a secret: Share the email with friends or share via SMS/social.

 Need To Know 

Meta Trial Begins

Opening arguments begin today for a multistate trial against Meta that could be the most consequential yet. The social media company faces up to $1.4T in penalties—approaching the company’s total value—as well as forced product design changes.

California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are accusing Meta of violating consumer protection laws, including those related to children’s privacy, false advertising, and unfair competition. The company stands accused of more than 100 deceptive public statements, including some emphasizing children’s safety, while designing products to be addictive to children, harming their mental and physical health. States also say Meta collected information on children under 13 without parental consent, violating federal law (why age 13?).

Meta has lost two similar lawsuits this year, approaching $1B in payouts. While observers say the company is unlikely to be forced to make the maximum payout (causing bankruptcy), it could be forced to end its infinite-scroll design and “like” counts.

Remember the ‘90s? Explore old versions of the internet.

Ebola Toll Climbs

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is now experiencing its deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, with at least 2,325 deaths among 4,945 confirmed cases since May. The toll surpasses the Central African country's 2018-20 epidemic, which killed 2,299 people.

The outbreak is the second-deadliest globally, behind the 2014-16 West Africa epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people (outbreak map). The virus is spreading five times faster than previous outbreaks in the Congo, reaching 2,000 cases in roughly two months, compared with more than 10 months during 2018-20. Ebola is believed to be naturally hosted by fruit bats (w/video) and spreads between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids. See Ebola under a microscope. 

The rare Bundibugyo strain is driving the current epidemic and has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. Clinical trials are underway for experimental treatments. Meanwhile, armed conflict, misinformation, poor infrastructure, and strikes by unpaid health workers have complicated efforts to contain the virus. 

Sky-High Cancer Risk

Flight attendants and pilots are more likely to die of radiation-related cancers than workers in over 500 other occupations in the US, according to a study published yesterday. Researchers say the finding is likely linked, in part, to cosmic radiation.

Commercial planes typically cruise above 30,000 feet, where a thinner atmosphere offers less protection from high-energy particles from the sun and space (watch explainer). This radiation can damage DNA and increase the risk of certain cancers, such as leukemia and breast cancer. The study revealed that nearly 7% of flight attendants and pilots died from radiation-related cancers—more than nuclear technologists, whose workplace radiation exposure is monitored and limited. US aircrew are not subject to federal radiation limits or monitoring requirements.

A traveler who takes 10 cross-country round-trip flights a year absorbs roughly one-seventh to one-fifteenth as much radiation as an aircrew member accumulates in a single year. See how flight radiation compares to other everyday exposures here.

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Ohio State and Oregon lead AP Top 25 Football Poll, marking the first time the Big Ten Conference has held the top two spots in the preseason rankings since 1961 (More) | See full rankings (More)

> Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in the TV shows "Nashville" and "Heroes," dies at age 36 (More) | See eight takeaways from her recent memoir chronicling her struggles with childhood fame and addiction (More)

> Ye, formerly Kanye West, to perform in Russia, becoming the first major Western artist to hold a concert there since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine (More) | Motion Picture Association strikes AI copyright deal with TikTok creator ByteDance (More) 

Science & Technology

> Uber Eats plans to begin integrating drones into its food delivery services in Dallas and Houston by the end of 2026; company hopes to cut transit times to a maximum of 10 minutes (More) | Watch a drone pizza delivery in action (More, via YouTube)

> Researchers identify genetic changes that help malaria-causing parasites resist several common drugs (More) | Hear what it’s like to have malaria in Kenya, where recorded cases reached 14.3 million last year (More)

> Greenland's Labrador Sea provides a critical source of oxygen for deep-sea life across much of the North Atlantic Ocean, new research finds (More) | Explore the creatures that call the deep sea home (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.3%) as 30-year Treasury yield tops 5.3%, the highest in 19 years (More) | Shares vs. stocks: understanding financial ownership units (More) 

> OpenAI signs 20-year lease for Nvidia-backed 10-gigawatt Ohio AI data center—potentially among world’s largest, with enough power for roughly 7 million homes (More) | Inside Big Tech’s hidden trillions in AI spending (More, w/visuals)

> Payments giant Stripe to acquire OpenRouter for over $8B; OpenRouter allows developers to access different AI models through a single interface (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> President Donald Trump reportedly threatens to bomb Oman if it interferes in US efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the Iran war; comes as Trump's 60-day deadline to reach a deal with Iran ends (More) 

> House Ethics Committee investigates Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D, CA-34) for alleged inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer; Gomez claims interactions were consensual (More) 

> Vaccine exemptions for children entering kindergarten reached a record high last year, estimated at 4.2% for one or more vaccines (More) | How do attenuated vaccines work? (More)

In-Depth

> Families Fall Apart

The Conversation | Rin Reczek. A sociologist interviewed dozens of adults who went no-contact with a relative. Why are families unraveling? (Read) 

> Where Has All the Color Gone?

The Atlantic | Amogh Dimri. From home facades to car exteriors, color is disappearing from view. A look at what we lose when the world has a gray filter. (Read) 

American wanderlust sends overseas travel to record highs. 

If you can't whistle, you might not have the right mouth geometry.

Science found the perfect amount of time to hang out with friends. 

How other cultures say "once upon a time." 

See the four-decade evolution of Pixar's lamp logo. (w/video)

A rare 1982 penny could be worth up to $25K. 

When countries will hit peak population—and which already have. 

Tour a modern-day home through the eyes of historical trailblazers.

How deli meat is made, and why it has a longer shelf life.

In partnership: Doctors tested 17 hearing aids. Here's what they found.*

Have a long commute? Read why so many families are becoming estranged.

... or about the disappearance of color in design.

Clickbait: This hamster is probably beating you on Strava.

Want more? Keep going: We find far more fascinating content each day than we can fit in the digest—such as a key Wright brothers' innovation being the ability to bend wingtips (plus 14 other finds). 

Historybook: Actress Shelley Winters born (1920); Baseball great Roberto Clemente born (1934); Hollywood legend Robert Redford born (1936); Nobel Peace Prize winner and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan dies (2018).

*Please support our sponsors.