Intro

Good morning and welcome to the future 👋

Human activities threaten the extinction of up to one million plant and animal species. At least according to a United Nations-backed report on global ecosystems released in 2019.

So far, the only thing we’ve been able to do to avoid mass extinction has been to protect the endangered species. A startup is now attempting to bring extinct species back to life.

Protection and resurrection, when combined, may be able to help us avoid the planet’s first human-caused mass extinction.

Today’s update is 295 words, 1.5 minutes

Snippets

🙄 Keeping kids off Instagram: A group of US lawmakers is calling on Mark Zuckerberg to reconsider his plans for a kids’ Instagram platform, citing mental health concerns. Internal research conducted by Facebook suggests that the lawmakers’ fears may be justified. Gizmodo →

🦹 NFT rogue trader: The Head of Product at OpenSea, the biggest Non-Fungible Tokens trading marketplace, has been accused of insider trading — dealing in NFTs that he knew were about to be featured on OpenSea’s homepage and therefore likely to spike in value. The Verge →

📱 Apple update: A host of new products were revealed at Apple’s annual iPhone-centric event last Tuesday. Various versions of the iPhone 13, the new Series 7 Apple Watch, the 9th generation of the low-cost iPad, and the iPad mini 6 ensure that Apple addicts have lots of new gadgets to look forward to! MacRumors →

🏃 Leaked fitness tracing data: The latest data leak involves 61 million IoT health and fitness tracking records, which were stored on an unsecured, New York-based database. The leak, the full extent of which is still unknown, includes records relating to widely used apps such as FitBit, GoogleFit, and 23andMe. SC Media →

🦖 Remember Jurassic Park? A new company is planning to take genetic engineering to an entirely new level. Colossal is aiming to alter the genome of Asian elephants to create woolly mammoths, which last roamed the Arctic tundra over 4,000 years ago. If successful, the company wants to resurrect other long-extinct wild animals. Natural Museum History →

🔥 Inspiration: Do you think the secret of building a bigger online audience is to improve your promotion strategy? Nope. What you really need to do is write “epic shit.” You don’t believe me? Read what renowned writer Corbett Barr has to say about creating great content. corbettbarr.com →