Queue and not you
To push Cuba toward regime change, the White House is pressuring other nations to curb their use of one of Cuba’s most valuable exports: medical personnel. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
Refusing to normalize the pain of IUD insertions, a medical startup has created a suction-based device to replace the Civil War-era tool most doctors still use. / The 19th
Millions starved and Soviet research was set back decades when Stalin handed scientific decisions to a politician—and “a similar threat now hangs over US science.” / Science News
See also: Jaya Saxena on waiting for buzzy food in big dumb queues, which started long before social media and feels a little like Soviet bread lines. / Ravenous
It’s unclear who’s footing the bill for the discount gas at the “Freedom Fuel Network,” but all the stations are independently owned and seemed to rebrand overnight. / Politico
As a grassroots community, romance readers and writers are ready-made for 3D-printing and distributing whistles to alert neighbors of ICE presence. / The Conversationalist
How 1984’s Threads addressed why it’s futile to plan for a nuclear war: Once such a conflict begins, the reality that existed during planning is gone. / Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Jia Tolentino: The Kardashians, looksmaxxing, Mar-a-Lago, and AI have all led to our current plastic-surgery nightmare. / The New Yorker
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How Driscoll’s erased seasons and time zones to dominate the berry industry and become the second-most lucrative brand in US supermarkets after Coca-Cola. / The New York Times [$]
“Watching my fellow Americans learn to love the beautiful game en español…reminds me of the fluidity that, to me, has always made the Americas the Americas.” Telemundo is the real winner of this year’s World Cup. / Defector
See also: FIFA’s controversial, semi-automated refereeing system is showing the world what bias in AI looks like. / Blood in the Machine
Researchers find that apes’ and humans’ laughs share a common rhythmic pattern that “has remained unchanged since our last common ancestor.” / Discover
On skill nostalgia: “The longing to live as some imagined stonemason, peasant farmer, or carpenter can be turned into a demand for work that is complex and worthwhile.” / Aeon
The backlash against Meta’s “pervert glasses” is so severe that some owners are now afraid to wear them in public. / Futurism
See also: A new app can warn you if someone nearby may be wearing Meta glasses. / TechCrunch