How Much Does 'Nothing' Weigh?

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How Much Does 'Nothing' Weigh?   The Archimedes experiment will weigh the void of empty space to help solve a big cosmic puzzleIt does something to you when you drive in here for the first time,” Enrico Calloni says as our car bumps down into the tunnel of a mine on the Italian island of Sardinia. After the intense heat aboveground, the contrast is stark. Within seconds, damp, cool air enters the car as it makes its way into the depths. “I hope you're not claustrophobic.” This narrow tunnel, which leads us in almost complete darkness to a depth of 110 meters underground, isn't for everyone. But it's the ideal site for the project we are about to see—the Archimedes experiment, named after a phenomenon first described by the ancient Greek scientist, which aims to weigh “nothing.” Continued here

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How Can I Get Employees to Arrive on Time?   We're strict about arrival time, but can't seem to enforce it. Continued here

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What Are Puberty Blockers, and How Do They Work?   Decades of data support the use and safety of puberty-pausing medications, which give transgender adolescents and their families time to weigh important medical decisionsAdolescence can be a uniquely distressing time for young transgender people, who often experience gender dysphoria: a discrepancy between the sex they were assigned at birth and the gender that matches who they are. During this period, hormone production increases, leading to secondary sexual characteristics such as facial hair and breasts. The irreversible, slow-motion physiological changes can be emotionally and mentally disturbing, leading to depression, social withdrawal, self-harm and a risk of suicide. Hormonal medications called gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHas), often referred to as puberty blockers, temporarily halt the production of sex hormones testosterone, estrogen and progesterone with minimal side effects. They can pause puberty and buy transgender children and their caregivers time to consider their options. Continued here

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How Tech Is Transforming Entry-Level, Customer-Facing Jobs   Leaders have long focused on traditional talent management strategies. But as they make progress on their automation efforts and face a competitive labor market, these strategies are no longer sufficient. Leaders must shift their focus towards enabling customer-facing employees with technology, allowing them to broaden their talent pool and better support the employees they are able to attract. And, because a dollar invested in technology stays even as a dollar invested in people can leave, leaders can retain more of their investment in the face of high attrition. Therefore, technology must sit at the heart of future talent strategies — doing so will reset the bar for entry level talent. Continued here

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The World Awaits Ukraine's Counteroffensive   As the country approaches a battle for its ultimate fate, democracy and Western civilization hang in the balance.This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Continued here

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Here's Why Human Sex Is Not Binary   There are those, politicians, pundits and even a few scientists, who maintain that whether our bodies make ova or sperm are all we need to know about sex. They assert that men and women are defined by their production of these gamete cells, making them a distinct biological binary pair, and that our legal rights and social possibilities should flow from this divide. Men are men. Women are women. Simple.   Last year’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings played host to this contention when Republican Congressional representatives upset at the nominee’s refusal to define “woman” took it on themselves to define the term; they came up with “the weaker sex,” “a mother,” and “no tallywhacker.” That human sex rests on a biological binary of making either sperm or ova underlies all these claims. Continued here

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Reducing Information Overload in Your Organization   Information overload is the inevitable result of the modern organization’s always-on, more-is-better approach to communication. Unfortunately, it is also a driver of employees’ disengagement and poor decision making. While we are all, as employees and leaders, affected by this reality, the onus is on the company communicators themselves to craft a low-burden culture. It will require energy, expertise and coordination to architect and reinforce more human-centric communication practices. Continued here

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1 Clear Sign You're a Great Leader (and Your Employees Won't Leave)   It's hard to walk away from bosses exhibiting this leadership (and human) virtue. Continued here

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Is Your Company as Strategically Aligned as You Think It Is?   Building strategic alignment across an organization is always challenging, but a large gap between actual and perceived alignment makes it that much harder to get on the same page and implement a strategy effectively. In this piece, the authors share insights from a recent analysis of more than 500 employees, which found that actual strategic alignment among employees, managers, and executives was two to three times lower than perceived alignment. In other words, in many organizations, people think that everyone is aligned on what the strategy is, but in reality, different people have widely different understandings. To bridge this gap and foster true strategic alignment, the authors suggest that leaders must focus their strategies on driving customer value; weave those strategies into everyone’s daily work; and develop strategic priorities not in a vacuum, but through collaborative dialogue with senior executives, middle managers, and frontline employees. Continued here

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This Fleeting Ecosystem Is Magical, and You Have Probably Never Heard of It or Even Noticed It   Vernal pools are home to spectacular residents such as fairy shrimp, but these unusual natural wonders are under threat.Christopher Intagliata: Earlier this year I kept hearing that one of California’s most unusual natural wonders was sitting right outside San Diego. But when I pulled my car off the road next to a metal fence behind a landfill and recycling center, I started to have some doubts. Continued here

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What the First Lung Delivered by Drone Means for Transplant Science   As organ transplant science advances, its biggest hurdles are increasingly logistical ones—such as securing a flight and navigating through traffic fast enough to deliver an organ before it deteriorates.Enter the drone, for which researchers recently documented a milestone test in Science Robotics. After hundreds of practice flights, their drone carried a human donor lung on a five-minute journey from the roof of Toronto Western Hospital to Toronto General Hospital for a successful transplant. The trip can take 25 minutes by road. Continued here

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The puzzle of Neanderthal aesthetics   Sometime between 135,000-50,000 years ago, hands slick with animal blood carried more than 35 huge horned heads into a small, dark, winding cave. Tiny fires were lit amidst a boulder-jumbled floor, and the flame-illuminated chamber echoed to dull pounding, cracking and squelching sounds as the skulls of bison, wild cattle, red deer and rhinoceros were smashed open.This isn't the gory beginning of an ice age horror novel, but the setting for a fascinating Neanderthal mystery. At the start of 2023 researchers announced that a Spanish archaeological site known as Cueva Des-Cubierta (a play on "uncover" and "discover") held an unusually large number of big-game skulls. All were fragmented but their horns or antlers were relatively intact, and some were found near to traces of hearths. Continued here

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The Surge in Women CEOs Is No Coincidence   Women are stepping into CEO roles in record numbers. And for good reason. Continued here

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Scientists Create Cyborg Bacteria   Scientists have implanted an artificial hydrogel scaffold into bacteria to create semisynthetic “cyborg cells” that could one day function as tiny robots in medicine, environmental cleanups and industrial production, according to a recent study in Advanced Science.In addition to making the cells hardier, this scaffolding eliminates their ability to reproduce so they can be controlled better than genetically modified live bacteria. The cyborg cells are also easier to create than fully artificial cells of similar complexity. Continued here

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How to Introduce Your Employees to Artificial Intelligence   'A.I.' is a booming buzzword, but some team members might be apprehensive about the technology. Here's how to ease its adoption in your workplace. Continued here

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What the U.S.-China chip war means for India   In December 2021, as the world struggled with the Covid-19 pandemic, the tech sector faced an unanticipated challenge: an acute shortage of semiconductor chips. Taiwan is the world leader in semiconductor chip manufacturing, and the pandemic-triggered lockdowns increased delivery times for the chips. This walloped the production of everything, from cars to mobile phones.Now, even as the pandemic-related bottlenecks have eased, conversations around semiconductor chips — tiny circuits that manage the flow of electric current in equipment and devices — refuse to go away. Semiconductors have, in fact, become a major geopolitical issue. They are at the heart of the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, as the U.S. has banned the supply of advanced chip-making software to China.  Continued here

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Need to Save Money to Start a Business? Here's the Best Approach   One that will pay dividends both now, and for the rest of your entrepreneurial career. Continued here

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Hyundai Ioniq 6 2023 Review   If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDAt the start of 2023, the good people at the Department of Experimental Psychology at University College London surveyed 200 men between the ages of 18 and 74, and supposedly discovered scientifically what we all knew already: Men driving fast cars likely have small dicks. Continued here

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What First Republic's Collapse Means for Startup Lending   After America's second-biggest bank failure, the path forward for founders is going to get uncomfortable. Continued here

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How Tiny Tags Got Meryl Streep to Wear Its Necklace   A lesson in viral growth, from a founder who turned a kitchen-table hobby into a mega hit with moms everywhere. Continued here

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Use This Framework to Help You Make Your Next Big Decision   Before accepting or declining an opportunity, first ask, 'Is it R.I.G.H.T.?' Continued here

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Sal Khan: The amazing AI super tutor for students and teachers   Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, thinks artificial intelligence could spark the greatest positive transformation education has ever seen. He shares the opportunities he sees for students and educators to collaborate with AI tools -- including the potential of a personal AI tutor for every student and an AI teaching assistant for every teacher -- and demos some exciting new features for their educational chatbot, Khanmigo. Continued here

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What I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming a Lawyer   When I started law school, I loved it. The hypercompetitive classroom, the demanding coursework, and the adrenaline rush of solving complex cases drove me to pursue this career. Once I officially earned the job title “lawyer,” I was drawn even more to the fast-paced work culture. I wanted to stand out, make a difference, and find my own niche. My work was my passion and it empowered me. Continued here

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Share Your Memories With Our Favorite Digital Photo Frames   If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDMost of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of photos just sitting on our phones and computers that we rarely get to revisit in a polished way. There are too many to print and frame, and more keep piling up. That's why I love digital photo frames. Continued here

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Melting Sea Ice May Fog Out the Famed Northwest Passage   Melting sea ice is opening new pathways through the Arctic such as the famed Northwest Passage. But it is also reducing visibility and potentially causing delaysCLIMATEWIRE | Arctic sea ice is rapidly vanishing as the world warms, opening up potential new shipping routes across the top of the world. But there’s a catch: Less ice means more fog, making it harder and more dangerous for ships to navigate the thawing sea. Continued here

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A Neurologist's Secret Weapon for Keeping Your Memory Sharp as You Age: Novels   Reading fiction doesn't just boost emotional intelligence, concentration, and critical thinking. It also helps prevent memory loss. Continued here

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Hotel Booking Is a Post-Truth Nightmare   Imagine you’re about to embark on a business trip to New York City. You want to book a hotel near the company office in Midtown. You search for hotels within your desired radius and price range, and hundreds of options appear. This should be a piece of cake.Except it isn’t. When you click though, half of the deals advertised on the booking site turn out not to be available. You try another booking site, which appears to offer a different set of deals, many of which again turn out not to be available. You end up checking site after site, cross-referencing in an effort to establish which deals are actually the best. (Have hotels always been this expensive?, you wonder. No, they haven’t.) You finally have it figured out, so you go to make your reservation, and—oops, in the time you’ve spent cross-referencing, that deal has expired. You try another. Expired too. A third goes through … but the price turns out to be 25 percent higher than it said before—and way outside your price range. Oh, you thought that when the site said the room cost $309, it meant you’d pay $309? How silly of you! Continued here

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50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: May 2023   “There is growing concern that computers constitute a dangerous threat to privacy. Since many computers contain personal data and are accessible from distant terminals, they are viewed as an unexcelled means of assembling large amounts of information about an individual or a group. It may soon be feasible to compile dossiers on an entire citizenry. However, a computer system can be adapted to guard its contents. Cryptographic encipherment can be achieved in two different ways: by ciphers or by codes. A cipher always assigns substitute symbols to some given set of alphabet letters. A code can convey only meanings thought of in advance and provided for in a secret list such as a code book. Other cryptographic approaches are still being studied.”“Biban el-Muluk, the valley of the kings' tombs, is a wild, desolate region behind the western plain of Thebes. Some 60 tombs in the valley were already known. On November 5, 1922, Howard Carter came upon a step cut in the rock under the path leading to the tomb of Ramses VI. The steps and passages of the L-shaped approach were cleared, leading to Tutenkhamon's tomb. The ante-chamber is the source of practically all the treasures removed this year. When we think of how much still lies within the tomb, it means work for two years or more if they are to be properly conserved, recorded and evaluated.” Continued here

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What Jopwell's Acquisition Means for the Future of Diverse Hiring   The hiring company is joining True Platform to continue its mission of advancing the careers of Black, Latinx, and Native American students and young professionals. Continued here

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What Home Cooking Does That Restaurants Can't   As a professional food writer, I have always found joy and enlightenment in trying new foods. For both work and pleasure, I have had the privilege of eating at hundreds of the best restaurants in the world: Michelin-starred spots in Florence, Italy; bouchons in Lyon, France; shawarma stands in Amman, Jordan. Yet the most memorable meals of my life have unquestionably been in other people’s homes.These people were typically friends, not professional chefs. Their dishes were, for example, the fesenjoon and potato tahdig (chicken in a pomegranate walnut sauce, rice with a crispy potato bottom) prepared by my Persian Jewish friend Tali for my birthday, and the pu pad pong karee (crab meat stir-fried with eggs, celery, and spices) that my former professor’s wife, Nok, made when my family and I returned to Philadelphia after years away. All of these tasted better than anything I have enjoyed in a restaurant. Continued here

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Tolkien's Middle-Earth wasn't a place. It was a time in (English) history.   There are tons of theories surrounding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and, more broadly, the fictional world of Middle-Earth in which the books take place. One of these theories is that Middle-Earth is actually not a fictional world at all, but our own Earth in prehistoric times, before — as historian Dan Carlin recently put it in his podcast Hardcore History — “the so-called Age of Man began.”This theory has been around for a while, but it’s unclear where it originated from. It’s possible this theory can be traced back to Tolkien himself, who once said he created Middle-Earth to provide England with a mythology that could compare to those of the Greeks or the Icelanders. The theory gained traction after a public lecture at the University of Oxford in 2022, titled “On Hobbits and Hominins.” During the lecture, Victorian literature professor John Holmes, alongside archeologists Rebecca Wragg Sykes and Tom Higham, debated how the various races of Middle-Earth — men, elves, dwarves, orcs, and hobbits — could be taken as analogies for the various hominin species that once coexisted on Earth. Continued here

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The first crewed mission to Mars should be all female. Here's why.   Men have crewed every mission to the Moon so far, but when we finally send humans to Mars it would be wise to send only women — at least at first. Mind you, this wouldn’t primarily be for fairness — a correction for the rampant sexism that denied American women the title of “astronaut” until Sally Ride‘s historic flight in 1983 — but rather a practical decision based on calculations as cold as deep space. Available evidence bluntly suggests that women would be more efficient and capable crewmembers on long-duration missions away from Earth. Continued here

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A Brain Scanner Combined with an AI Language Model Can Provide a Glimpse into Your Thoughts   Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) captures coarse, colorful snapshots of the brain in action. While this specialized type of magnetic resonance imaging has transformed cognitive neuroscience, it isn’t a mind-reading machine: neuroscientists can’t look at a brain scan and tell what someone was seeing, hearing or thinking in the scanner.But gradually scientists are pushing against that fundamental barrier to translate internal experiences into words using brain imaging. This technology could help people who can’t speak or otherwise outwardly communicate such as those who have suffered strokes or are living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Current brain-computer interfaces require the implantation of devices in the brain, but neuroscientists hope to use non-invasive techniques such as fMRI to decipher internal speech without the need for surgery. Continued here

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5 classic books that were loved by readers but panned by critics   What makes for a great book is a somewhat subjective question. There are a surprising number of cases where books now held to be classics of the genre were initially greeted with mixed or outright negative views. But as time went by, the critics tended to side with the readers who loved them from the start. Here are five great books that were loved by readers but panned by critics around the time they were published. Continued here

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A Lesson About Living From a Survivor of Suicide   In his new book, How Not to Kill Yourself, Clancy Martin describes feeling addicted to the idea of taking his own life.If you are having thoughts of suicide, please know that you are not alone. If you are in danger of acting on suicidal thoughts, call 911. For support and resources, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. Continued here

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Zelensky's Plan to Defeat Russia--And Take Back Crimea   The future of the democratic world will be determined by whether the Ukrainian military can break a stalemate with Russia and drive the country backwards—perhaps even out of Crimea for good.This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. Continued here