👋  Morning! If you're reading this, yay — the world didn't end this week. University of Illinois scientist Heinz von Foerster published a paper in 1960 predicting that the world would end on Nov. 13, 2026 — not so coincidentally, his own birthday (the man had jokes). He’d predicted humankind would meet its end due to overpopulation and getting “squeezed to death.” That one missed the mark considering ~55% of the world’s countries have fertility rates below replacement levels. OK, now back to worrying about the humanoid robot takeover.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The most interesting business stories of the week

• These killer drones are declaring war on mosquitoes:  ...and they should — the little menaces kill more than 700k people annually through diseases like West Nile, Zika, and malaria. It's time for them to buzz off. And Tornyol, a France-based company, has a mosquito-hunting palm-sized drone set to hit the US market in 2027.  Read more
  
  
• How Nashville hot chicken took over the world: Like all good food trends, this one began with a scorned lover. Legend says that in the 1930s, Thornton Prince's girlfriend sought revenge on her philandering partner by spiking his fried chicken with a "devilish" amount of spices. Instead of suffering, Prince loved the heat and opened a hot chicken shack with his brothers.  Read more
  
  
• Home, sweet factory-built home: There's renewed hope that factory-built homes could help address the affordable housing crisis. Despite a lingering stigma around factory-built (AKA prefab homes) as flimsy and unsafe, the industry offers more and more higher-quality and affordable options.  Read more
        
• Who’s driving this delivery truck? Nobody: Shipping company Gatik noticed retailers and grocers searching for a more reliable way to move goods on short B2B hauls — between distribution centers, stores, and fulfillment centers. They're doing it fully driverless, with no driver or safety observer in the vehicle.  Read more
  
  

WORTH A CLICK

👵  An oldie but a goodie:  The one person in America happy about tipping fatigue

🔥  One of our most-read stories this week:   Why barcodes are about to go extinct

⚒️  A free resource:  How to make money with AI agents

AROUND THE WEB

🏆  Get inspired: Recapping all of this year’s Nobel Prize winners.

🚀  Whoa: What it looks like plummeting to earth at 25k mph.

🐶  Great stuff: The winners of an international dog photography contest.

💪  That was close: One teacher vs. 29 second graders in tug of war.

✏️  Game: A hybrid of crossword puzzles and dominos.

🐐  Aww: Sleeping in can make one late for school.

SHOWER THOUGHT 

Today's generation of children might be the first who can say their parents play more video games than they do. SOURCE