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Good morning,
We could all probably use a siesta. But it turns out, an afternoon nap also may help people beat the extreme heat as parts of the world anticipate record-breaking temperatures this week.
A public health association recommended Germans adopt the tradition most commonly practiced in southern Europe. Working in the cooler hours of the morning and early evening makes sense to reduce worker risk and improve efficiency, the head of the association said. But it will be up to employers to decide whether to adjust workers’ schedules.
BREAKING NEWS
Growing global demand for energy is expected to dampen this year amid ongoing fallout from economic downturns and the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. But it’s set to bounce back next year, supported by efforts to electrify energy systems: depending on weather conditions, the agency said 2024 “could well become the first year in which more electricity is generated worldwide from renewables than from coal.”
BUSINESS + FINANCE
Microsoft’s share price closed up nearly 4% Tuesday, reaching a record $359.49, following the company’s reveal of Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI-powered version of the productivity platform. Microsoft, which saw its market cap hit $2.67 trillion with the increase, is the latest tech company to enjoy an artificial intelligence-fueled boost.
Large businesses tend to get most of the attention, but small businesses employ almost half of the U.S. workforce—Forbes’ newest list ranks America’s Best Small Employers, companies that employ between 200 and 1,000 people. Education is the most represented industry on our 2023 ranking, with 20% of the list, and the banking and financial services sector made up 10%.
TECH + INNOVATION
As many as 700,000 TikTok accounts in Turkey were compromised by a hack that allowed attackers to access users’ private information and control their accounts in the weeks before Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, eked out a narrow reelection in May. Internal emails, chat logs, documents, and other sourcing from inside and outside of TikTok reveal that the company was made aware of the vulnerability more than a year earlier.
Google lacked the manpower to help the FBI deal with a domestic terror investigation in 2022, in which a YouTuber was accused of neo-Nazism and threatening to commit racist murders, according to a search warrant reviewed by Forbes. The case raises questions about Google’s ability to deal with domestic terror threats and other crimes, even when there’s the potential for an imminent threat to life.
MONEY + POLITICS
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and former Utah Republican Gov. John Huntsman both teased presidential runs at a political event for the centrist third-party group No Labels in New Hampshire on Monday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns No Labels could present a candidate with the potential to siphon votes from either party’s 2024 presidential nominee and skew the results of the presidential election.
Executives from Nvidia, Intel and Qualcomm met with the Biden administration Monday to raise concerns about government attempts to curb the sales of advanced chips to China, amid reports that the White House was mulling additional restrictions on exports of chips used in AI applications. Earlier that day, Semiconductor Industry Association warned that “overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the U.S. semiconductor industry’s competitiveness.”
SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Formula 1’s ten teams are worth $1.88 billion on average, according to Forbes estimates, a 276% increase from the $500 million average when Forbes last valued the series’ teams in 2019 (using 2018 revenue figures). Ferrari, which is synonymous with Formula 1, came out on top, at $3.9 billion—a 189% jump from 2019—with Mercedes close behind at $3.8 billion.
Average ticket prices for Inter Miami’s matches have soared roughly 500% in the month since Argentine soccer phenom Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami, as MLS fans race to score tickets to see one of the greatest soccer players of all time ahead of his highly anticipated league debut on Friday. Messi will be taking in between $50 million and $60 million per year on a two-and-a-half-year contract with Miami.
SCIENCE + HEALTHCARE
Tokyo-based company Gitai is developing robots that can make repairs in space, as well as perform tasks on the Moon’s surface. Using robotic technology potentially offers a more affordable and practical way to explore space without putting human lives at risk, and CEO Sho Nakanose’s goal is to reduce space labor costs by 100 times.
TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE
Facing a tech labor shortage, Canada is aiming to attract remote workers with a digital nomad program that allows visitors to stay in the country for up to six months without needing a work permit and opens the door to what could be a permanent move. There is a preference for candidates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics—including data scientists, software developers and programmers, among others.
DAILY COVER STORY
Bill Gates Is Backing A Secret Startup Drilling For Limitless Clean Energy
TOPLINE A new form of underground energy could dramatically speed the shift away from planet-ruining fossil fuels: so-called “geologic” hydrogen.
It’s been found in vast deposits along tectonic plates, where conditions are ripe for the lightest element on earth to remain in its pure, gas form.
“It’s on every continent,” says Tom Darrah, a professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University. “The scale of how much there is is profound.”
As is its potential to temper a looming climate catastrophe already heralded by ever-fiercer heat waves, heavier rainstorms and more violent hurricanes. That’s because the universe’s most abundant element is carbon-free and has the highest energy content of any fuel by weight. But no one has tapped into the underground variety and scaled it into a business.
Koloma, a Denver startup quietly founded two years ago, thinks it’s figured out how to do exactly that. And cofounder Darrah is planning for a future where we drill for hydrogen just as we’ve historically drilled for oil and gas.
It’s backed with $91 million from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Evōk Innovations, Prelude Ventures and Piva Capital, making it the most well-funded startup in the space by far.
Right now, the world uses about 100 million metric tons of hydrogen annually, a market worth more than $120 billion, according to Goldman Sachs. Nearly all of it’s made from natural gas, a process that emits carbon, and most is used for oil refining, making fertilizer, chemicals and food processing.
Koloma and its backers see big money: Goldman estimates the hydrogen market will double to $250 billion by 2030 and top $1 trillion annually by 2050.
WHY IT MATTERS Michael Webber, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, admits geologic hydrogen “blew [his] mind” when he began studying it five years ago. He said there’s a kind of obviousness to it.
“The earth always has the answer if you’re just willing to be open-minded and look,” he said. “The earth gives us wind and solar and waves and hydro; it gives us oil and gas and coal and peat and cow dung. Why wouldn’t it give us hydrogen? It kind of makes sense in some grand philosophical arc.”
MORE: Forget Oil. New Wildcatters Are Drilling For Limitless ‘Geologic’ Hydrogen
FACTS AND COMMENTS
Whether you exercise a little every day or for a long time once or twice a week, as long as you’re getting the recommended amount, the benefits are the same. That’s according to a new report that studied 89,500 people in three groups—active weekend warrior, active regular and inactive:
150: Number of minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity the CDC recommends each week
28%: Share of Americans who exercise at that level
$117 billion: Annual healthcare costs associated with adults not getting enough physical activity, per the CDC
STRATEGY AND SUCCESS
Companies with remote or hybrid policies appear to be hiring people at about twice the rate of employers that are fully in office, according to new analysis. “When we looked at headcount increase over the last 12 months, fully flexible and ‘structured hybrid’ [employers] were outperforming fully in office companies at least in terms of a percentage of headcount,” says Robert Sadow, cofounder and CEO of Scoop, a hybrid work management software company behind the report.
VIDEO
QUIZ
Wyoming-based taco chain Taco John’s announced Tuesday it will give up its trademark registration on the phrase “Taco Tuesday.” Which restaurant chain filed legal petitions to cancel the trademark and mounted an advertising campaign to “liberate Taco Tuesday?”
A. Qdoba
B. Chipotle
C. Taco Bell
D. Moe’s Southwest Grill
Check your answer.
ACROSS THE NEWSROOM
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