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A new study says a junior merchant from the Dutch East India Company, shipwrecked in 1629, is the earliest documented “corporate psychopath,” and we look at what the study actually claims. Also: the SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built, will be sunk off Florida in November to become the world’s largest artificial reef. And astronomers at the Rubin Observatory announced a possible sixth dwarf planet beyond Pluto, a world roughly 600 to 1,500 kilometers wide that was hiding in a crowded patch of stars. Plus a plea deal over microwaved fish, a great white shark that did not want to be petted, a computer model of the universe’s first 2 billion years, and a $47 million “mini T. rex.”

A poll covered by The Independent says about half of Americans have skipped meals because of grocery prices. We look at what several 2026 surveys actually found, and why the numbers differ. Also: a San Francisco startup is paying people $20 an hour to walk robot dogs, because the robots need real-world data and AI still can’t control hardware well. And a new NIH-funded study of a 1972 British law found that one extra year of school lowered dementia diagnoses decades later, especially for people at high genetic risk. Plus Texas Roadhouse’s steak mix-up, small colleges betting on football, a 3-year-old soccer player and the police, and a cave with 111,000 spiders.

Underneath the stage at Chicago Shakespeare, there’s a mechanism called the sunroof. It drops down, slides away, and opens a hole for a lift to rise through. Both The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream use it, and this season there’s something built into that same mechanism that’s never existed on that stage before.That’s the territory of Tyler Metoxen, Chicago Shakespeare’s technical director. Tyler talks about getting into theater in ninth grade, never wanting to be on stage himself, and a career path, from the Santa Fe Opera to the Utah Shakespeare Festival to Milwaukee, that ran almost entirely through repertory companies before he ever landed in Chicago.He explains what a technical director actually does, why the line between his department and props is blurrier than you’d think, and why “it works most of the time” isn’t nearly good enough on a live stage. He also covers why Winter’s Tale and Midsummer were never treated as two separate builds, down to the shared floor both productions had to be planned around together.Bringing Up the Lights is an original series from Sound Concept Media, written and narrated by Keith Conrad.

The New York Times looks at people paying for apps to make friends, and the fees are part of a bigger story about third places disappearing. Also: regulators and former insiders say online betting apps limit customers who win while rewarding customers who lose. And a Penn State study that followed 356 Head Start kids found that extra preschool lessons on feelings and friendship were still paying off 18 years later, with less loneliness and fewer symptoms of depression. Plus “maxxing” is Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year, the FTC and 20 states sue Dollar General, a man convicted of swallowing Tiffany earrings, and a 93-year-old who laid a trap for a scammer.

Fewer teens are getting driver’s licenses. Federal data shows about 1 in 4 16-year-olds is licensed now, down from about half in 1983, and cost is a big reason. Also: The Atlantic asks the question you probably don’t want to ask AI, so we look at what an AI model trained on six million Danes can and can’t predict about when you’ll die. And a new Ohio State study says picking up an accent is less automatic than most people think. Plus faking enthusiasm at work, the Pentagon’s latest UFO files, why a deadly fungus is so hard to treat, and an orphaned walrus’s long flight to Florida.

IFLScience spent a night at a famously haunted British castle and came back with a better question: why do people pay to be scared? Scientists call it recreational fear, and it works because the body treats fear and excitement almost the same way. Also: a study of 57,793 older adults in 24 countries links staying socially active, especially volunteering and sports clubs, to better memory and thinking over time. And NPR reports that a median-income renter would need 16 years to save for a starter home, twice as long as in 2019. Plus a runaway kangaroo, a Texas man who returned $128,000 he found on an ATM, an extinct tiger head found under a bed, and scientists who nuked an asteroid in a computer.

Somewhere in this season’s rep is an actor who can convincingly unravel with jealousy as a king in The Winter’s Tale, then turn around a few nights later and play one of the goofiest supporting roles in all of Shakespeare. Finding that actor, before anyone else even knows he’s the answer, is the job of Bob Mason, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s casting director.Bob talks about growing up in a small town in southwestern New York, a college acting class that hooked him on Shakespeare’s language, and fifteen years acting in Chicago before a former classmate talked him into casting instead. He explains how casting has changed since the pandemic, what it’s like working with Edward Hall’s very specific audition process, and the particular puzzle of casting a true repertory production for the first time: a single company of actors who all need to work in two different plays, with their own doubled pairings and tonal shifts to balance.Bringing Up the Lights is an original series from Sound Concept Media, written and narrated by Keith Conrad.

A new Cambridge review in Psychological Medicine pulls together years of research on reading for pleasure. It links reading to better attention and memory, fewer mental health problems, and a lower risk of dementia, though most of the evidence shows a link rather than proof. Also: failed startups are selling their old Slack messages and emails to AI companies. One shutdown service says it has handled nearly 100 deals in the past year, and experts doubt the promise that the data is anonymous. And a TikToker’s advice that married men should avoid close friendships with other women has viewers split. Plus a couple struck by lightning, delivery robots accused of scanning faces, a startup tapping an underwater volcano, and Mariah Carey’s legal win.