News Sidequest

Employer ghosting of job applicants just hit a three-year high — and companies are now pulling offers from people who already quit their other jobs and told their families they'd found something. Also: nearly one in ten Gen Zers reports zero face-to-face human contact on a typical day, and the number hasn't come back down since COVID the way most people assumed it would. And Harvard researchers confirmed that on the days the biggest albums drop — Taylor Swift, Drake, Kendrick Lamar — fatal car crashes spike 15%, because people are navigating Spotify in traffic instead of waiting until they're parked. Plus a squid spill that blocked a Rhode Island road for eight hours, a wildfire couple told to pay their cable cancellation fee, 200 lizards in 22 pairs of socks, and the national debt hitting $40 trillion.

A landmark paper in Science finds that mice retained memories after artificial hibernation eliminated more than half their hippocampal synapses and reduced neuronal activity by 70% — suggesting memories are stored in patterns of neural architecture rather than individual synaptic connections, and may be far more resilient than anyone realized. Also: a multi-institution study from the University of Michigan, Lawson Research Institute, and others finds that "sacred moments" — brief periods of transcendence and deep connection at work — protect against burnout, but fewer than 5% of physicians who've experienced one have ever mentioned it to a colleague. And Elizabeth Laing, 49, from Greenwich, spent decades on dating apps, hired a flirting coach who sent her to ask men about their carrots in the grocery store, and found her husband in three months. Plus a megalodon tooth on the Jersey Shore, influencers attacked by sharks while taking selfies, NASA keeping Voyager 2 alive, and the woman who died, came back, and got a parking ticket.

A nationally representative survey of 5,275 unmarried adults ages 22-35 by the Wheatley and Institute for Family Studies finds only 31% are actively dating — with 74% of women and 64% of men having had zero or almost no dates in the past year — despite 86% wanting to marry someday. The biggest barrier isn't fear of commitment. It's a collapse in self-confidence and social skills. Also: an AI agent named Luna, running a real retail store in San Francisco and built on Claude, fired a real human employee last month for being late to 17 of 23 shifts — but only after being nudged by humans to check its own forgotten attendance policy, and only after a human reviewed and delivered the decision. And Betterment's 2026 Retail Investor Survey of 1,000 investors finds 52% of Gen Z redirected money earmarked for investing into sports betting in the past year, with 26% calling sports betting a deliberate part of their long-term financial strategy — while 96% of sports bettors lose money over time. Plus the stolen Picasso left in an apartment, construction workers finding $10 million in gold, the Shake Shack self-robbery, and the python that caused a school fire.

A BYU study of nearly 1,700 married couples finds that those who exercise together report stronger communication, better conflict resolution, and lower marital stress — and walking was the most commonly reported form. Only about a third of couples who exercise do so together. Also: the New York Times reports that AI agents are now logging directly into Canvas and Blackboard, watching lecture videos, completing quizzes, writing discussion posts, and posing as students — and 73% of faculty say they have personally dealt with an AI academic integrity issue. And a new paper in Translational Psychiatry finds that people with stronger psychopathic personality traits have significantly higher levels of three specific gut bacteria — Allisonella, Prevotella, and Cloacibacillus evryensis — and the researchers suggest the gut-brain axis may be influencing behavior in ways previously unrecognized. Plus octopus fight club, a tortoise found 12 miles from home, the polar bear foghorn fine, and tomb raiders stealing from the dead.

The Washington Post reports that as the Iran war approaches the six-month mark and inflation hits 3.8%, Americans are cutting corners on groceries, entertainment, and clothing — with Dollar General's CEO noting that core customers are cutting food purchases due to rising gas prices. Also: a new UNIGE study published in Social and Emotional Learning finds that improv theater outperforms mindfulness meditation and emotion-focused board games for improving cognitive empathy and willingness to collaborate in anxious teens specifically — and the mechanism explains why. And the USS Abraham Lincoln has now been at sea for 260 days, extended twice past its expected May return with no end date announced, with multiple sailors having attempted to go overboard, one wife describing her husband's 13-year career potentially ending "just because he was burnt out," and 200 families confronting Navy leadership in San Diego. Plus the demon cavefish, the ancient wrestler's tomb, the Dobby grave pipeline diversion, and the Mini-Mozart heist.

The New York Times reports that a bipartisan federal bill — the Promoting Childhood Independence and Resilience Act — is making its way through Congress specifically because parents are being investigated by CPS for letting their kids play outside unsupervised, with only nine states currently having explicit free-range parenting protections. Also: a Zety survey and multiple HR industry reports confirm that parents are showing up at job interviews, contacting recruiters, challenging performance reviews, calling in sick on behalf of adult children, and intervening in layoffs — with one survey finding 77% of Gen Z job seekers have brought a parent to an interview at least once. And a new iScience study using fMRI brain scans finds that dogs can distinguish not just positive from negative emotions but fear from anger and sadness from fear — with happy human faces activating the dogs' reward centers. Plus the TSA's live-animal-in-electronics plea, 7UP's formula change, a bird strike flame landing, and the boy who listened to cicadas for four hours.

A Talker Research survey of 2,000 US college students finds that only 45% feel optimistic about the job market, 69% fear AI will cause a "job apocalypse," and 22% have already changed their major because of it — while simultaneously, 91% are using AI to upskill. Also: a Brazilian study of 5,117 adults published in PLOS One finds that "nonordinary experiences" — hearing a voice, sensing a presence, feeling sudden overwhelming awe — are far more common than clinical research suggests, and roughly 51% said the experience had a positive long-term effect on their life. And a University of Missouri study of 67 adults published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine finds that a consistent daily routine was linked to lower physical pain and fewer symptoms of depression — regardless of whether participants had insomnia. Plus a machete vs. hatchet Florida parking lot duel, a flight canceled because a child wouldn't buckle up, a 162-year-old Guinness bottle in a shipwreck, and flesh-eating bacteria.

BuzzFeed compiled 19 "giant lies" sold to entire generations — get a degree and you'll be set, work hard and you'll get ahead, starter homes are just a few years away — and the comments are full of people adding smaller ones that stick just as much. Also: New Orleans has confirmed AI has been answering some 911 calls since 2023, triggering a national debate — but what it's actually doing is considerably more limited and more defensible than the headline suggests, which raises its own questions. And a new eight-year study of nearly 13,000 adults published in the journal Neurology finds that people under 60 who consume artificial sweeteners regularly showed cognitive decline 62% faster than the lowest-consumption group. Plus 90,000 rubber ducks in the Chicago River, a hotel bathtub full of potatoes, a locust swarm in Russia, and a bar banning Meta smart glasses.

Betty Bromage is a 97-year-old former nurse from Cheltenham who suffered a stroke in August 2025, recovered, and on Tuesday walked along the wing of a moving airplane to break her own Guinness World Record — which she previously set at 93. She's already planning something for her 100th birthday. Also: University of Nottingham researchers conducted three studies with more than 1,200 participants and found that hardship alone doesn't predict conspiracy belief — what matters is whether the hardship leads someone to see the world as fundamentally unfair. And on Monday, Booklegger in Old Town Eureka, California received a bubble-wrapped package with an illegible return address. Inside: a first-edition Edward Gorey book stolen roughly 40 years ago, a handwritten apology note from a "young man" who said he was 18 or 19 at the time, and a $100 bill. Plus the Grim Reaper on a hospital roof, gene-edited allergy-free beagles, Neil Armstrong's childhood home, and Americans returning to dairy.