It turns out that elephants are very much at ease with the human in the room. A new study out of the UK found that elephants in captivity appear to enjoy and act positively toward the presence of people. For example, when large groups attend their public feedings, they mope less and forage more.

We found this surprising. You'd think elephants would be a bit more self-conscious about a crowd of people watching their trunks fall down...

In today's edition:

• AI miraculously heals man?

• Queen of Rock dies at 83

• Harnessing the Sun

 🔑 Key Stories

AI Healing Paralysis?

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers claimed to have restored a paralyzed man’s ability to walk, climb, and stand

• A 2011 motorcycle accident in China had left the man paralyzed and potentially unable to walk again

• Researchers implanted electrodes into his skull, then used AI to monitor his brain’s electrical activity and pair that to intended motions. That information was then sent to electrodes in his spine, which allowed him to control his muscles with his brain

• The man became able to walk, stand, and climb; a year later, he could walk without the electrodes

Dig Deeper

• “Because we have this understanding of how and where to apply stimulation, we can start targeting other neurological functions that are important,” the study’s co-author said. “Paralysis is just the tip of the iceberg”

• A separate study will begin later this year and test the technology’s ability to regulate blood pressure

Desantis Announces for 2024

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his campaign for the 2024 presidency

• DeSantis attended Yale and Harvard Law, served in the Navy, and was a US House Representative for 3 terms. He became Florida’s governor in 2018, made a name for himself nationally, and won reelection in a landslide last fall

• On Wednesday, he live-streamed his campaign announcement with Elon Musk on Twitter. Technical issues delayed the announcement, causing the stream to crash at one point

• “I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback,” he said. “In Florida, we prove it can be done. We chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination”

Dig Deeper

• DeSantis enters the race with $100M+ in funding, making him the Republican party’s best-funded candidate. Yet while polls once showed him leading Trump, they now show Trump with a substantial advantage

Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown

Netflix’s crackdown on password-sharing arrived in the US and UK

• Netflix is the world’s largest video streaming service with ~232M paid subscribers. It lost subscribers over the first 6 months of 2022, though, and has since been rolling out a crackdown on password sharing

• On Tuesday, it began notifying US and UK subscribers that only those physically living together will be allowed to share accounts for free. Others can pay to join a plan, starting at $7.99/month in the US

• “Added” users will get their own password. Netflix estimates ~100M US households share passwords

Dig Deeper

• Netflix’s CEO said earlier this year that the company faced a “cancel reaction” in countries where it restricted password-sharing. He has warned investors to expect a short-term cancellation surge wherever it unveils the policy

USVI “Complicit” in Epstein Crimes?

JPMorgan accused the US Virgin Islands of being “complicit in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein”

• The US Virgin Islands (USVI) are suing JPMorgan, the US’ largest bank, for allegedly enabling Epstein’s abuses by handling his money and transactions

• On Tuesday, JPMorgan submitted filings accusing the USVI – where Epstein lived on a private island – of “shield[ing] and reward[ing]” Epstein in exchange for “money, advice, influence and favors”

• The filings allege USVI officials turned a blind eye to Epstein’s abuses and even gave him favorable tax breaks. USVI denied that and said JPM is deflecting

Dig Deeper

• “For 2 decades, Epstein maintained a quid pro quo relationship with USVI’s highest-ranking officials," the filing reads. "He gave them money, advice, influence and favors. In exchange, they shielded and even rewarded him, granting him [millions of dollars] in tax incentives”

• USVI called JPMorgans' accusations an “obvious attempt to shift blame” away from itself

The Healthy Alternative to Sugary Sports Drinks

Together with LMNT

LMNT, pronounced “element,” is the electrolyte drink mix we recommend Roca Riders hydrate with this summer. We are not exaggerating when we say we have a box of their popular grapefruit flavor in our office, and we can't get enough!

• Since the 1940s, we’ve been told to drink 8 glasses of water per day. However, only hydrating with plain water can dilute your electrolyte levels – which can lead to headaches, low energy, brain fog, and more

• Electrolytes are essential minerals that facilitate vital bodily functions, including the conduction of nerve impulses, hormonal regulation, nutrient absorption, and fluid balance

• LMNT electrolytes contain just what you need – the salts – without all the other harmful additives. Just mix it with water and it’s perfect for hydrating, be it after a workout or night out

• Other popular electrolyte drinks contain as much as 36 grams of sugar. 36 GRAMS! LMNT contains none – NONE!

• You can try it totally risk-free. If you don’t like it, they’ll give you your money back – no questions asked

Dig Deeper

• Right now LMNT is offering Roca Riders a free sample pack with any purchase. That’s 8 single servings FREE with any LMNT order. This is a great way to try all 8 flavors or share LMNT with a salty friend

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• RIP, Queen: Tina Turner, nicknamed the "Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” died at her home in Switzerland following a long illness. She was 83

• Virgin for the very last time: Richard Branson’s space company Virgin Orbit has formally shut down after auctioning off its assets to a trio of space companies 

• Ja & Order: Tennessee police visited the home of NBA star Ja Morant after he posted a series of cryptic messages. He was suspended on May 13 for appearing in a livestream with a gun

Wildcard

• Cell 1738: ”Trap Queen” rapper Fetty Wap was sentenced to 6 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to smuggle hundreds of pounds of drugs into NYC

• Reptile dysfunction: A Florida man found an iguana in his toilet bowl. The reptile eventually climbed out of the bowl, and the man shooed it out of his house

• #FreeTheKiwi: A Miami zoo has apologized for its visitors’ treatment of a kiwi that led to a flood of complaints from New Zealanders, who revere the bird. “We have offended a nation,” the zoo stated

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

You can only eat one type of cuisine (Mexican, Chinese, etc.) for the rest of your life. What is it?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

If Sam Altman – the CEO of OpenAI – is correct, a revolution will begin within 5 years.

Beyond co-founding OpenAI, Altman is one of the world’s foremost venture capitalists, or startup investors. His largest investment – $375M – is in a startup called Helion.

Helion launched in Washington state in 2013. Its mission was to generate commercially viable fusion energy.

Nuclear bombs and reactors use fission: The process of slamming a neutron into a larger atom, which causes it to split into smaller atoms and release energy. That process creates a chain reaction that unleashes significant energy.

But it also creates unstable atoms – radioactive waste – that remain radioactive for millions of years.

Fusion, by contrast, involves slamming 2 atoms together to create a heavier atom, i.e. 2 hydrogen atoms to create a helium atom. That process releases huge amounts of energy – several times more than fission. It also doesn’t necessarily produce radioactive waste.

Fusion – unlike fission – doesn’t generate a chain reaction.

Maintaining fusion requires a continued combination of magnetism and extremely high temperatures. That theoretically means fusion can’t trigger a nuclear accident, because it wouldn’t be able to continue on its own.

All that means fusion could theoretically provide endless, safe, carbon-free energy, and has earned fusion the nickname “Holy Grail” of energy production. Triggering and maintaining fusion requires specific conditions that no one has ever managed to sustain for a prolonged period of time.

Fusion research seriously began in the 1950s, however because fusion was considered so difficult to achieve and therefore unprofitable, private companies avoided it. Government labs and universities conducted most fusion-related research.

A stream of breakthroughs has made fusion appear increasingly within reach, though, and a number of young companies are pursuing commercial fusion. These companies have received over $5B in investment, including from some of the world’s foremost investors, such as Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Bill Gates.

One of the most common fusion efforts involves shooting lasers at a pellet of hydrogen plasma to generate energy.

A breakthrough came in 2021, when a US research lab created 70% of the energy that went into that process. Then this past December, the same lab experienced “break even”: It created 20% more energy through a fusion reaction than the lasers used to create it.

Making fusion commercially viable requires scaling that process so that rather than 20%, it creates many multiples as much energy as the system took to create it. It also requires learning how to efficiently capture and use the energy.

Most scientists expect that to take decades, at least. The International Atomic Energy Agency says it will happen after 2050.

This month, though, Helion promised to do so by 2028.

Helion signed a deal with Microsoft that promises to provide it with 50 megawatts of fusion energy – enough to power 40,000 US homes – by 2029, and face penalties if it doesn’t.

It’s the first known time that a company has signed an agreement to buy fusion power.

Sam Altman – whose OpenAI is closely tied to Microsoft – said last week that “there’s a lot of huge challenges still to figure out — how are we going to get the cost super-low, how are we going to manufacture at scale — but on the ability to actually do the physics, we feel very confident.”

He added: “There were a lot of people that were doubting AI 6 months ago, too.”

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Do you take naps?
Yes: 61%
No: 39%

Yesterday's Question:

Do you believe that looks influence success?

Bradley from Minneapolis: “Yup - fake it til you make it. It’s true. Just look at Anna Delvey”

Nori from Lake City, Florida: "ABSOLUTELY! We are creatures who are moved by looks we find appealing. By the same token we have different taste in what looks appeal to us”

Maddy from Seattle, Washington: “Yes! Just look at all the Instagram and TikTok influencers who make money off appearance”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Here's an uplifting story (for anyone who isn't a Yankees fan).

Last night, the Baltimore Orioles were trailing the Yankees 5-1 in the top of the 7th inning. The Yankees are the MLB's 2nd-highest spending team; the Orioles are the 2nd-lowest.

Well the money didn't matter when the Orioles scored 8 runs that inning, setting them up for a 9-6 victory. And so it will be for us and Big News!

Go O's and see you tomorrow.

–Max and Max: