With only four games left (including France vs. Spain today), the 2026 World Cup is nearing its end. That brings us to the next major international sporting event being held in the United States: the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles. Games-time volunteer applications — meaning volunteers who help out during the Games’ themselves, rather than in the lead-up — open today. If you’re interested, click here to access the volunteer portal and check out the requirements, role categories, and FAQs.
Noninvasive Tools Approved in UK Could Streamline Endometriosis Diagnoses
Peter Dazeley—Photodisc/Getty Images
An estimated 1 in 10 women worldwide have endometriosis. Yet symptoms of the painful reproductive disorder are often overlooked and dismissed, with an average wait time of four to 12 years to get a diagnosis. That may soon start to change thanks to two new, noninvasive screening tools recently approved by the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE.
EndoSure uses sensor pads on the abdomen to measure electrical signals, while Endotest analyzes salivafor biological markers known as microRNAs. Both offer an alternative approach to the minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery typically used to diagnose endometriosis.
NICE explained that while the tests aren’t meant to stand alone, they can be used alongside traditional clinical practices to streamline the diagnostic process so that patients aren’t left in the dark about why they’re suffering. Because even though endometriosis doesn’t have a definitive cure (yet), there are several treatment options — not to mention the relief that comes with an explanation for symptoms.
“Too many of my patients have spent years being told their pain is normal when it isn’t,” gynecologist Gail Busby, a consultant at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said in a statement. “These tests are a game changer because they give us answers much earlier, without the need for invasive surgery, and that means we can start the right treatment sooner.”
Together With Outskill
Most People Use 5% of Claude: Master the Rest in 1 Weekend
You might be using Claude, but are you using it to its full potential? The platform is constantly shipping new features — Skills, Connectors, Cowork, Vibe coding, and so much more.
Outskill’s free workshop condenses 800+ hours of research and real-world practice into a focused 16-hour curriculum, so you can master all those new features. The Claude AI Mastery Workshop, happening Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., is a live, end-to-end deep dive into Claude, plus other AI tools, LLMs, and workflows.
How a Sunflower Mission Helped Optimism Bloom in South Carolina
Gary Peeples/USFWS
Optimism is in full bloom in one corner of South Carolina. This spring, an unlikely team came together to rescue more than 500 sunflowers at risk of being damaged by an upcoming natural gas pipeline in York County.
The conservation project started when Marvin Bouknight, then the natural resources program manager of the Catawba Nation, noticed survey flags sprinkled throughout a population of endangered Schweinitz’s sunflowers. After learning that this habitat overlapped with the route of a planned natural gas pipeline, he spearheaded a mission to keep the flowers far away from any potential harm.
Bouknight brought together his tribe, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the gas company, and York County Parks and Recreation for an all-hands-on-deck effort to dig out the sunflowers, one by one, and relocate them to the Catawba Bend Preserve. County staff even added a solar-powered electric fence to minimize deer and rabbit browsing and give the flowers the best chance at survival.
“Nothing like this happens because of one person,” Bouknight said in a statement from the Fish and Wildlife Service. “It happens because passionate, dedicated folks see the value. This was elective from the start — nothing was mandated. It reminds me that there are still good people and organizations out there that care about our natural resources.”
Tech
Why Some Pigeons Are Sporting Miniature Backpacks
Anthony Lapsansky
In a scene straight out of a children’s book, scientists outfitted pigeons with custom tiny backpacks and even tinier head-mounted cameras for a recent study. Beyond being a sight for sore eyes, the quirky research aimed to get a peek at how pigeons see and navigate the world in midair.
Despite an initial assumption that birds with eyes on the sides of their heads (like pigeons) don’t move their eyes while in flight, the researchers soon found that wasn’t the case. “Instead, we found really subtle, slow drifting eye movements as pigeons fly forward,” co-lead author Anthony Lapsansky said in a University of British Columbia Q and A. “Rather than locking their eyes in place, they compensate for that visual motion with eye movements — potentially to resolve finer details or see features of their surroundings that can aid navigation.”
Big picture, these visual compensations may help inspire more advanced tech. “We could potentially use these strategies to make autonomous flying robots or drones more animal-like: more skilled at navigating complex environments and closer to truly autonomous flight,” Lapsansky explained. Watch the backpack-wearing pigeons fly.
In Other News
Deforestation rates in Brazil’s Amazon have dropped to their lowest levels in more than a decade (read more)
Los Angeles rolled out upgraded public transit for the World Cup as a test-run for a car-free 2028 Olympics (read more)
A 3,000-year-old tomb belonging to a man named Paser was discovered near the city of Luxor in Egypt (read more)
Want to hear human-made music? New labels will help listeners clearly identify tunes made with AI (read more)
Humpback comeback: Sightings of the iconic whales are on the rise off Rio de Janeiro’s coast (read more)
Something We Love
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
This book spans generations and borders, following a woman on a Canadian island who finds a Japanese girl’s diary, among other treasures, washed up on shore. The diary itself tells the fascinating story of the girl’s Buddhist nun great-grandmother, and it’s impossible not to care deeply for all three women once you meet them. The novel plays with time and space in a delightful way, wrestling with big questions around spirituality and philosophy using just the right touch of magical realism.
– Ally Mauch, Associate Editor
On a hot summer day in Arizona, a 14-year-old named Royal Cawthorn was out on a bike ride and came across a disoriented woman named Teresa who had gotten lost after picking up groceries. “She just looked like something was wrong,” he said, adding: “I knew it was hot.” He helped her call her son and stuck by her side until help arrived. Today, Teresa is doing well and recently celebrated her 76th birthday with her family.
Photo of the Day
Dimitar DILKOFF—AFP/Getty Images
On Sunday, hundreds dove into Paris’ River Seine for a roughly 5-mile swim that passed by some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower. The flagship event of the Open Swim Harmonie Mutuelle was the first major organized race on the rehabilitated river in nearly eight decades — and hopefully marked the first of many more to come. Watch footage from the magnifique swim.
Nuvia: How to Get a Permanent Set of Teeth in a Day
Waiting is the hardest part of getting dental implants. Traditional timelines can stretch on for months before you leave with the results you want. Nuvia’s dental professionals change that, fitting eligible patients with permanent teeth in 24 hours with a single appointment. Take the one-minute quiz to find out if you qualify.
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