Weekend Briefing No. 589

Personalized Gene Editing -- North Korea Stole Your Job -- Miracle Drugs

May 24, 2025

Welcome to the weekend.

Prime Numbers

1 — A new report from the National Restaurant Association found that 75% of restaurant traffic is now takeout orders — that is, delivery, pickup and, where relevant, drive-thru — a fundamental realignment of the dining industry.

12 — The New York Knicks have advanced to the NBA playoff semifinals with impressive performances, energizing their passionate fanbase. With the remaining three playoff teams representing markets that have never claimed an NBA championship, viewer interest has surged dramatically. Despite an overall 9% decline in television audiences, playoff viewership has increased by a remarkable 12%.

27 — Alchemists rejoice! Physicists at the CERN nuclear research center in Geneva have turned lead into gold for a fraction of a second during the collision of lead nuclei at almost the speed of light in the 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider.

Personalized Gene Editing

Custom gene therapies designed for individual patients could revolutionize medicine for rare disorders that pharmaceutical companies typically ignore. When baby KJ Muldoon was born with a deadly genetic liver disorder that caused toxic ammonia buildup, doctors created a bespoke clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats treatment specifically targeting his unique mutation in just weeks. After receiving three infusions of microscopic gene editors that rewrote his DNA, KJ can now eat avocado and sit upright independently — milestones his parents never thought possible as they faced the impossible choice between an experimental treatment or waiting for a liver transplant while risking brain damage. NPR (8 minutes)

North Korea Stole Your Job

Undercover North Korean operatives may have already infiltrated your company's payroll. These tech-savvy agents create elaborate facades — complete with stolen identities, artificial intelligence-powered interviews, and U.S.-based accomplices managing "laptop farms" of remotely controlled computers. Their mission generates millions for Pyongyang's regime through seemingly legitimate remote tech jobs at major companies worldwide. What began as simple cyberattacks has evolved into a sophisticated operation where teams of North Korean IT workers earn up to $3 million annually while living under strict surveillance in foreign apartments. WIRED (13 minutes)

The Problem with Newsletters

Be honest: How many newsletters do you love receiving? Most company newsletters are underwhelming, and now everything seems to be written by AI. Why would you expect a human to take the time to read a newsletter if you didn’t take the time for a human to write one? The newsletters that outperform build real relationships with their audience in the inbox. They treat their newsletter as a product that solves a problem for a person. They create content that humanizes their brand and shares behind-the-scenes insights. With a few simple tactics and tweaks, newsletters can become your unfair advantage in building your brand, generating leads, and cutting through the noise. Evaluate your company newsletter with this quick newsletter health check. Future Forest (Sponsored)

Miracle Drugs

First GLP-1, Now Flozins. Are we in the era of miracle drugs? A single pill originally designed for diabetes is revolutionizing treatment across multiple deadly conditions that affect hundreds of millions worldwide. SGLT2 inhibitors, nicknamed "flozins," unexpectedly proved to reduce heart failure hospitalizations by 35-39% and chronic kidney disease progression by 36-40% — benefits far beyond their modest effects on blood pressure or blood sugar alone. Scientists still don't fully understand how these drugs produce such dramatic improvements across different organ systems, but the emerging evidence is so compelling that some researchers now consider flozins among the most promising anti-aging compounds ever tested, extending male mouse lifespans by up to 14% in laboratory studies. Works in Progress (12 minutes)

Will Writing Survive AI?

Contrary to popular belief, robots won't replace writers, but rather empower them with new capabilities and tools to enhance their creative processes. A Brooklyn-based media start-up has positioned AI at the core of its business model, developing AI-powered writing tools while simultaneously creating editorial content about technology. With $1 million in annual revenue from subscribers paying $200 yearly for access to their suite of AI tools, the company has attracted $2 million in investment from prominent backers, valuing the business at $25 million. The founder maintains that while AI can assist with writing and editing, the uniquely human elements of perspective, taste and firsthand experience — like conducting interviews and gathering fresh insights — remain irreplaceable in quality journalism. New York Times (5 minutes)

The Comfort Class

The design of products and institutions systematically overlooks how money anxiety fundamentally shapes the lives of most Americans because decision-makers controlling our societal systems remain oblivious to this reality. While financial stress is the number one cause of anxiety for 58% of Americans — capable of reducing cognitive function equivalent to losing an entire night's sleep — it's virtually unrecognized in the design of everything from health monitoring devices to social policies because they're created by a disconnected "comfort class." America's systems of education, government, media and policy are dominated by those born into financial stability, with over half of congressional representatives being millionaires and elite institutions overwhelmingly staffed by graduates of prestigious universities where one in seven students comes from the top 1% of earners. This class apartheid explains political phenomena that baffle elites: When working-class Americans feel their lived economic realities are dismissed by those who control the levers of power but don't understand financial precarity, they naturally reject systems that seem designed without them in mind. The Atlantic (11 minutes)

AI Relationship Revolution

Our connections with AI are becoming deeply personal and transformative in unexpected ways. A father in war-torn Israel found mental escape by using AI to transform his decade-long book project into a podcast series, creating something meaningful amid constant bomb shelter disruptions and bringing his creative vision to life in just one month. Modern parents like a tired mother in France are discovering unexpected solutions as she partners with ChatGPT to develop bedtime stories about trucks and cars that both entertain her vehicle-obsessed 3-year-old son and subtly teach important values. As therapy waitlists grow and human connections feel increasingly overwhelming, these digital relationships are fulfilling real emotional needs that traditional human interactions sometimes cannot. MIT Technology Review (10 minutes)

Should We Work Together?

Hi! I’m Kyle. This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a one-on-one call with me.

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