5 signs you’re dating a bot

Advertise   |  Talk to Us   |  Shop   |  Unsubscribe

Recycling food waste has a huge climate upside and a surprising downside

“If all food waste in the U.S. found a second life as biogas and compost, this would almost completely offset its climate impact. But it would also create a microplastic problem spread over a gigantic area. This is the catch-22 described in a new study from Nature Food, which explores both the massive potential and the overlooked risks of tackling food waste. There is, however, a solution, say its authors, which is to design packaging and get much better at separating our waste.”

The chatbot habit is costing you the actual point of Claude

There’s a quiet gap between people who ask Claude questions and people who’ve stopped asking and started delegating. The difference isn’t intelligence, it’s workflow: agentic coding, automation across Gmail and Drive, plugin chains that do the boring parts without you. A new certificate course walks through all four, with real projects instead of theory, so the habit actually changes instead of just the intentions. [Ad]

Backyard bird feeding could be a bird flu ‘superspreader’. An expert explains

“Backyard bird feeding is one of our country’s most popular pastimes. Research reveals about half of Australian households feed wild birds, with many people doing so daily. However, this practice could act as a superspreader event — where a disease infects an unusually high number of people or animals — of the H5N1 virus. This deadly strain of bird flu has already decimated wild bird and mammal populations worldwide. It is now spreading across Australia, most recently killing more than 1,000 crested terns and a long-nosed fur seal, the first detection in a mainland mammal. Although many Australians feed wild birds, the practice is controversial. This is mainly due to concerns about people offering unsuitable foods and birds becoming dependent on humans. So why is backyard bird feeding such a problem when it comes to bird flu? And can we do it safely?”

Astronomy or megaconstellations: new study shows we can’t have both

“A new study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics lays out evidence that massive planned increases in the number of satellites in orbit could be catastrophic for astronomy. On the one hand, astronomers have been sounding this alarm for some time — but this time, the countdown to potential disaster is shockingly short. Right now, according to the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) accounting, there are about 15,000 satellites in orbit. The agency estimates that currently proposed programs would increase this number to 1.7 million — more than 113 times the current total.”

Microsoft still sells software you actually get to keep

Subscriptions want a monthly check-in forever. Microsoft Office 2021 wants one payment and then never hears from you again. It’s the actual desktop apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook — running natively whether you are on Windows or Mac, no cloud tether required to open a spreadsheet. And it’s a lifetime license, meaning the software works the same way in year six as it did on day one, with zero recurring fees quietly draining your account in the background. [Ad]

Are you dating a machine? 5 warning signs your perfect match is actually an AI bot

“No matter who you are, online scammers are out to get your money, and they’re not above posing as a lover to get their way. A recent survey from McAfee showed that 1 in 7 American adults (15%) have lost money to an online dating or romance scam. The report also said that of respondents who’ve lost money to an online dating scam, fewer than a quarter (24%) were able to recover all of it. Online dating can be pretty scary, so let’s take a look at common scam tactics to watch out for in 2026.”

@lisaseaurchin

Interested in having one of your social posts featured in The Futurist?