Monday morning news drop
What's Good, Toronto? It feels like we’re about to do something special together - Scottie Barnes. I wanted to say right off the bat, the way this fanbase has already embraced me…. I’m really starting to feel like a Raptor for real. Like I have my own part to play in the next chapter of this story. I don’t feel like I even have the words yet to say how much this all means to me. (The Players Tribune)
Long Live the Wrestling Promo Look It's been a long time since pro wrestlers were style icons outside the ring—but that seems to be changing, one plaid scarf at a time. (GQ)
Why the Empire State Building, and New York, May Never Be the Same It once symbolized an urban way of working, and the city’s resilience. In the pandemic’s second year, the future of the world’s most famous skyscraper is in doubt. (New York Times)
The Trillion-Dollar Fantasy: Linking ESG Investing to Planetary Impact Here’s what’s wrong. Investors are finally taking ESG investment seriously. But as currently practiced, most ESG investing delivers little to no social or environmental impact. (Institutional Investor)
The Exponential Age will transform economics forever It’s hard for us to fathom exponential change – but our inability to do so could tear apart businesses, economies and the fabric of society (Wired)
Wall Street Influencers Are Making $500,000, Topping Even Bankers Finance firms have long struggled to reach young and new customers — until now. (Bloomberg)
Peter Thiel Gamed Silicon Valley, Donald Trump, and Democracy to Make Billions, Tax-Free In an exclusive excerpt from The Contrarian, a new biography, the disruption-preaching power broker is revealed as just another rich guy desperate to keep his fortune from the IRS. (Businessweek)
The tangled history of mRNA vaccines In late 1987, Robert Malone performed a landmark experiment. He mixed strands of messenger RNA with droplets of fat, to create a kind of molecular stew. Human cells bathed in this genetic gumbo absorbed the mRNA, and began producing proteins from it. Sinc then, hundreds of scientists had worked on mRNA vaccines for decades before the coronavirus pandemic brought a breakthrough. (Nature)
Dinosaur Cowboys Are Hunting for the Next $32 Million T. Rex Fossils have become a hot new asset class. Paleontologists aren’t thrilled, but for Clayton Phipps and his peers, it’s a living. (Businessweek)
Why Americans Die So Much U.S. life spans, which have fallen behind those in Europe, are telling us something important about American society (The Atlantic)
Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show Its own in-depth research shows a significant teen mental-health issue that Facebook plays down in public (WSJ) and (NBC)
Social Media Is Attention Alcohol A fun product has the same downsides as booze. Instagram’s own internal research makes the case better than any critic. (The Atlantic)