We often set aside articles that are longer, deserve a re-read, are broader in scope…or just for fun - for weekend reading. Below are some from this week - pour yourself a hot cup of coffee & enjoy...

• How Qatar Bought America (TFP)
• How to Survive Artificial Intelligence This technology is going to drive one of the most important transformations in human history. Are we ready?
• An 80,000-year history of the tomato: Thousands of years of plant breeding and genetic engineering.  (The Works In Progress Newsletter)
• Marine litter along EU coastlines decreased by 29% between 2016 and 2021, with single-use plastics down 40%. (European Commission)
• Thoughts on Sinofuturism: What does it mean for China to be “the future”? And what does that future look like? (Noahpinion)
• Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters (Reuters)
• India has left paper-heavy processes behind with digital public infrastructure.  (Gates Foundation)
• New data in from the United Nations: Between 2000 and 2023, the global maternal mortality ratio fell by 40%. (UNICEF)
• The missing tech case for how we create an era of abundance (Freethink)
• My Brain Finally Broke: Much of what we see now is fake, and the reality we face is full of horrors. (New Yorker)
• The Phony Physics of Star Wars: Are a Blast Those epic battle scenes in space are awesome - and physically impossible. (Wired)
• While Elizabeth Holmes sits in prison for defrauding Theranos investors, the father of her two children, Billy Evans, is raising money for a new blood-testing company called Haemanthus.
• Argentina is celebrating the creation of Patagonia Azul Provincial Park, an immense coastal-marine area roughly the size of Yosemite National Park. (MercoPress)  
• Interest in Greenland is big. But how big is Greenland? Nowhere near what it looks on the map. (The True Size)

What are you reading or listening to?