The Know Daily - Friday 2 February 2024

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Happy Friday (and February!) - Esther here. 

In my opinion, January’s always a bit of a weird month - and the one that’s just gone was no different. Celebrating my boyfriend’s birthday and spending some quality time with my sister were definite highlights, but I also did a lot of hibernating and re-charging at home.

I’m now heading into February feeling refreshed and ready to go - which has reminded me that while we might want to achieve lots with the arrival of a new year, often the best thing we can do is to take it easy. 

This sense of balance is something we always try to lean into here at The Know. It’s why our Friday newsletters always contain a roundup of big headlines from the week, alongside plenty of culture recs and life hacks, too. It’s also why we run regular giveaways for our readers (which we explain in a bit more detail below 👇). 

Have a lovely weekend,

Esther x
Staff Writer

POLITICS & GLOBAL AFFAIRS

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Nicola Sturgeon gave evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry this week, where she said that a “large part” of her wishes she had not been Scotland’s first minister when the pandemic struck.

🤝 Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party looks set to end its nearly two-year boycott of Stormont’s power-sharing government, after agreeing on a deal with the UK government to reduce the checks on goods moving from Great Britain to NI.

🇺🇦 EU leaders agreed to a $50bn aid package for Ukraine on Thursday, despite fears that Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán would block the support package once again.

WORK & INNOVATION

🌑 Japan’s moon lander “woke up” and “started snapping images of the lunar surface”, after it was stuck without power for more than a week. 

📊 A fertility data dashboard - the first of its kind globally - was launched by the UK regulator. “IVF patients will be able to access more data than ever before,” said The Independent.

🧠 Neuralink - the Elon Musk-founded startup - said it had successfully implanted a wireless brain chip into a human for the first time.

CULTURE

🚆 London-Amsterdam Eurostar services will now run this summer. The service was initially due to be suspended for six months due to renovation works at Amsterdam Centraal station.

🎥 An upcoming Céline Dion documentary, announced this week, will aim to “raise awareness” of stiff person syndrome - the neurological condition the singer has been diagnosed with.

🎢 Universal revealed more details about its newest Florida-based theme park, slated to open in 2025. It will feature “five immersive lands”, including one focused on Harry Potter.

UPLIFTING STUFF

👏 Women and girls led the Up Helly Aa Shetland Viking festival for the first time in its history, following a decades-long campaign. 

🇧🇪 Belgium banned the import of hunting trophies in a “momentous triumph” for wildlife conservation and welfare. 

🦈 A baby great white shark was spotted in the wild for the first time ever, experts said.  

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📰 Read: Why rich people don’t cover their windows, by The Atlantic’s Michael Waters. “Although allowing a view into your home can seem vulnerable, it is actually a statement of security,” Waters writes.

📺 Watch: All of Us Strangers and American Fiction (out in cinemas now), Mr & Mrs Smith (Prime Video), Black Cake (Disney+), A Bloody Lucky Day (Paramount+). 

🎧 Listen to: Your Mama’s Kitchen. In this new(ish) podcast, host Michele Norris asks guests including Michelle Obama and Samin Nosrat about their earliest culinary memories and how this has shaped their lives. It’s a lovely listen that gives serious Sunday vibes.

🍞 Check out: 20 ways to elevate your toast game. Ditch your marmite and marmalade in favour of creamy mushrooms or truffled leeks, and consider your next midweek meal sorted. Want to take things to the next next level? Try baking your own bread, too.

We list jobs with qualities we know our readers are looking for: purpose-driven opportunities, flexible and female-founded environments, and employers who champion mental health.

Our top jobs this week include roles at food poverty charity Feeding Britain, the female-founded tablescape, tableware and homeware brand Mrs. Alice and the Science Museum Group.
 
Want to reach 200,000+ women with your latest roles? Email [email protected] if you’d like to list a job with us.

We really appreciate all the reader feedback about how much you miss our OG jobs board (we miss it too!) but as a tiny team, we just weren’t able to keep it running. If you want to support us to work on projects like the jobs board in the future, please consider becoming a friend of The Know today.

In yesterday’s edition, we reported on how a UK university had begun beaming in lifelike avatars of lecturers using holographic technology. 

We were curious to know whether you were fans of the idea - and it’s fair to say the responses were pretty evenly split! A number of you described the concept as “dystopian”, with one pointing out that the novelty “would likely wear off pretty soon”. 

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Yep, a holographic lecture sounds more fun! (48.28%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nah, not for me (51.72%)

On the other side of the debate, one reader told us that having just been to Abba Voyage, they see this “as the future” and a way to “reduce travel and carbon impact”. 

You’ve definitely all given us lots to think about 💭

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