The Know Daily - Thursday 6th April 2023

_{Read in 5m 50s ∙ Listening to Aqua}

We’re taking a short break for the Easter bank holiday, so there’ll be no newsletter tomorrow or Monday. But if you’re looking for inspiration for things to do over the long weekend, here are 99 ideas! We’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday 11 April 💜 

The Ocean Cleanup - the world’s first ocean plastic cleanup system - has reached a new milestone. The Dutch nonprofit announced on Tuesday via Twitter that it has now fished more than 200,000 kilograms of plastic out of the Pacific Ocean using its innovative system of floating barriers on the water’s surface. The plastic extracted is then recycled where possible and transformed into durable products. The organisation’s aim is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic and eventually put itself out of business.

🚦 The end of the road for smart motorways

No new smart motorways will be built in the UK after serious concerns were raised over road safety and the cost of the project, the i newspaper has revealed.

Tell me more.
In January 2022, the government paused the rollout of new “all-lane” smart motorways - where the hard shoulder is replaced with an extra lane - until their safety had been comprehensively assessed. Now, the rest of the £3 billion project (which would have seen the roads constructed in Greater Manchester, the Pennines and London) has been shelved for the foreseeable future.

Remind me how they work?
Smart motorways have no hard shoulder and rely on technology to detect broken down vehicles and close affected lanes. On “dynamic” smart motorways, the hard shoulder opens up at peak times. On the “all-lane” types, the hard shoulder is permanently removed.

At the end of 2020, there were 369 miles of smart motorways in England - including 168 miles without any hard shoulder. If drivers get into trouble, they’re meant to aim for emergency refuge areas (essentially laybys) placed at intervals along the roads.

What’s the problem with them?
RAC research has previously found that a clear majority of people are in favour of scrapping smart motorways, which have been blamed for several accidents since their introduction.

While motorways are generally pretty safe, the removal of the hard shoulder means that vehicles can be left stranded in fast-flowing traffic, and the emergency services may struggle to reach an incident.

“Financial pressure on the government” is also a factor, added the i.

What next?
PM Rishi Sunak, who previously labelled smart motorways as “unsafe”, is expected to make the final decision on whether the scheme is scrapped indefinitely. It’s not yet clear what will happen to existing smart motorways, but government sources have denied that they will also be wound down.

💗 In a Barbie world

With Greta Gerwig’s Barbie proving itself to be one of the most anticipated movies of 2023, we’re wondering: are toy-inspired films the next big thing?

First things first, a Barbie movie?
Yes - and a new trailer sent the internet wild this week. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star as Barbie and Ken, with an all-star supporting cast that includes Dua Lipa, Will Ferrell, Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan and Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwal.

But while we get a glimpse of the bubblegum-pink Barbie universe, the trailer doesn’t give much of the plot away. This has led some to speculate that there could be a “big twist” coming, perhaps with Barbie and Ken ending up in the “real world”.

What else do we know about Barbie?
While the storyline has been kept firmly under wraps, Robbie has said that Barbie won’t be anything like what viewers expect. “We like things that feel a little left of centre,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020.

Commentators have pointed out that if Gerwig’s previous works - including Little Women and Lady Bird - are anything to go by, her reimagining of Barbie’s world is likely to have a satirical and subversive tone.

Is Barbie part of a wider trend?
It’s certainly one of several upcoming films that aim to cash in on our childhood nostalgia. Right now, J.J. Abrams’ reimagining of Hot Wheels, a major motion picture based on Mattel’s Magic 8-Ball and a Monopoly movie starring Kevin Hart are all reportedly in the works.

What’s driving the trend?
Using recognisable characters and locations is a pretty much guaranteed way to ensure box office success - just look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the highest-grossing franchise ever, for evidence.

But writer Jack Walters has another explanation. “By using characters and locations that viewers will already know from their childhood toys, these movies are able to spend much more time creating exciting stories instead of focusing too heavily on worldbuilding,” he told Screenrant.

Barbie is set for release in cinemas on 21 July.

😬 Mushy meat: Sainsbury’s has been forced to defend its new, more environmentally friendly packaging for minced beef following some customer complaints that it turned the meat to mush. The new packaging uses 55% less plastic.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SNP inquiry: The husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been released without charge after he was arrested yesterday. Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, was questioned in connection with an investigation into the party’s funding.

👩‍💼 Little pay gap progress: Women are still paid less than men at four out of five employers in Great Britain, new analysis of the government’s gender pay gap reporting by The Guardian has found. The median pay gap remains at 9.4% - “the same level as in 2017-18”.

🔬 “Jolie” gene: Cancer patients with an inherited genetic fault known as the “Angelina Jolie” gene, which increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer, will be offered a new drug to stop tumours from spreading.

🍃 Countryside complaints: A lawyer lost a bitter neighbour dispute at her country house in Kent after a judge ruled that she was “not automatically entitled to… rural peace and quiet”.

Trivia answer: A) Aesop removed its Post-Poo Drops from sale globally as a precaution in 2022 because the bottles did not have the child-resistant fastening or labelling information required by law in some countries.

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