The Know Daily - Friday 20 October

_{Read in 5m 35s ∙ Listening to Lana Del Rey}

Dear readers,

Confession: I have been spending a lot of time scrolling through skincare content online recently. Perhaps it’s a bit of an escape, plus it’s like the older I get, the more I lose my willpower to resist clicking on every article that comes up (can anyone else relate?!).

I know just how easy it is to get sucked down the skincare research rabbit hole. So when I first heard about EGF - touted as skincare’s latest “it” ingredient - I was seriously intrigued, if not a little apprehensive at the prospect of scrolling through another 10 or 20 search results trying to find the answers to my questions.

That’s why I’m so excited to be bringing you this science-backed guide to EGF in today’s edition. We spoke to our friends over at BIOEFFECT - the Icelandic biotech skincare brand - to find out what EGF (or epidermal growth factor) is, and why you might want to consider swapping out your collagen or retinol in favour of it 👀 

You’ll also find our usual roundup of the week’s biggest global headlines and culture recs from the team to see you through the weekend.

Have a great one!

Lily x
Growth & Partnerships Manager

Our newsletters are free, but consider becoming a friend of The Know to back independent, female-founded journalism. You’ll also get exclusive editions, supporter-only giveaways and more - all for just £1.25 a week!

POLITICS & GLOBAL AFFAIRS

📰 The Israel-Hamas conflict continued into a second week. Both US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak visited Israel with the aim of bringing peace to the Middle East. The Guardian has this breakdown of what we know on day 14.

🇵🇱 Poland’s opposition claimed victory in the country’s general election on Sunday. Opposition parties led by Donald Tusk collectively secured enough votes to oust the ruling right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

🗳️ Voters in the English constituencies of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth elected new Labour MPs at by-elections on Thursday, replacing Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Chris Pincher. Labour leader Keir Starmer described the result as “phenomenal”.

CULTURE

🎞️ Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour took up to $97 million on its US debut last weekend - making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time. UK-based Swifties have been encouraged to sing along during certain screenings.

🚆 Spanish rail company Evolyn announced plans to launch a Paris to London high-speed train to rival Eurostar. The boss of Channel Tunnel operator Getlink said the prospect of competition would be “great news”.

📺 Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing saw it add 8.8 million new subscribers over the past three months - but the streaming giant still said it was raising the prices of some of its subscription plans.

WORK & INNOVATION

💸 X users in the Philippines and New Zealand will be charged $1 a year for a basic account, as the Elon Musk-owned platform looks for ways to “combat bots and spammers”.

🤖 “Social loafing” - a phenomenon where team members work less hard if they think others will cover for them - also occurs when humans work alongside robots, a new study found.

📱 Nokia announced plans to axe up to 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026 in a bid to cut costs. The Finnish telecoms giant reported a 20% drop in sales between July and September.

UPLIFTING STUFF

🪩 A “glitter ban” came into force across the EU, as the European Commission looks to crack down further on the sale of microplastics.

🇧🇩 Bangladesh took a “major step” towards reducing cervical cancer cases by rolling out a nationwide HPV vaccine campaign.

🐢 Robert Irwin, son of the late conservationist Steve Irwin, celebrated breeding a rare Elseya irwini turtle that his father discovered in 1990.

📰 Read: This entertaining-but-actually-serious piece by The Independent’s Amanda Whiting on why it took so long for Britain’s best Wags to be taken seriously. Recent documentaries featuring Victoria Beckham and Coleen Rooney “prove that they were the true stars of their marriages all along”, Whiting argues.

🎧 Listen to: Our incredible co-founder and CEO Lynn Anderson Clark on the Favourite Positions podcast. In this illuminating recent ep, Lynn chats to co-hosts Alex and Alana about her career to date, ways to avoid burnout and the work-life desires of Gen Z and millennials.

📺 Watch: The Miracle Club (out in cinemas now), Bodies (Netflix), Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story (Disney+), Upload (Prime Video).

🛍️ Do: Invest in some wet-weather staples (and lament the fact that summer’s over). We love Danish brand Rains - these cargo rain pants are especially great, particularly if you’re out cycling during winter.

💌 And also do: Subscribe to some other fantastic free newsletters. Birmingham-based readers might like I Choose Birmingham, while Vittles is a great read for anyone interested in food and culture. We’ve also been enjoying merrymakery (click below to subscribe 👇):

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 include roles at The Biodiversity Consultancy, not-for-profit advocacy group Positive Money and online community platform BorrowMyDoggy.
 
Want to reach 200,000 women with your latest roles? Email [email protected] if you’d like to list a job with us.

Get your friends, family and colleagues to sign up for The Know using your personalised code - https://theknowmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER - and we’ll reward you with goodies from HURR, Grubby and CRU Kafe! Just copy and paste your code into an email, chat or even an Instagram story.

You’ve signed up 0 friends so far.

The Know is an independent media company on a mission to help everyone start their day feeling informed and hopeful. Our daily newsletter features the top stories broken down without jargon, uplifting news and hand-picked recs. We only recommend things we genuinely love but sometimes we make money out of the links we share. This directly supports keeping our journalism free for all.

How did you find today’s email?
😍 Loved it 😕 Could be better

^{Love The Know and want to hear more from us? Switch to our daily edition. Support The Know here.}