Hotels are getting flooded with pitches for social-media promotion. Plus Trump’s North Korea policy, the downfall of Toys “R” Us, and more
What’s Next in North Korea? Though President Trump declared on Twitter that “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,” his meeting with Kim Jong Un did not secure any such denuclearization promise from Pyongyang. Rather, the summit’s main accomplishment—apart from some striking moments of spectacle —was to warm relations between Trump and Kim. The compliments Trump heaped on the North Korean dictator after the summit echoed his praise of other authoritarian leaders. And the policies he advanced bore little sign of influence from John Bolton, his notoriously hawkish national-security adviser.
Primary Promise: The pro-Trump candidate Corey Stewart won the Republican nomination in Virginia’s Senate primary race on Tuesday by rallying voters behind his call to arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants. South Carolina’s primary also reflected a changing Republican Party: Incumbent Representative Mark Sanford was defeated for the first time in his scandal-plagued career after his opponent Katie Arrington emphasized Sanford’s lack of support for Trump during her campaign.
Business Models: Luxury hotels around the world are struggling to handle a flood of requests from aspiring social-media influencers, who seek free stays in exchange for online promotion. And the bankruptcy of Toys “R” Us, blamed broadly on competition from low-priced retailers, might have another culprit: t he private-equity takeover that set out to save the company.
— Rosa Inocencio Smith
Carolina A. Miranda on the changes that automation makes to the urban landscape:
Keep reading, as Miranda describes how automation can make the world less hospitable for humans.
In an effort to better understand autism in humans, researchers in China have been editing monkeys’ genes to give them brain disorders. This practice might concern ethicists and animal-rights advocates, who argue that both the efficacy of animal testing and the suffering it may cause are so difficult to measure that such testing may not be justified. While the use of CRISPR and other gene-editing tools is on the rise, experts say the technology is still too flawed to be used on humans, making it likely for animal testing—at least in this field—to continue.
Can you remember the other key facts from this week’s science, technology, and health coverage? Test your knowledge below:
1. In the past decade, 2,000-year-old baobab trees have been prematurely collapsing, likely because of ____________.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
2. A new paper argues that language developed out of early humans’ ability to produce and use ____________ in sequence-dependent ways.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
3. ____________ have become a symbol of gentrification in the Netherlands.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
— Abdallah Fayyad
In our September 2007 issue, Joshua Green examined the still-developing legacy of Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s former deputy chief of staff:
Read more, share this story, and find more articles from our archives.
Every Wednesday, Lori Gottlieb answers reader questions in the Dear Therapist column. Angela in Chicago has had a volatile relationship with her younger sister ever since they were kids:
Read Lori’s advice, and write to her at dear.therapist@theatlantic.com.
DNA depot, moderate flameout, doomed balloon-fest, good gossip.
Happy birthday to Loremi’s friend Glenn (a year younger than The Simpsons); to Darrell’s husband (18 years older than the state of Hawaii); to Donald’s wife, Roxanne (twice the age of Macintosh computers); and to Lois’s husband, Paul (a year younger than The Cat in the Hat).
