Chick-Fil-A is moving aggressively into the entertainment space with plans to launch a slate of originals for its own streaming platform. Deadline understands that the fast-food firm has been working with a number of major production companies, including some of the studios, to create family-friendly shows, particularly in the unscripted space. (White, Deadline)
Read MoreUkraine’s parliament has banned the activities of religious groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church or any other faith group supporting Russia’s invasion — a measure widely seen as targeting a Ukrainian religious body, despite its claim to independence from Moscow. The bill creates the legal tools for the government to ban the activities of any religious group deemed to be too closely connected to Russia or to support its invasion of Ukraine. (Smith, AP News)
Read MoreJean Hébert, a new hire with the US Advanced Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), is expected to lead a major new initiative around “functional brain tissue replacement,” the idea of adding youthful tissue to people’s brains. President Joe Biden created ARPA-H in 2022, as an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, to pursue what he called “bold, urgent innovation” with transformative potential. (Regalado, MIT Technology Review)
Read MoreThe report analyzed alcohol and psychoactive drug usage in 2019 across 145 countries. While rates of alcohol-related deaths had decreased since 2010, the overall number is still “unacceptably high,” WHO officials said in the report released in June. Deaths linked to alcohol consumption made up about 4.7 percent of all deaths worldwide. (Docter-Loeb, The Washington Post)
Read MoreWhile Christians make up about 30% of the world’s population, the world’s migrants are 47% Christian, according to the latest data collected in 2020. The study found that Muslims make up 29% of the migrant population but 25% of the world’s population. Jews, only 0.2% of the world’s population but 1% of migrants, are by far the most likely religious group to have migrated, with 20% of Jews worldwide living outside their country of birth compared to just 6% of Christians and 4% of Muslims. (Fodor, Religion News Service)
Read MoreKyle Jensen, the director of Arizona State University’s writing programs, is gearing up for the fall semester. Jensen is one of a new breed of faculty who want to embrace generative AI even as they also seek to control its temptations. He believes strongly in the value of traditional writing but also in the potential of AI to facilitate education in a new way—in ASU’s case, one that improves access to higher education. (Bogost, The Atlantic)
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