Good Morning. Eleven thousand people got sick from lettuce this summer. Most of them will never know which brand. Plus, a lesson from Maserati, MrBeast's book sale problems, and easy peach cobbler (first time? Join 523,000 Betterists here).
Yesterday’s most clicked link: This man planned the murder of Tupac
TOP STORY TODAY
Eleven Thousand Cases
A Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce has sickened at least 11,458 people across 20 states since June, with 495 hospitalizations and two deaths. Investigators traced it to one Mexican processor. What foods can you eat?
Its parent company made 40% of American salad kits last year, sold under store brands at Walmart, Target, Kroger, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. The company disputes the finding, and no product sample has tested positive.
Symptoms can relapse for weeks, and routine stool tests do not screen for the parasite. Anyone still sick has to ask a doctor specifically for Cyclospora testing to get it.
The move: if the symptoms lasted weeks, ask your doctor to test for Cyclospora by name | CDC's outbreak page
GPS Self-Driving Problem
A study published this week found GPS positions across the United States drifted more than 33 feet during last November's solar superstorm. A highway lane is twelve feet wide. Errors lasted hours.
The paper names autonomous transportation as at risk. Self-driving systems need accuracy measured in centimeters, and they combine satellite signals with lidar and inertial sensors, which is what keeps a bad fix from steering the car.
The storm hit after harvest. A comparable one in May 2024 landed mid-season and cost American farmers an estimated half a billion dollars. Federal forecasters issue storm watches days ahead.
The move: if your work depends on GPS precision, subscribe to NOAA's free storm watches | Sign up for the alerts
Broken Heart Syndrome Detection
Researchers built a blood test that can tell broken heart syndrome from a heart attack before doctors thread a catheter. The two look identical in an emergency room. It accounts for roughly 2% of suspected heart attacks.
Takotsubo syndrome happens when a surge of stress hormones stops part of the heart pumping normally. There is no blocked artery, so the standard procedure finds nothing to fix. It mostly affects women after menopause.
The score combines four blood markers with the patient's sex and correctly sorted nearly 90% of patients before catheterization. Two of the markers are not yet routine hospital tests. The study itself, free to read
TOGETHER WITH SPRUCE
Your Savings Account Is Insulting You
Most people have never once checked what their bank pays them. The national average is a rounding error, and the money sits there anyway, year after year, doing nothing.
Spruce pays 3.50% APY on savings, roughly eight times the national average, with no minimum balance and no qualification tiers to unlock the rate. No monthly fees, no sign-up fees, no credit check.
Sign up between September 1 and September 30, 2026, receive $500 in qualifying direct deposits within 45 days, and Spruce adds $100 (go look at what yours pays. Then decide).
Spruce fintech platform is built by H&R Block, which is not a bank. Bank products by Pathward®, N.A., Member FDIC.
GET 1% BETTER
How Paul Newman created the ideal physique
Every man wants two things: Paul Newman's physique and Robert Redford's hair. One of those might be available to you:
The work: Hundreds of push-ups, decline sit-ups, and boxing. He trained six hours a day at Stillman's Gym in Manhattan for Somebody Up There Likes Me.
The cardio: He ran 3 easy miles every morning and rode a stationary bike for an hour at night with the news on. That was the whole cardio plan.
The catch: Burgers, steaks, and reportedly (up to) 24 beers a day. He called the running penance for the drinking.
The lesson: He never bulked. He got lean and never sat still.
Also in this video: The only ab exercise he seemed to care about (6:11), and the reason his physique still reads as effortless sixty years later (10:45). Plus, here’s how to dress like Paul Newman.
The best lesson from the Maserati Brothers:
Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, and Jessica Alba are in an upcoming movie about the Maserati Brothers (trailer here), set in 1914.
Five of the six brothers built race cars. Mario was a painter. No engineering, no wrenches, no interest in racing.
What he gave them was the trident, lifted off the Neptune fountain in Bologna's Piazza Maggiore, a statue his brothers had walked past their entire lives.
The company changed hands in 1937 and has been sold four more times since. Every car they engineered is in a museum. The logo the non-engineer drew is still on the hood. Full history here.
Their best lesson? Bring in the person who sees your business from outside it. They notice the thing you have stopped seeing (more on this idea here).
TRENDING
5 Stories
▲ Claude Fable 5.1 posts the highest score ever measured on the Artificial Analysis index | Cost per task, every model
▲ MrBeast has 515 million subscribers. James Patterson has sold 400 million books. Their book collab preorders are in the thousands
▲ USPS Whistleblower says the new mail ballot portal shipped without adequate testing | What the Postal Service says it built
▲ GoPro went public at $24 a share in 2014. It is being acquired at $1.14 a share, for $285M total | How GoPro got started
▲ Moreno bought the Angels for $180 million in 2003. He is selling for a reported $4 billion | What the money bought on the field
TOGETHER WITH BIRD&BE
Prenatals Start Too Late
Almost every prenatal vitamin is formulated for after conception. The months before it are when egg quality is still being shaped and sperm is still being made, and that window gets nothing.
Bird&Be built for the window instead. The Female Fertility Power Prenatal Pack pairs a full prenatal profile with 600 mg of vegan CoQ10, NAC, vitamin E and L-Carnitine. The male pack carries the same CoQ10 dose plus an antioxidant layer most competitors skip.
One decision, two people, same three months.
Please support our sponsors!
Fun Links
The latest trailer for Street Fighter [Video]
First true detection of dark matter? [Blog]
Buy a distressed laundromat with $0 [Video]
Startup addresses school bus problem [Blog]
Kubrick’s daughter denies alternate ending [Blog]
Bourbon peach cobbler dump cake [Recipe]
Did Drive steal from this Sly movie? [Video]
Grow your audience and revenue: Join brands like AG1, Hims, BetterHelp. Reach +500K ambitious professionals who open 1% Better every morning. Apply here.