Good morning. Between the midterm elections, Halloween, and daylight saving time, this past week has been pretty busy. The good news? It's finally Friday, which (fun fact) actually gets its name from Frigg, the Norse goddess associated with love and marriage.

Today, we’ll cover why your smart TV is spying on you, a massive fridge cyberattack in Europe, a shocking detail that came from a mummy analysis, and much more.

— Chase Goepfert, Founder of NextGen News

In an election that saw record-breaking early voting and nearly $12 billion in political ad spending (the most ever), Democrats rode a blue tsunami through this year’s midterms.

Voting across almost every major demographic group (race, age, gender, education, income, etc.) swung sharply left, reversing the massive gains Republicans saw in the last election.

As a result, the party reclaimed control of both chambers of Congress. As of writing:

Not to mention the other major races: One of the night's biggest upsets came in Texas, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa ousted longtime Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, ending more than 30 years of GOP control of the governor's office.

See live results of the races here.

Republicans lost ground in 99% of counties (see visualization), and the economy appears to have been the biggest driving force behind the Democratic tidal wave:

Costs at the pump are hard to ignore, too: Gas prices averaged above $4 for the first time in Election Day history, partly due to soaring energy costs tied to the war in Iran.

Money isn’t the only issue: Trump scored the lowest voter approval rating of any president in US history during midterm elections, partly due to opposition to the Iran war, concerns about his administration, and worsening appeal with young voters (an AP poll found roughly 70% of voters under 30 backed Democrats this election cycle).

Not even your local grocery store is safe from hackers these days. Earlier this week, supermarkets across Europe were hit by cyberattacks that took control of refrigeration systems and cranked up the heat, leaving them with thousands of dollars worth of spoiled food.

Many modern supermarkets use internet-connected refrigeration systems that allow technicians to monitor temperatures, adjust settings, and troubleshoot problems outside the store.

While it’s certainly convenient, it also creates an opportunity for hackers to interfere, since some stores reportedly use outdated software while others rely on older network connections that may leave their systems more vulnerable to attacks.

As a result, employees arrived at work to discover their freezers had been running at temperatures hotter than a summer afternoon:

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time: The hack followed a similar “unprecedented” attack in France last month, which heated supermarket refrigerators and freezers across the nation enough to start fires. The Pentagon also launched an investigation into cyberattacks that disrupted refrigeration systems at some military base grocery stores back in August.

Cyberattacks are coming for your blood, too: In a more disturbing development, hackers used the same method to try and destroy life-saving blood supplies in France on Wednesday. Luckily, alarm systems caught the attack before any real damage was done.

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🐙 Octopuses’ memory works differently than we thought. Turns out there's more than one way to build a brilliant brain. A new study found that octopuses can strengthen connections between brain cells for long periods without making new proteins, something usually needed for similar memory processes in humans. Instead, their brains use a tiny gas molecule called nitric oxide to keep those connections strong through a self-sustaining feedback loop, which acts like a biological memory switch. The discovery suggests the eight-legged creatures evolved a very different way of supporting learning and memory, despite sharing a common ancestor with humans more than 500 million years ago.

🪦 New analysis of Inca mummies revealed a disturbing secret. After analyzing hair and nail samples from eight mummies found in the Andes, researchers uncovered how the Inca Empire prepared children for human sacrifice around 500 years ago. All eight had consumed coca leaves, four showed evidence of alcohol, and one even contained traces of a psychoactive compound associated with the plants used to make ayahuasca. Researchers believe the substances may have helped calm the children and ease their exhausting journeys up large mountains, where they were sacrificed as offerings to the gods. The findings also suggest these rituals weren't identical across the empire, with different regions using their own combinations of substances.

🔬 Scientists built an AI lab that runs itself. Scientists built a biology lab where AI doesn't just help design experiments, it actually runs them. The automated system, developed at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, uses AI agents and robotic equipment to carry out molecular biology experiments by sequencing DNA, storing messages inside genetic material, and even troubleshooting protocols. Researchers just give the lab a simple prompt, and the system handles the complex work of turning it into an actual experiment. While automation has been a key part of laboratory work for years, these new “self-driving labs” offer a glimpse into a future where scientists spend less time handling test tubes and more time making discoveries.

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The number of people getting paid to scroll reels at work seems to be at an all-time high. America’s workforce is having a bit of a motivation problem, as employee engagement has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years, according to a new Gallup survey.

Since hitting a record high during the pandemic (likely due to the record number of remote workers), engagement has steadily declined. Now, it’s near rock bottom:

What’s interesting is… the drop isn’t coming from those who are stuck in a cubicle, but from the workers who stay at home. Gallup found that fully remote and hybrid employees saw the sharpest fall-off in engagement during the third quarter, especially at companies that are aggressively adopting AI.

Why is that? It mainly comes down to two reasons. Fewer employees clearly understand what's expected of them at work, and even fewer feel that someone at work genuinely cares about them. That suggests some companies may be struggling to keep up with communication standards and personal connections as the workplace becomes more digital with the AI boom.

Ever get the feeling your smart TV knows a little too much? Well, you might want to put on your tinfoil hat because it turns out that suspicion isn't necessarily wrong.

A new study from Northeastern University found that many smart TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR) to monitor what's playing on their screens:

But wait, it gets worse: Even if you tell your TV to stop tracking you, it might not completely listen. Researchers tested the TVs’ privacy settings by monitoring internet traffic to see whether data was still being sent to tracking-related servers after tracking was disabled. The results were pretty mixed, as LG, Amazon Fire TV, and a Sony TV running Google TV stopped tracking, while Samsung and Roku continued sending some tracking-related data. Vizio performed the worst, showing virtually no change in its tracking activity even after the feature was turned off.

Why is this a thing? Manufacturers use the info to recommend shows, measure audiences, and serve targeted advertisements. So while your TV may not be recording you, it certainly keeps a detailed record of everything you watch on it.

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→ A new study suggests that castration may extend lifespan in mice by 33%, potentially paving the way for similar treatments in human men (that luckily don’t involve the procedure).

→ Researchers at MIT recently developed vaccines for fish that can be applied underwater using dissolvable silk needles, potentially making the process safer, faster, and less stressful for the animals.

→ British adventurer Karl Bushby has finally returned home after spending 28 years walking more than 30,000 miles around the world, marking the end of one of the longest continuous journeys on foot ever recorded.

→ Scientists have discovered what may be the first chemically confirmed traces of dinosaur blood, which could reveal new details about the prehistoric creatures that lived over 100 million years ago.

→ A new study found that 35% of infants previously diagnosed with peanut allergies showed no reaction during supervised testing, suggesting some children may be avoiding peanuts unnecessarily.

→ Why leftover pasta has secret health benefits.

→ Like humans, birds tend to get jet-lagged.

→ Watch a time-lapse of photosynthesis from space.

→ Don’t want to get sick? Take cold showers.

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