Dr. CRISPR

PRESENTED BY BYDESIGN

Happy Friday, Future Party. Every Angeleno knows that LA traffic is, even on a good day, terrible. When the Olympics come to the city in 2028, the terribleness will be on an unprecedented level. So, the city is partnering with Archer Aviation to provide air taxis for athletes and other VIPs, shuttling them from location to location. We’ll see if it really does cut down commute times or simply put traffic at a higher elevation.

A doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania teamed up with a gene-editing researcher at the University of Pennsylvania to develop a personalized CRISPR therapy to save the life of a baby named KJ Muldoon with a rare genetic disorder.

Why It Hits: The success of the personalized therapy was the first time such a feat has been accomplished in human history. By paving the way for drugs to be developed for an individual (an undertaking that typically wouldn’t make financial sense for pharmaceutical companies), KJ’s case opens the door for 30 million Americans with one of 7,000 rare genetic disorders to get a chance at healing.

Behind the Treatment: KJ was born with CPS1 deficiency — a disease caused by an inability to rid the body of ammonia, affecting only one in 1.3 million babies — which gave him a 50% chance of dying within a week or living life with severe developmental delays and other issues.

That could now be a thing of the past.

The Future: The technological miracle of KJ’s treatment was made possible through years of federally funded biotech and medical research. KJ’s case represents a breakthrough in the use of CRISPR technology to tackle one-off genetic deficiencies or common genetic disorders (a medicine has already been created for sickle cell disease). All that needs to be changed are the actual CRISPR directions to find and edit a person’s DNA.

Prediction: Expect pharma giants and startups alike to jump at the chance to develop CRISPR treatments… and people to make sure they’re covered under their next insurance plan.

Planning your days shouldn’t be difficult, so ByDesign has rolled out a distraction-free digital planner that gives users organization without the headaches.

It’s developed for people who want structure and flexibility but don’t want all the distracting tools that make things more cluttered. And since it works across devices, you can keep track of your schedule even on the go.

Simple is powerful, which is why tens of thousands of people already use ByDesign daily.

Get organized today!

Oscar-winning blockbuster filmmaker Chris Nolan is shooting his next film, an adaptation of The Odyssey for Universal, entirely on IMAX film cameras — the first time it’s ever been done.

The Big Picture: IMAX has been blowing up in popularity with moviegoers over the past decade, reaching a fever pitch in the past few years. That’s because people increasingly want a trip to the theater to feel like a unique event they can’t recreate at home… and there’s nothing bigger or more immersive than the IMAX format. Nolan is again paving the way for more filmmakers and studios to adopt the cinematic tech.

Behind the Scenes: When Nolan told IMAX head Rich Gelfond that he wanted to shoot his next movie entirely on IMAX film (not just key sequences as usually done), Gelfond didn’t think it was possible.

But he was pushed to rise to the “challenge” (per Nolan’s own words).

Closing Credits: IMAX has transformed into a box-office goldmine. In 2023, 20% of Oppenheimer’s $975.8 million in ticket sales came from the format, with people waiting weeks to see the movie in Nolan’s intended exhibition. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, the first movie since Oppenheimer to be shot using IMAX film cameras, has also made a huge splash in IMAX and and is re-releasing this weekend in IMAX’s rarest format, 70mm film. And Greta Gerwig carved out a small IMAX run for her next movie, Narnia, even though it’s for Netflix. Talk about cultural influence.

Projection: Considering the star power both Nolan and IMAX now bring to any project, we wouldn’t be surprised if The Odyssey becomes one of the top ten highest-grossing movies of all time… in large part thanks to IMAX ticket sales.

Are you a fresh-faced tennis player or a longtime fan?

If so, STRUNG — a new newsletter from next-gen publisher Dirt and apparel brand and racket club Court Date — is ready to up your game.

STRUNG goes beyond the game to explore how tennis has become a community builder, a modern aesthetic, and even an oracle of future trends.

Featuring a lineup of heavy-hitter writers, STRUNG will land in your inbox once a month and in your mailbox as a glossy print mag twice a year.

Subscribe for free

66.5% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you currently have an HBO Max subscription?

“They have always been a mainstay of my streaming viewing.”

“The quality of content on Max is excellent. They have all the biggest blockbuster movies and big-budget TV shows like The Last Of Us. Everything feels premium. And I’m really glad they’re changing the name back!”

“Only for The White Lotus, but now that it’s over, and we’re caught up on shows, we’ll unsubscribe again.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

📺 YouTube will sell specific ad slots around streams of marquee cultural events, such as the Oscars and the Emmys.

🏈 The San Francisco 49ers are selling a stake in the team at a league-record $8.5 billion valuation.

🍿 MoviePass, the most resilient startup in entertainment, apparently, has raised $100 million from Global Emerging Markets for its box-office fantasy platform, Mogul.

💸 Crypto trading app eToro has broken the 2025 IPO curse after its stock popped 34% on the Nasdaq.

🗺️ Apple Maps will now show recommendations for good places to eat ranked by Michelin and The Infatuation.

💳 Perplexity is adding PayPal and Venmo checkout options to its AI chatbot as the AI-ecommerce wars heat up.

🤳 Skybound Entertainment, the producer of The Walking Dead and Invincible, has acquired creator-management firm Nine Four Entertainment.

📱 YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says revenue from YouTube Shorts now equals that of its core long-form videos.

🫠 Pinterest’s recent mass user suspensions were due to an “internal error.”