Wednesday, May 13 - Microbiomes

Steve Hilton, the British-born Republican running for governor of California, is getting absolutely roasted online after posting a photo on X saying he was enjoying a “street taco.” The problem? People quickly noticed he was holding what appeared to be a hard-shell fast-food taco that looked like it came from a drive-thru instead of an actual street vendor. Critics online immediately piled on, basically accusing him of trying to cosplay as a California local while holding the culinary equivalent of a Tuesday night Taco Bell regret. Meanwhile, MrBeast recently posted a thought experiment that has been melting people’s brains online for the past couple of weeks. The question is simple but evil: every person on Earth secretly presses either a red or blue button. If more than half choose blue, everyone survives. But if fewer than half choose blue, only the people who picked red survive. So what do you choose? Trust humanity and hit blue, or assume everyone else is selfish and save yourself with red? The boys also share audio from two hosts on The Hill passionately arguing over the scenario like it’s an actual global emergency. Out in Southern California, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang has reportedly pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government before resigning from office. What remains unclear is exactly why China allegedly needed a secret political operative in Arcadia of all places. Former U.S. government official Samantha Vinograd weighed in on the bizarre situation. Elsewhere on the internet, a mom on Instagram has gone viral for explaining that her daughter suffers from something called “car ranch,” which sounds fake but apparently refers to kids leaving an unbelievable amount of junk, snacks, and chaos inside vehicles. At the University of Central Florida, a commencement speech took a rough turn after a speaker referred to A.I. as “the next Industrial Revolution,” prompting loud boos from students in the crowd who are apparently already exhausted by hearing about artificial intelligence. And finally, happy 76th birthday to Stevie Wonder, whose unbelievable career includes multiple number-one hits dating all the way back to when he was just 13 years old. Meanwhile, graduates at North Carolina State University got the surprise of a lifetime when a wealthy donor announced he was paying off the student loans of more than 200 students in honor of his late father.