Cow Cosplay | Smells Phishy | Mousey Mammoth

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Welcome to my personal favorite stories of 2025!

I suppose a more accurate description would be “my personal favorite stories of 2025 on the day I put this list together” because they were all pretty great…but that doesn’t have the same ring to it.

—Steve 🙃 

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Cow Cosplay — Issue #223

Stripes could be the new “fly repellant”. Researchers painted cows to see if cosplaying a zebra attracted less flies.

• Zebras attract fewer flies than cows

• Biting flies disrupt cattle’s quality of life (and output)

• Painted cows were measured for fly quantity and fly-repelling behavior

Zebra-striped cows attracted significantly fewer flies and demonstrated less repelling behavior compared to black-striped and unpainted cows. Further studies will assess if the stripes throw off fly navigation. Brb, getting some paint.

Next big thing: Zebra-striped hiking gear — dive deeper

Smells Phishy — Issue #232

If a certain scent motivates you to dismember your queen, wait! This classic phishing scheme is a common tactic of two known hacker groups parasitic ant species.

• Parasitic hackers: Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus

• Imposter-queen chemically masks herself w/ host nest’s scent

• Then sprays host-queen with an attack scent

Host ants react by swarming their queen, killing her after several rounds of re-spraying. Thus vacating the throne for their aristocratic social parasite. New queen, who dis?

Human cybersecurity videos are juuust barely better than ant security — here’s why

Mousey Mammoth — Issue #195

What if we crossed mammoths with mice? Colossal Biosciences genetically engineered a woolly mouse to find out.

• Used CRISPR to edit 7 hair and fat genes

• Woolly mice fur is 3x longer and thicker than normal

• Proof of concept for recreating extinct traits

Fur modification are a major step towards Colossal Bioscience’s goal of reintroducing woolly mammoths by genetically editing modern Asian elephants. Though ethical and ecological considerations must be sorted before we see wandering woollies.

IT’S SO FLUFFY

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In the webinar, "The Future of Content Workflows: How AI is Powering the Next Wave," you’ll learn:

• The forces reshaping content operations

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Get clear insight and actionable perspective from the leaders who built and transformed top media and entertainment organizations.

Register here to get your content workflow strategy right in 2026.

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st3v on site

No Fly Zone

Sure, flies never bothered st3v before he painted himself like a zebra. BUT now we know what he looks like with stripes.

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