Today’s Big Story

How Healthy Are NA Drinks?

As booze alternatives take off, more brands are promoting health benefits as the next buzz

I’ve been drinking less and while I haven’t seen any noticeable changes in my health (yet), I certainly feel a little more in control and proud that I’m making smarter decisions when it comes to my liquid refreshment. But just how healthy are these booze-free alternatives that are taking off recently?

Nonalcoholic beverages used to be the butt of jokes. A terrible-tasting facimile of the real thing. Now, they’re the fastest-growing sector of the alcohol market. Sales of nonalcoholic beer, wine and liquor increased by 32% from 2022 to 2023, while total alcohol sales grew by just 1%. As of early 2024, the top-selling beer at Whole Foods was nonalcoholic.

Of course, one of the biggest reasons for swapping out the hard stuff is for the health benefits. Because despite what us red wine lovers like to believe, no level of alcohol is good for your health. And now, many NA beverage makers aren’t just dropping the alcohol, they’re mixing in other ingredients that promise health-boosting properties. Often dubbed “functional beverages”, they’re drinks that go beyond basic hydration or the nostalgic taste factor for alcohol that non-alcoholic beer and mocktails often target.

Many are marketed as having specific health and cognitive benefits, and some include substances such as THC for their mood-altering properties. “People want to have an experience, and once brands are able to create sustainable, consistent, effective, comparable experiences, I think the majority of the market share is going to move away from [alcohol] alternatives to functional [alcohol] alternatives,” Aaron Nosbisch, founder of cannabis and adaptogenic drinks company Brez, told CNBC.

As this sober curious boom grows, so do the number of bars that are going booze-free. They operate in New York and Los Angeles, in Orlando and Sacramento, Atlanta and Omaha. And they’re steadily growing their base of customers, including those who still drink but are exploring sobriety and people in recovery from substance use, by redefining what a bar can be. But one thing they don’t serve? Coffee. “A coffee shop is a place to meet friends,” one bartender told CNN. “A bar is a place where you can meet strangers.”

Biden Passes the Torch at DNC

Takeaways from the first night

This was, no doubt, a different convention that President Biden imagined speaking to—it was where he was due to cement his political legacy, but instead Biden passed the torch of leadership, wiping away tears as the crowd rose to its feet for a three-and-a-half-minute standing ovation. “I’ve given my heart and soul to our nation, and I’ve been blessed a million times in return,” the president said as he made the case for Kamala Harris. “She’s tough. She’s experienced. And she has enormous integrity.”

Former secretary of state and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also spoke, and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a “barn burner”. According to the Washington Post, the crowd “absolutely ate it up.” It seemed to be the moment that Ocasio-Cortez completed her journey from left-wing “Squad” provocateur—and a thorn in the side to her party’s leaders in the past—to being a bona fide Democratic establishment star.

But they weren’t the only stars of the show. So too was Trump, whose name was uttered more than 150 times and who was frequently featured in video packages. Among the most poignant moments of the convention’s first night came as Democrats lambasted Trump for appointing conservative Supreme Court justices that helped undo Roe v. Wade’s protections for abortion rights–resulting in a state-by-state patchwork of reproductive rights laws.

Will Mpox Trigger Another Pandemic?

The World Health Organization has declared it a global emergency

Remember the virus formerly known as monkeypox? Officially renamed mpox (due to the “racist and stigmatizing language”), the disease is still around and now a highly contagious and severe strain that is on the move across continents following a major outbreak in central Africa.

It’s gotten so intense that the World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus’ transmission. According to the Associated Press, Sweden has since announced it had found the first case of a new form of mpox previously only seen in Africa in a traveler, while other European health authorities warned that more imported cases were likely.

While the new strain has yet to reach the United States, that doesn't mean U.S. health officials aren't preparing for that eventuality. The good news is that mpox spreads very slowly unlike the coronavirus, so the likelihood that it could grow into a full-blown pandemic is low, most medical experts say.

The AI Photo Editing Era Is Here

Let’s see how comfortable we are with it …

It’s a slightly uncomfortable truth: No one wants a bad photo, but we don’t really want a bunch of highly-edited photos that only barely resemble real life. Right?

Google just introduce new AI-powered features for photo editing and image generation, and it’s got people talking. But it also raises some questions. According to TechCrunch, the editing features can fix just about any poorly-captured image. Or even add the photographer into the group photo. With a new “Add Me” feature, the AI will drop you into the photo—merging a photo of the group with a photo of the photographer alone to create a new image of everyone together.

But like with a lot of photo editing, the real danger is knowing when to stop. A writer from The Verge says he was happy to use it to edit his vacation photos. He took out a handful of cars, and a vaping couple in the background. Erased an ugly trashcan and then emphasized the glow of the sunset. But then he wondered, “Have I tipped into ‘it’s a memory, not a photo’ territory? That’s when I got kind of queasy and noped right out of the app.”

The Long Read

Docastaway sends travelers to deserted islands with no training, no company and few supplies

Consistency is key.