Inverse Daily: See the Tesla Cybertruck’s competition for the EV future
Plus: Even black holes have an awkward phase.
It’s ... Tuesday. I’m Nick Lucchesi, editor-in-chief at Inverse, and this is Inverse Daily, your morning newsletter for essential stories on science, innovation, and the welcome detour into the world of entertainment and video games.
Before I wonder about who would win a fight between Gandalf and Dr. Strange, allow me to share stories on teenage black holes, electric pickup trucks that aren’t from Tesla, and killer clowns from outer space.
This is an adapted version of the Inverse Daily newsletter for March 30, 2021. Subscribe for free and earn rewards for reading every day in your inbox.
The Jeep Magneto EV concept vehicle.
Six Tesla Cybertruck alternatives — Contributing writer Jordan Golson helpfully offers a few trucks that run on electricity. They look ready to hit the road against Elon Musk’s cool-looking Cybertruck, which comes out later this year and early next.
Those electric trucks are coming. In addition to the Cybertruck, most of the big truck makers — including Jeep and General Motors — have announced, or at least hinted, that they’ll be building an EV pickup. The writing is on the wall for everyone else.
Meanwhile, there’s something positive to be said about seeing electric trucks from established brands rather than startups. As Tesla and a litany of already failed EV startups have shown, building cars is really hard. Is General Motors more likely to follow through in producing a solid vehicle? Probably.
Read the full story & see our list of EV trucks.
More like this:
- Tesla’s Cybertruck strategy is paving the way for pilot production (Teslarati)
- Subscribe to Musk Reads+, the premium newsletter from Inverse
- Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk reveals potential for stunning color changes
Artist's concept of an intermediate black hole. It is feeding off a star that has wandered too close.
Even black holes have an awkward phase — Between stellar and supermassive black holes, there is an evolutionary phase of intermediate black holes, reports contributing writer Passant Rabie.
New research offers the best evidence yet for the existence of this elusive “intermediate black hole.” The findings stem from observations of the aftermath of an explosion that took place when the universe was just 3 billion years old.
Intermediate black holes are those which have a mass somewhere between stellar and supermassive black holes. In fact, astronomers theorize they are an evolutionary in-between phase for these cosmic behemoths.
More like this:
- Astronomers release new images of black hole M87
- An ancient protoplanet may be buried beneath the Pacific Ocean
- Watch a sneaky dust devil whirl its way across the Martian surface
Here’s a longevity hack — To live longer, we should probably cut one type of food out of our diet, reports contributing writer Sophie Putka.
In a new study, researchers lay out compelling evidence linking the consumption of processed meat with dementia — a group of conditions marked by damage to brain function — later in life.
Huifeng Zhang is the lead author of the study and a postgraduate researcher at the Nutritional Epidemiology Group at the University of Leeds. She tells Inverse the study represents a scientific first.
“As far as we know, this is the first study that investigated associations between specific meat types including processed meat and risk of incident dementia,” Zhang says.
More like this:
- The Inverse “Longevity Hacks” hub
- The easiest way to stay fit, even if you work from home
- One diet can cut the risk of death by 10 percent
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) is streaming now on Netflix until March 31.
You need to watch this cult film — Senior staff writer Eric Francisco makes a compelling case for a cult movie that’s on Netflix now.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space surpasses and embraces its goofy premise (and goofier title) to earnestly become a must-see ‘80s staple.
Written, directed, and produced by the Chiodo Brothers (Stephen, Charles, and Edward, who hail from the Bronx), Killer Klowns from Outer Space tells of a suburban town’s invasion by murderous alien clowns.
You know, from outer space.
Read the full endorsement of the cult classic here.
More on ... clowns:
- Clowns likely creep us out because of one terrifying serial killer
- “Clowns farting”: the wild story behind Resident Evil's worst soundtrack
- A psychiatrist explains why clowns freak us out
That wraps up this Tuesday version of Inverse Daily. You can follow me on Twitter (@nicklucchesi), where I share some of my favorite stories from Inverse, Input, and Mic every day.
This is the Google Doodle that took over the Google homepage in Spain on this day in 2019 to honor Moliner’s contributions to language. She was born on March 30, 1900.
One more thing... Happy birthday, María Moliner! On this day in 1900, the Spanish librarian and lexicographer did something many (if not most) of us dream of doing: She curated up her own dictionary! In it, the late Moliner groups terms by a family of words instead of alphabetically, “offering not only detailed definitions, but also synonyms, and guidance on usage,” according to a Google Doodle in her honor two years ago.
The dictionary, titled Diccionario de Uso del Español (Dictionary of Spanish Use), was published in two volumes starting in 1966 and took 15 years before that to complete. She modeled it off the Learner's Dictionary of Current English, which she used to learn English.
“Moliner believed that a dictionary began to grow obsolescent the moment it was published,” writes Steven N. Dworkin in the journal Hispanic Review, published in 2000. “Consequently, Moliner continued until her death to prepare fichas with new words, gathered mainly from the press and novels for a revised edition.”
Moliner died in 1981, but her dictionary is still used widely today.
