Edition · Thursday, 28 May 2026
What happened, the forces beneath it, why it matters — then your turn.
01 · Briefing · what happened
Iran ceasefire frays as hunger, heat, and Ebola compound a world at war
A fragile US-Iran ceasefire is cracking — new US strikes hit Bandar Abbas even as a draft deal circulates — while Ukraine's president begs Washington for Patriot missiles it can't spare, a record European heatwave kills people across France, an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo outpaces all efforts to contain it, and the Iran war's oil shock is pushing 45 million more people toward famine.
Read the full briefing
02 · Lesson · why it matters
This UK startup is turning urine into fertilizer using 'pee-cycle' tech - Reuters
A UK startup is converting human urine into fertilizer. This teaches the nitrogen cycle — how we extract nitrogen from the air to grow food, and how urine returns that nitrogen in a form plants can use. The piece can explain why we fertilize at all, what the Haber-Bosch process costs in energy, and why closing the loop matters.
Read the lesson
03 · Lab · your turn
Nutrient Loop Closure
When we extract an element from the environment to grow food, that element passes through our bodies and must either return to the soil or be extracted again—closing the loop saves the energy cost of re-extraction.
Rehearse the decision