Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
South Korea’s foreign minister heads to the US. Kang Kyung-wha will meet with deputy secretary of state John Sullivan to maintain “strong cooperation” with Washington, despite the departure of secretary of state Rex Tillerson. Media reports said that Tillerson was an early advocate of talks with North Korea, and clashed with Donald Trump over it.
Unilever makes its HQ decision. The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant, which is jointly headquartered in London and Rotterdam, could announce the consolidation of its headquarters in the Netherlands. While Unilever’s decision also hinges on other factors, the move is seen as a symbolic blow to Britain’s attractiveness as a place to do business post-Brexit.
Adobe’s first-quarter results. The focus will be on the pace of the software company’s growth, which has been in full swing (paywall) since it pivoted from license purchases to a subscription service model.
While you were sleeping
Toys ‘R’ Us is preparing to close all its US stores. The toy retailer is planning to sell or close 885 stores in the US after failing to strike a deal to restructure its debt. The retail chain had originally planned to stave off total closure by shuttering one-fifth of its stores.
Australia could join the UK in taking action against Russia. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a strongly worded statement that he supported the UK’s move to expel Russian diplomats in response to the attempted murder of a Russian double agent by nerve gas on British soil.
Samsung is building a new memory chip line in China. The South Korean company will start construction of the facility later this month in Xian. The company is investing $7 billion over the next three years in China to expand its NAND memory chip production, due to growing demand for smartphones and data centers.
Students walked out across the US in protest of gun violence. Thousands of teenagers walked out of class for 17 minutes—one minute for each of the students killed in the recent Florida school shooting. The House of Representatives passed a bill on the same day to fund more security at schools, though no provisions were made for gun control.
More questions were raised over Trump’s involvement with Stormy Daniels. New documents showed that a senior lawyer at the Trump Organization was involved in enforcing a gag order to prevent the adult film star from disclosing her relationship with the president. Her lawyer says it’s more evidence to prove Trump knew about the agreement.
Quartz obsession interlude
Thu-Huong Ha on Stephen Hawking’s argument that human evolution has gone far beyond biology. “By Hawking’s rough calculation, he measures the amount of useful information in human genes as 100 million bits, which means a novel might have 2 million bits of information. ‘So a human is equivalent to 50 Mills & Boon romances. A major national library can contain about 5 million books, or about 10 trillion bits,’ he said, concluding, ‘So the amount of information handed down in books, is 100,000 times as much as in DNA.'” Read more here.
Matters of debate
United Airlines isn’t going to lose customers. Despite the fact that the carrier’s image couldn’t get any worse, customers are motivated by price above all else.
Game theory is giving North Korea the upper hand in nuclear talks. Considering all possible moves reveals that the US has little chance of coming out ahead.
The US needs a space force. The nation, including its military, is so dependent on satellites it should consider creating an agency to handle regulations and security.
Surprising discoveries
An astronaut returned with different DNA than his identical twin. The stress of space travel and a year on the Interntaional Space Station may have activated “space genes.”
A new startup wants to upload your brain, but you have to die first. Nectome can preserve your brain for posterity, if the “100% fatal” process starts while you’re still alive.
The eastern quoll was brought back from the brink of extinction. The marsupial, devastated by foxes along Australia’s eastern coast, was reintroduced to the mainland from Tasmania.
United Airlines accidentally sent a German shepherd to Japan. A family in Kansas City, Missouri was presented with a Great Dane when it was expecting its own German shepherd.
Elon Musk is hiring writers from The Onion for a secret project. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO says humor is the next frontier, and we don’t think he’s joking.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, quolls, and funny writers to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Isabella Steger and edited by Alice Truong.