Good morning, Quartz readers!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The Nobel prize in physics went to a pair of AI researchers. Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield were honored for their contributions to the science of machine learning.
Airports across Florida have begun closing ahead of Hurricane Milton. Commercial airline service in the storm’s path is being sharply curtailed.
Costco will try to take its “treasure hunt” online. The big box store will have to maintain its IRL experience as it expands its e-commerce offerings.
Kamala Harris wants to expand Medicare. Her campaign has proposed using the benefit to help Americans pay for at-home elder care.
SpaceX is ready to launch a new rocket. That is, if the Federal Aviation Administration will let it.
Out of the cubicles, into the aisles
Corporate workers at Home Depot are going to have to start getting their hands dirty. The retailer is introducing a mandate for its office dwellers to clock in for eight-hour floor shifts at its stores.
The arrangement, which would happen quarterly, is aimed at making sure that central employees have a better understanding of the realities of customer-facing roles. The requirement would also apply to remote workers.
Why are the suits going to have to start donning orange aprons? Quartz’s Francisco Velasquez explains the reasoning behind these job swaps.
Hands off the wheel, eyes on the truck
Autonomous vehicles don’t have the strongest safety record on the road, but one company swears there’s nothing to worry about with its own trucks. Self-driving truck startup Gatik is bringing in a pair of research firms to prove it.
The company claims that the review will be the “most rigorous” one of an autonomous driving system to date. Its results go a long way towards dispelling fears about such systems making their way around America’s roads.
Can a corner of the logistics industry with a checkered safety record make a case for itself? Quartz’s William Gavin gets to the bottom of what Gatik is trying to prove.
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Surprising discoveries
Scientists might have found the future of batteries in the fridge. A team of researchers says food acids like those in sherbert and wine might be a less wasteful alternative to graphite.
The Detroit Tigers pay their whole roster less than some MLB players make on their own. The club squeaked into the postseason on the cheap. (paywall)
Europe is launching a rubber-necking satellite at an asteroid. The Hera mission will investigate what happened to an earlier satellite rammed into the same asteroid in 2022.
India has put itself in rice. The country is sitting on record stores of the grain after export curbs and bountiful harvests.
There’s a new theory for what drives addiction. Some scientists think drug habits are the byproduct of an overactive immune response instead of chemical imbalance.
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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, cheap baseball rosters, and Home Depot shift schedules to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Sarah Douglass.