The Billion-Dollar Pivot: Fans Tell Disney Exactly How to Spend the Scrapped OpenAI Windfall

A couple of weeks ago, Disney exited a deal with OpenAI to provide some service to Disney.  I was very unclear on the objective, but it turned out to be a bad fit, so they opted out.

And that leaves Disney with around a billion dollars of capital that otherwise would have been invested in that relationship.

Inside The Magic did a little dreaming, and invited Disney fans to weigh in on ways that Disney could spend that money.  Here's what they came up with: mostly it focused on the theme parks, and lowering the costs to guests.

Read about it here:

https://insidethemagic.net/2026/03/disney-has-an-extra-1-billion-after-openai-deal-fell-through-fans-have-ideas-on-how-disney-can-spend-that-money-rl1/

Land animals evolved from ocean ancestors – new study unravels the genetics behind the transition

This is a summary of an extensive research paper about how land animals evolved from sea creatures around 550 million years ago.

They studied the genetics of animals and found that there are specific things that the animals adapted to in their new environment. 

While the summary is interesting, I encourage you to read the detailed paper. 

 

https://theconversation.com/land-animals-evolved-from-ocean-ancestors-new-study-unravels-the-genetics-behind-the-transition-278609

US scientists turn bourbon waste into high-performance electrodes

Here's a use for "stillage," that is the waste byproduct of distilling bourbon. 

It turns out that the material makes a great material for supercapacitors - an energy storage device that's similar to a battery in this context. 

Creativity for the win. 

https://interestingengineering.com/science/us-bourbon-waste-electrodes-supercapacitors

This Popular Food Was Found to Remove Microplastics from the Human Body in a New Study

Kimchi is a delicious solution to the problem of microplastics accumulating in the human body. 

In summary "The lactic acid bacterium found in the dish helps bind nanoplastics inside the intestine, allowing them to remain together when exiting through the bowel."

The answer is that we should all be eating more fermented vegetables. 

https://people.com/popular-food-found-to-remove-microplastics-from-human-body-new-study-11932883

Wind & Solar Generated A Record 17% Of U.S. Electricity In 2025 - CleanTechnica

In spite of the derision, we've reached a point where wind and solar power generation in the US combined to provide about 17% of the total power in 2025. 

It's only a modest increase over 2024, but it's nice to see it headed in the right direction. 

https://cleantechnica.com/2026/03/20/wind-solar-generated-a-record-17-of-u-s-electricity-in-2025/

Ultra-fast EV truck charger hits 1 MW using just 500 kW grid power

Here's a novel approach to fast, high capacity charging that larger vehicles need. 

What researchers have done is to integrate several components, and a little bit of electronic management.  They created a system that can draw smaller amounts of power at any given time by using batteries and other pieces of tech to increase the amount of power and allow for speed an efficiency - at over 98% efficient it blows away current fast charging. 

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/mega-ev-truck-charger

Chinese Orbiter Crushes Starlink With a 2-Watt Laser From 36,000km Above Earth

A team in China has developed a laser that can transmit data from a high earth orbit to a ground station that far exceeds the data stream that SpaceX uses in starlink. 

It's the next evolutionary step in seamlessly transmitting data from deep space - and to allow for transmission worldwide in near-real time via a satellite. 

With fewer satellites, and the potential for lower cost. 

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/03/chinese-satellite-outpaces-starlink-2-watt-laser-from-orbit/