Today, Joe Nocera has two drinks with the man making San Francisco great again.
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Francisco → have → man
The show that made former Marine Elliot Ackerman believe in heroes.
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Ackerman → make → heroes
But first: the founder who wants to make a literal unicorn . . .
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who → want → unicorn
In the middle of Texas, not far from Austin, you’ll find a scientist who wants to make you a fluorescent cat.
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you → find → scientist
She was planning on glowing rabbits, for a time, before the backlash got too intense.
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backlash → plan → time
But her dreams won’t be dampened: One day soon, she wants to start experimenting to bioengineer some mythical creatures into reality.
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she → dampen → reality
Imagine dragons flapping over Hill Country.
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dragons → imagine → Country
If these projects sound whimsical, they’re not the only ones Josie Zayner, CEO of The Embryo Corporation, has been cooking up.
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Zayner → sound → Corporation
She’s also working on making a more robust kind of cow, which will be good for ranchers’ bottom lines.
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which → work → lines
She’s sequencing—and making money from—some exceptionally speedy racehorses.
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She → sequence → racehorses
But cool as all this may sound, is it safe?
uncertain
it → sound → ?
After all, this is a company that was offering members of the public a “frog genetic engineering kit”—“you could inject in the frogs, and they would grow bigger,” explained Zayner.
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Zayner → offer → frogs
And, perhaps an even bigger question: Is what she’s doing ethical?
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doing → do → what
Reporter Jessica Lucas traveled to Texas to investigate.
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Lucas → travel → Texas
“Can the crazy bitch from the rural-poverty farm actually run a company with millions of dollars of investment?” asked Zayner, referring to none other than herself.
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Zayner → run → herself
“I guess we’ll find out!”
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we → guess → ?
Don’t miss this glimpse into a new frontier of science—which isn’t getting as much attention as artificial intelligence, but could alter our reality just as significantly.
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which → miss → reality
Because although Zayner said she’s not interested in editing humans right now—because it would require too much bureaucracy—she’s playing with some kind of Promethean fire.
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she → say → fire
Not that she sees it that way.
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she → see → it
“I think the whole playing God thing is bullshit,” said Zayner.
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Zayner → think → God
For a 35-year-old to go on a mom-funded vacation?
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old → go → vacation
Millennials are infamous for relying on their parents’ credit cards—and some, like comedian Jared Freid, couldn’t be happier about it.
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some → rely → it
“They can pay until the day they die,” Freid says in his new Netflix special, The Family Plan.
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Freid → pay → special
Freid joined Suzy Weiss and Dan Ahdoot, on this week’s episode of Second Thought, to discuss his favorite generational beefs, plus the stories that have obsessed the internet this week: the deaths at Burning Man, Al Roker eating dog food on television, and Harry and Meghan’s sad return to England.
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that → join → England
“If you can’t make it in Montecito,” Suzy says, “you can’t make it anywhere.”
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you → make → it
Click below to watch the video, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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you → click → podcasts
(And you can watch Jared’s special here.)
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you → watch → special
This week, we ran an excerpt from Lindsay Crouse’s new book on knowing when to quit; an essay by Nick Clairmont about why he rereads the newspapers from September 12, 2001, every year; and a review by Kat Rosenfield of a book containing a story so bizarre, its author was terrified someone else might tell it first . . .
Knock Knock, It’s Cupid!
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It → run → it
If you’d like to take a chance at Free Press love, write a paragraph that defines you, including your age, where you live, and what you’re looking for, and send it over to Cupid@TheFP.com.
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you → like → Cupid@TheFP.com
How should you spend the rest of your weekend?
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you → spend → weekend
We asked Joe Nocera for his recommendations . . .
📚
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We → ask → recommendations
If you’re still hungering for some tennis after the U.S. Open ends this weekend, pick up a copy of Matthew Futterman’s new book, The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis.
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Open → hunger → Tennis
For more than a decade, Futterman has been writing about the sport for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and now The Athletic.
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Futterman → write → Journal
He knows all the players and their coaches, and they all know him, so they tell him things.
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they → know → things
Novak Djokovic on what it felt like to go from villain to hero.
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it → feel → hero
Madison Keys on making her husband her coach.
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husband → make → ?
I gulped it down in two sittings.
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I → gulp → sittings
Zinfandel is surely the most underrated of American wines, but I’ve always been a fan, especially once I discovered the Ridge Vineyards years ago.
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I → discover → Vineyards
Its Lytton Springs red zinfandel ($56) was ranked third in Wine Spectator’s list of the top 100 wines of 2025.
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zinfandel → rank → 2025
But the one I gravitate to is its Three Valleys zin, which you can get for as little as $25.
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you → gravitate → 25
…and 10 more, not listed.
