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Before we begin, I owe you an apology. I have been incredibly inconsistent with Yemi’s Newsletter and to be honest, this was because I got burnt out writing it - which was largely due to the really clunky system I had set up to manage it. However, thanks to the man, the myth the legend JP at The Time Travelling Salesman for helping me out with this, I now have a system that is a lot more efficient, won’t have me ripping my hair out and SHOULD (in theory) help me send out these newsletters more consistently! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey and for all your support - I don’t take any of it lightly!

Oh last thing - I got a new logo made btw, you likeeee? Shoot me a reply or leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Okay lets gooooooooooo 🥳

Wicked….

We’re getting a live-action Wicked movie in a few weeks and both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are gonna be in it! If you haven’t seen the stage musical, change your ways and go see it!

Anyways, on to the actual story. With big releases like this, production companies will usually commission some merch to promote the movie! Mattel - the company behind Barbie, Bob the Builder and a few other favourites, got the tap to work together on creating some dolls!

Exciting right?….not really

Last week, people who were able to get their hands on some of the dolls; specifically the Glinda and Elphaba ones (Arianna and Cynthia’s characters) noticed the wicked.com URL printed on the back of the box. At first, it seems harmless right? Not until some owners visited the site only to be greeted by a um….porn site. (DON’T YOU DARE GO BACK 🙄🫵)

……yeah. and of course, Twitter had a field day.

This was horrible as it posed a myriad of problems including potentially exposing minors to adult content.

Mattel released a statement on Sunday addressing the issue stating it was an error and they “intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page”. They also advised parents to “discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel customer service for further information.”

Eye bet you didn’t see this coming 👀

Scientists from Osaka University have successfully treated blindness caused by limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) using reprogrammed stem cells.

LSCD is a condition where scar tissue coats the cornea, eventually leading to blindness. It can result from trauma to the eye or from autoimmune or genetic diseases.

Between June 2019 and November 2020, four people with severe corneal damage took a chance on an experimental stem-cell therapy. They were two women and two men aged between 39 and 72 years old who had LSCD in both eyes.

Researchers at Osaka University, Japan, led by Dr. Kohji Nishida, reprogrammed blood cells from a healthy donor to create brand-new corneal cells. They then removed scar tissue from each patient’s damaged cornea and applied these lab-grown cells in a thin, clear layer. And just like that, the patient’s corneas began to regenerate, and they saw an almost immediate improvement in their vision and a reduction in the area of the cornea affected by the condition. The improvements persisted in everyone except one patient, who showed slight reversals during a one-year observation period.

Here is a link to the full paper for all my nerds who’d like to read the whole thing - READ MEEEEE

Yet another sticky situation….

Auckland City Mission - a New Zealand-based charity, recently distributed food packages to the homeless in the city. These packages also contained sweets - great right?

NO!

A few days later, the food bank began receiving reports of “funny-tasting“ candy. So a few staffers decided to taste some of the leftover sweets and immediately contacted the authorities. According to NPR, a member of staff was even taken to the hospital after this.

It turned out these ‘sweets’ contained lethal doses of meth, and the food bank had no idea.

You’ve got questions, right? Yeah me too

This came as a shocker as the sweets were donated by a member of the public. The charity's food bank has a policy of only accepting donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging.

As soon as they realised this, they began contacting nearly 400 recipients to track down packages and retrieve the candies.

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