¶Weather: Perrysburg is overcast with haze early this morning (79°F overnight at Toledo Executive), a continuation of the Canadian wildfire smoke that’s blanketed the Midwest all week. Today looks better — mostly sunny with a high near 81, though patchy smoke returns after 3pm. Rain moves in Monday night into Tuesday, with highs climbing into the mid-80s first. Source: National Weather Service

¶Headlines: Today’s the World Cup final — Argentina faces Spain at 3pm ET in East Rutherford, with Messi playing what’s expected to be his last World Cup as Argentina chases back-to-back titles. That follows Saturday’s third-place match, where England beat France 6-4 on a Bukayo Saka hat-trick, while Mbappé closed out the tournament with a World Cup record for most goals ever scored. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke keeps choking the country: air quality alerts remain active in 18 states after Milwaukee posted the worst air quality reading on record Thursday, more than double its previous mark from 1987.

¶In tech and science, Apple sued OpenAI this week alleging systematic theft of hardware trade secrets tied to OpenAI’s consumer device push with Jony Ive’s io Products, a sharp reversal from the two companies’ 2024 partnership. Google, meanwhile, has delayed Gemini 3.5 Pro after internal testing showed it falling short on coding benchmarks against OpenAI and Meta’s newest models. On the science side, NASA awarded nearly $600 million to Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines for four commercial Moon Base cargo landings targeting late 2028, and a new study in Neurology found that high artificial sweetener intake is linked to faster cognitive decline, particularly in adults under 60 or with diabetes.

¶Worth reading:

• The wildest allegations in Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI — TechCrunch. A genuinely wild read on how a 2024 hardware partnership curdled into accusations of stolen designs and “show and tell” interviews.
• Terraforming Mars may be more realistic than scientists once thought — ScienceDaily. Cheaper launch costs and new materials have turned a sci-fi idea into a real research question — worth reading for the engineering, not just the ethics.
• Air Quality Alerts Remain In 16 States As Canadian Wildfire Smoke Spreads To Midwest, Northeast — Forbes. Good rundown of just how bad this smoke season has gotten and which cities are worst off.
• Popular sugar substitutes linked to faster brain aging — ScienceDaily. An observational study, not proof of causation, but a notable finding given how common these sweeteners are in everyday diets.