Google Buys Fitbit, Rats Drive Little Cars, and More News

Google is dealing and rats are wheeling, but first: a cartoon about the lie of inbox zero.

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Today’s Headlines

Google needs Fitbit for its own bigger ambitions

After a week of rumors, Google announced it has purchased fitness tracker giant Fitbit for a cool $2.1 billion. The move makes a whole lot of sense for the company that wants to be everywhere—and it will give Google a much-needed boost to catch up to Apple, which dominates the wearable market. All that data produced by Fitbit’s 28 million users doesn’t hurt either.

These rats drive tiny cars—for science

Most humans hate being stuck in traffic jams, but a new study shows rats might actually like it. Researchers at the University of Richmond put two groups of rats—one from an enriched environment with lots of stimuli, and one from a standard enclosure—into tiny plastic cars they could learn to steer to get Froot Loops. The group from the enriched environment were the only ones that learned how to drive, and stress level testing showed that the rats actually found driving the cars to be relaxing.

Fast Fact: 700,000

That’s how many people die each year due to the gradual loss of drugs that can treat life-threatening infections because of antimicrobial resistance. Now, a massive group of business leaders and health officials is looking for solutions.

WIRED Recommends: Braun MultiServe Coffee Machine

It’s hard to find a machine that can produce both single-serve and a full pot of coffee well. Instead of trying to trick your current coffee maker into doing what you want, make your life a little easier with this one. It scored an 8/10 from our reviewers.

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