Making friends as an adult doesn’t have to be cringe

A TikTok friendship coach says it only takes 3 small shifts to get back in the friend game.

Making new friends as a grown-up? Somehow way harder than taxes. Remote work killed off casual watercooler chats. People move, marry, have kids, or just… drift. In their place? A buffet of digital substitutes: TikTok giggles, Reddit debates, and maybe a little oversharing with your AI chatbot.

It feels like connection. But to your brain, it's more like fast food: convenient, addictive, and hollow.

We’re wired for real, in-person connection. The kind where someone actually shows up, not just sends a heart emoji. But how do you meet new people without it feeling forced or painfully awkward?

Enter TikTok friendship coach Mary. In this story by Erik Barnes, she offers three surprisingly doable ways to break out of the friend drought, no cringe, no gimmicks, just small shifts that actually work.

Image of the day

Roman concrete meets renewable energy

MIT scientists might have cracked the code for clean energy storage, with concrete.

For a story about a breakthrough new energy storage technology, the words ‘concrete’ and ‘Rome’ sure show up more than expected. Meet Electron-Conducting Concrete (called EC³), which aims to kill two birds with one cleverly engineered stone.

As Mark Wales reports, MIT researchers have developed a carbon-black-infused, LED-light-powered, Pantheon-inspired battery brick that not only supports structures but also stores energy. The material, part cement and part electrolyte, could power a refrigerator for a day in just the concrete in an average home. Think sidewalks that hold a charge or building walls that double as backup generators. EC³ could be the long-sought energy storage solution we’ve been looking for, invisibly woven into the world around us.

Long-term energy storage has been one of the stickiest issues in renewables. But what if the solution isn’t in billion-dollar grids or lithium mines... but literally under our feet?

The ‘anti-pep talk’ that gave Will Ferrell permission to become a comedy legend

As careers go, Ferrell’s escalated quickly.

Before he was screaming “I’m in a glass case of emotion!” or spreading cheer by singing loud for all to hear, Will Ferrell got an unexpected life lesson from his dad: “It’s okay to quit.”

Not the motivational speech you'd expect for someone destined to become the loudest anchorman in San Diego, but it worked. In an interview with Off Camera, Ferrell said his dad’s brutally honest advice freed him up to just enjoy the ride instead of chasing success.

That “anti-pep talk” took the pressure off. Ferrell says it helped him loosen up, have more fun, and ironically opened more doors than any motivational poster ever could. As Erik Barnes reports, it’s a reminder that sometimes letting go of success is the very thing that sets you up for it.

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From the group text…

What happened to Darci Lynne, the adorable 12-year-old ventriloquist who won America's Got Talent a few years back? She's a singer now. An excellent singer who can… sing without moving her lips! This will melt your entire mind.

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