Weekend edition—US-Iran tension, social fitness, disappointing robots

US reaction to Iranian hostility has not always been proportional. When the country nationalized its oil industry in 1953—wresting control of it from Western petroleum companies—the United States orchestrated a coup, ousting the democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh. [Quartz Daily Brief]( Good morning, Quartz readers! US reaction to Iranian hostility has not always been proportional. When the country nationalized its oil industry in 1953—wresting control of it from Western petroleum companies—the United States orchestrated a coup, ousting the democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh. And on Thursday, following violent Iranian-organized protests outside the US embassy in Iraq and[apparent intelligence reports]( of an “imminent attack” against Americans, the US military assassinated one of the country’s most revered generals: the leader of the elite Quds Force, [Qassem Soleimani](. Now the two nations are at the brink of war. It didn’t have to be this way. In the last 20 years, the US had several opportunities to leverage world events to reinvent its relationship with Iran. After the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, the United States weighed whether to invade Afghanistan, where the Taliban-controlled government protected al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It also debated invading Iraq, an opportunistic move based on imaginary reasons. Both Afghanistan and Iraq were enemies of Iran. Soleimani’s forces had long supported the Afghan resistance against the Taliban. And Iran loathed Saddam Hussein. So in the run-up to the US war in Afghanistan, Soleimani shared vital intelligence with the Americans. He could have been an equally valuable ally in Iraq. American diplomats in the region[saw an opportunity]( to “flip an enemy into a friend.” But the opportunity was throttled when in 2002, to the shock of US diplomats, George W. Bush listed Iran as part of his “Axis of Evil.” All diplomacy with Soleimani stopped that day. The general would go on to influence events in Iraq for the next two decades, often to America’s peril, and to target with deadly force US interests across the region. Another opportunity for peace came in 2015, when the Obama administration negotiated a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear weapons program in exchange for lifting sanctions. It was a major diplomatic achievement, but Donald Trump scuttled the deal when he reimposed sanctions, arguing it didn’t go far enough to limit Iran’s “malign” influence in the Middle East. Back-and-forth micro-aggressions followed, culminating in Soleimani’s death. The region awaits the Iranian response. —Pete Gelling FIVE THINGS ON QUARTZ WE ESPECIALLY LIKED Giving up alcohol doesn’t have to be a drag. Abstaining from life’s pleasures—whether it’s booze, sugar, or shopping—is usually framed in the language of virtuous sacrifice. But as [Sarah Todd writes]( subtracting a food or habit from your life doesn’t have to mean existing in a state of deprivation. Under the right circumstances, there is pleasure to be found in absence. Female Brigham Young University grads earn 90 times less than their male counterparts. Former students of the primarily Mormon university in Provo, Utah, describe the pressure to get married and abstain from working outside the home. [Natasha Frost explores]( the change in Latter-Day Saints’ attitudes to women’s work over the past century, and the economic pressures that could cause it to shift yet again. Boutique gyms are selling more than workouts. Fancy pay-by-class fitness studios—think spinning in a dark studio to loud music—have beat out traditional gyms as the latest exercise trend, but many struggle to retain customers. Now they’re trying to sell community in addition to classes. That’s a dubious strategy, [writes Katherine Ellen Foley]( especially when the social experience already exists for free in other spaces. Zambia has a stroke epidemic and no neurologists. Like many developing countries, the African nation has high rates of stroke but lacks specialists to diagnose and treat it. [Oliver Staley visited Lusaka]( to discover how an innovative program to train the country’s first neurologists may bend the arc of the disease. Appreciating biodiversity—both physical and digital. Habitat loss has taken a toll on the world’s organisms, sparking fears that even newly discovered species could soon be lost. Take [Daniel Wolfe’s interactive quiz]( to see whether you can tell the difference between previously unknown creatures and Pokémon characters—and to take a moment to appreciate these colorful life forms before they can disappear. QUARTZ MEMBERSHIP What to give the entrepreneurs in your life. Quartz membership is an essential toolkit made up of in-depth field guides, conference calls, video series, and ready-to-use presentations on the industries and phenomena changing our world. Set someone up for success with [the gift of Quartz](. FIVE THINGS ELSEWHERE THAT MADE US SMARTER When privacy alerts kill national-security investigations. In October, WhatsApp notified about 1,400 users that their phones were likely hacked by an “advanced cyber actor.” Unfortunately, some of those users were terror suspects that European police, with help from Israeli spyware, had been monitoring via the popular messaging tool. As the [Wall Street Journal reports]( the incident “spotlights an increasingly common clash of concerns over public security and personal privacy.” DNA sleuthing solved a century-old murder mystery. In 1916, a notorious Wild West counterfeiter and bootlegger was arrested for murdering his wife. He escaped jail but not, it now appears, frontier justice, as [Gillian Brockell writes]( in the Washington Post. Over 100 years after he seemingly disappeared, analysis of chopped-up human remains found in a cave decades ago solved the puzzle of what happened to him, in a case that has “blown everyone’s minds,” as one forensic genealogist put it. Big tech is struggling with globalization—and with corporate values. Now that it’s a behemoth, has Google outgrown its mantra “Don’t be evil”? Its former head of international relations Ross LaJeunesse [writes in Medium]( about his frustrations with how the company shifted to prioritizing profits over human rights, and abandoning, in his view, its core principles. Life in a cancer-plagued oil town. Among the mostly black residents living on the west side of Port Arthur, Texas, death from cancer surprises no one. They are surrounded by the world’s largest oil refineries, and can’t help but breathe in the toxic chemical emissions they emit. For Vice, [Trevor Bach meets residents]( who are finally fighting back in court, taking on powerful companies in a state that’s long been friendly to Big Oil. Japan wants better robots. With a declining population and societal resistance to increased immigration, the world’s third largest economy is in dire need of mechanical laborers that can match human skills. What’s more, Japanese culture views automatons positively, and not as a threat to employees. But even for seemingly simple tasks like removing potato blemishes, robotic dexterity is falling short, as [Motoko Rich writes]( in the New York Times. Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, new Pokédex entries, and cold cases to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by[downloading our app]( and[becoming a member](. Today’s Weekend Brief was brought to you by Steve Mollman and Holly Ojalvo. Enjoying the Daily Brief? Forward it to a friend! 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