The Longest Ballot Committee's goal is to remind people of Justin Trudeau's broken promise to do away with first-past-the-post elections. [National Post]

As he looks ahead to an election year, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says he has no intention of backing down on his government's changes to the province's policy on gender identity in schools. In fact, he seems to be pushing the topic harder as he vies for a third term in office. [CP]

The Pentagon says the force is a defensive coalition of more than 20 nations to ensure billions of dollars' worth of commerce can flow freely through a shipping chokepoint in Red Sea waters. But nearly half of those countries have so far not come forward to acknowledge the contributions. [Reuters]

Researchers developed a ‘bioelectronic soil’ that can speed up the growth of plants in hydroponic spaces, or farms that grow plants without soil in environments made up of mostly water and a place for roots to attach. After integrating the engineered ‘eSoil’ into the framework where seedlings grow, researchers discovered that sending electrical signals through the soil made plants grow 50 percent more on average. [Endgadget]

While flashy new AI apps and rival social networks were grabbing headlines, sometimes the most useful innovations fly under the radar. The apps on our best-of list may not have arrived in 2023, but they became daily staples that streamlined our work or brought small moments of joy. Read on for the top apps we turned to again and again when we needed to get things done, connect with others or simply have more fun. [TechCrunch]