The strangest tech to come out of Utah: August edition: On Utah baby names, virtual YouTubers, and another strange thing Brandon Fugal is doing.

• Author: Stone, Zara

HAPPY SUMMER, Y'ALL. Sit down, take a breather, and get ready to have your horizons expanded--and not in a ketamine clinic or soft swinging MomTok way.

Let's get those synapses firing with this month's Two Truths And A Lie, the Utah Tech Edition. Out of the following three animal-related startups, which is the fake one? (Head to the bottom for answers.)

* A startup working on resurrecting the wooly mammoth to combat climate change

* A startup working on synthesizing elephant genes to treat human cancers

* A startup working on bio-engineering honeybees to repel mosquitoes

MEET ME IN THE METAVERSE

When the temperature is hot enough to scald and kill lizards, according to Brigham Young University herpetologist Jack W. Sites, it's time to stay inside and DoorDash all your dirty soda and fry sauce necessities. The rise of remote working means air-conditioned life can be a reality for many, but even so, that Zoom fatigue is real. Le sigh. That's why some companies have decided to mix things up a bit, opting to meet their staff in the metaverse instead of the office.

Virtual reality shindigs have become commonplace for folks at telehealth startup Doxy. In December 2021, Doxy gifted each employee an Oculus Quest 2 headset and hosted a company-wide town hall in the metaverse in February. CEO Brandon Welch used AltspaceVR, a virtual reality social platform, to present his keynote, which was well received.

For many Doxy employees, this wasn't a flash-in-thepan meeting. For the last year, their R&D team held biweekly metaverse socials, where they play laser quest and team bonding games, in addition to testing out new features. "It really keeps us engaged," says Doxy researcher Janelle Barrera.

Other Utah institutions, such as the Sundance Film Festival and Visit Utah Valley, have dipped their metaphorical metaverse toes in the space, but they're still the exception to the rule.

Still, the fact that Doxy and others have actively invested in this tech shows that companies are genuinely focused on improving and innovating employee wellness and the future of work.

ALGORITHMIC PROOF THAT UTAH'S GOT NAME GAME

What's in a name? Were the Beehive State known as Cougar Land or Elk Kingdom (both significantly more stately than the humble bee), would anything really change? Maybe not, but the state's broader inclination to support the small fry reveals something about its resident's offbeat approach. When you analyze some of today's kids' names--like Atlas...