LSN : Signals & Stats : Foresight Friday: Olivia Houghton, insights and engagement director

Every Friday, The Future Laboratory team offers an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, insights and engagement director Olivia Houghton discusses billion-dollar beauty bets and enhanced athleticism.

: This week, news broke that Elf Beauty is acquiring Rhode for a reported £741m ($1bn, Є880m). While it’s a testament to Hailey Bieber’s rare success in building a celebrity brand that feels both streamlined and elevated, the move feels offbeat.

Rhode has been a masterclass in modern beauty-building – with a strong aesthetic identity, tightly curated, DTC-only product line and steady momentum, it stands out as one of the few celebrity brands to truly resonate. Elf, by contrast, thrives on speed and virality – its strength lies in trend agility, mass appeal and cultural boldness.

Both have carved out impressive, but fundamentally different, lanes in the beauty space. Which is why this swift acquisition, just three years into Rhode’s journey, feels risky. It threatens to dilute the very qualities that made Rhode stand out: clarity, intentionality and a carefully calibrated pace of growth.

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

: The Enhanced Games – the first global sports competition permitting performance-enhancing drugs – has announced its host city and dates, edging closer to its controversial debut. It’s little surprise the project is backed by private investors. Health optimisation is entering a no-limits era, reflected in the momentum behind longevity entrepreneurs driving initiatives such as the first US hub for experimental medical treatments.

While the Games have stirred debate – particularly in the arena of sports law – here at LS:N Global, it aligns with what we’ve long anticipated. Our Synthocene Era macrotrend explores a future in which human and artificial intelligence converge, enabling new thresholds of physical and cognitive performance. Already, this is taking shape through innovations such as infrared-enabled contact lenses, which grant wearers ‘super vision’.

Quote of the week

‘Life was never meant to be understood, it was meant to be felt’

A TikTok post via The Salty Notes that stayed with me – especially after reflecting on our recent piece about intuitive health. The Wellness Reset explores how, in an age of accelerating technologies, we’re reclaiming our innate human features. Perhaps tech isn’t just about cognitive optimisation – it’s also a tool to help us think less and feel more