👋 Hello there,
Welcome to another edition of the Stellar Recap, a weekly newsletter where I share interesting content you may have missed over the week. This issue features 77 bullets.
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📊 Business, Economics & Personal Finance
58% of Fortune 100 companies announced layoffs in 2023 (🔒Bloomberg).
The Milken Institute analyzed 12 economic metrics (which estimate growth) in 403 US metros from Jan. 2022 to Aug. 2023 and found that Austin-Round Rock, TX was the #1 best-performing large city. The #1 small city was Idaho Falls, ID, followed by Coeur d’Alene, ID.
Plant-derived milk, like soy and almond milk, has grown 48% since 2018 (🔒WSJ) to a $2.5B industry today in the US. The dairy milk industry is valued at $15B.
In 2022, the median police officer in California earned ~$104.2K/yr, which was the most in the US. At ~$37.2K/yr, the median salary was the lowest in Mississippi.
South Korean construction company Booyoung Group said it will pay employees $75K each time they have a baby. It’s retroactively paying out $5.25M to employees who’ve had babies since 2021.
New data shows that credit card delinquencies in the US surged >50% in 2023 as total consumer debt swelled to $17.5T.
A new report said the number of vessels operating in the Arctic rose from ~1.3K/yr in 2013 to ~1.8K/yr in 2023 while cargo volumes rose from 2.8M tonnes to 36.3M tonnes.
The net worth of young adults under age 40 has risen 80% since 2019 (🔒Bloomberg) compared to 10% for people ages 40–54 and 30% for people ages 55+. Overall though, the 55+ group has a total net worth of $97T+ compared with $8.6T for those under 40.
A new survey showed that 32% of the 138 Fortune 500 CEOs surveyed in Jan. said general economic conditions are better compared with 6 mo. ago, up from 18% in Q4 2023. 27% expected conditions to get worse in the next 6 mo. , down from 47%.
The CBO estimated that the US will add $19T to its national debt by 2034. The cost of servicing the debt will total to ~$12T. Currently, total US debt is ~$34T and the government pays ~$2B/day interest payments (~3% of GDP).
🧘 Health, Healthcare & Safety
A new FDA proposal requires companies to test pulse oximeters on at least 24 people whose skin colors span a 10-shade scale to ensure accuracy.
Health care added 654K jobs last year, representing ~25% of all new jobs in the US.
A new study on girls in Australia found that dog owners showed an average of 52 min. more physical activity than non-dog owners. Girls who lost a dog during the study saw physical activity decrease by 62 min. per day on average.
Notions of what constitutes sobriety and problematic substance use have changed in recent years (🔒NYT) as younger Americans have increasingly shunned alcohol while using cannabis and psychedelics — a phenomenon that alarms some addiction experts.
5 cancer researchers argued that the naming system for cancer drugs should be based on its molecular features instead of the current approach which is based on the organ of origin. Some drugs target gene mutations or other features that are shared across many cancer types regardless of the organ of origin and focus on the latter forces drugs to be sequentially trialed on each cancer type which means many people who may benefit from it have to wait years to access the drug.
A new study found that 37% of US adults supplemented their medical care with alternative therapies like yoga, acupuncture, and meditation in 2022, up from 19% in 2002.
The EPA has introduced stricter regulations on the amount of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) allowed in the air (🔒NYT). The measure will prevent an estimated 4.5K premature deaths annually and save $46B in net health benefits.
Findings from 2 new studies showed that, between 2013-2019, Black Americans slept on average <6 hrs in the 6 mo. following a police-involved killing that received national news coverage.
New findings show that B cells that cause allergies release a different antibody than B cells that fight infections. This discovery may enable scientists to “cure” people with allergies.
This year, 19 states are considering bills to allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. As of 2020, ~8.5K people in the US have obtained such prescriptions and ~5.3K of those people used them to end their life.
Chicago’s biggest children’s hospital entered its 2nd week of reduced services as it tried to recover from a cyberattack, which took many of its systems offline.
🎓 Lifelong Learning
How AI works: An entirely non-technical explanation of LLMs.
The original meaning of the word “deadline” is a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot, according to Mariam-Webster.
Strategies of the quickest jigsaw puzzlers (🔒WP). Some people can finish a 500-piece puzzle in <1hr.
🌴 Lifestyle & Travel
The best place to get married in the US is Orlando, FL, according to WalletHub which compared 26 indicators in 180+ cities.
50 places to eat and drink before you die, according to Atlas Obscura.
20 of the world’s best beaches, according to Lonely Planet.
The top 100 romantic restaurants in the US for 2024, according to an analysis of >12M reviews by OpenTable.
Lamborghini sold >10K vehicles last year for the 1st time. Ferrari reported a 17%+ increase in revenue of $6.46B with profit rising to $1.36B. Carmakers like these sell to a thin sliver of the global population (~400K)—people with $30M+ in potential spending money. By 2028, that number is expected to grow to 528K.
Japan’s 6-mo. digital nomad visa is set to launch in Mar. 2024. Applicants must make at least $68,341/yr and have private health insurance. The standard travel visa (for citizens of approved countries) is 90 days.
🗳️ Politics, Security & International Affairs
Hong Kong police said a finance employee was duped into giving $25M of the company’s money to a scam artist who used AI to pose as the firm’s UK-based CFO in a video call.
Los Angeles became the first city to outlaw digital discrimination, which is when internet service providers offer unequal access to high-speed internet in racially or socio-economically marginalized neighborhoods.
An Israeli intelligence report estimated that at least 30 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on Oct. 7 have died (🔒NYT).
An Australian computer scientist, Craig Wright, is on trial in the UK High Court over his claim that he is actually “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the inventor of bitcoin. If the court finds that Wright isn’t Nakamoto, bitcoin can continue to exist as is. But if he is Nakamoto, Wright could make it illegal for developers to use bitcoin without his approval.
New data showed there were ~1.4K psilocybin mushroom seizures in the US in 2022, up from 402 in 2017. States in the Midwest and West accounted for the most confiscations, 36% and 34% respectively.
A 404 Media investigation discovered a website called OnlyFake which can create realistic fake IDs for just $15. OnlyFake claims it can generate up to 20K documents per day.
The number of eligible Latino voters in the US grew by 12% (~4M) to ~36.2M since the last presidential election. Latinos are projected to account for ~15% of all eligible voters in Nov.
The FCC outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by AI. The announcement came as New Hampshire authorities are investigating robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden’s voice to discourage people from voting in the state's primary last month.
Americans lost $10B to scams in 2023, an increase of $1B from 2022 and the highest reported losses to the FTC on record. The median loss was $500/person. The top category was imposter scams, which accounted for $2.7B in reported losses.
⏩ Pop Culture, Art, Sports & Entertainment
Taylor Swift set a record for album of the year wins last Sun. with “Midnights,” winning the category for the 4th time. Swift accounted for 2% of the US music business last year, more than the jazz and classical genres combined.
Simon & Schuster celebrated its 100th anniversary by sharing a list of 100 notable books that have been published since 1924.
Athletic performance has progressed a lot in the past 100 yrs and while new records are still being set, the margins of improvement are getting slimmer.
30 employees at a middle school in Kentucky won a $1M Powerball jackpot. They will each get $24K after taxes. They’ve played the same numbers every week since 2019.
US consumers spent $43B on home entertainment in 2023 and the largest category was streaming services ($37M).
78 out of 104 games in the 2026 World Cup will be hosted in the US. The World Cup Final will be held at the MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey.
The NRF estimated that a record 200.5M US adults will tune in to watch the 49ers play the Chiefs today. ~112.2M plan to throw or attend a party and 16.2M plan to go to a restaurant or a bar. ~65K are watching the game in person. The average price of a ticket was ~$12.2K last Thurs. evening, with some premium seats selling for as much as ~$41.8K on TickPick. The cheapest seat was ~$10K. Total spending on food, drinks, apparel, decorations, and other purchases for the day is expected to reach a record $17.3B or ~$86/person (not adjusted for inflation).
A new study found that ~40% of Super Bowl ads this year will feature 2+ celebrities, up ~6x from 2010.
Wilson is selling its new 3D-printed airless basketball for $2.5K each. There are <200 available.
British amateur photographer, Nima Sarikhani, won the People’s Choice Award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
A Frenchman spent 8 yrs building a 23-ft-tall replica of the Eiffel Tower with 706.9K matchsticks to set a world record but was rejected by the Guinness World Records because he bought 190K headless matches in bulk instead of scratching them off.
🏡 Real Estate
A GAO report showed that 41% of US Coast Guard units are in either remote areas with few housing options or where >50% of vacant housing was categorized for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use. In other words, Coast Guard service members are stationed in areas tied to rent costs.
As of Sep. 2023, 27K single-family homes in Florida’s Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Pasco counties were owned by investors, with 70% linked to Wall Street and private equity companies.
A 9-acre oceanfront compound in Naples, FL could set a new record for the most expensive property in the US if it sells for its asking price of $295M. The current record is $240M.
In 2023, there were 365K community associations (aka HOAs) in the US. ~30% of the population lived in a community association last year.
🌎 Society
3 of the 10 oldest living people in the world as of Feb. 5, 2024 are US women. 9 of the 10 oldest are women.
A new survey of socially unacceptable behaviors during virtual work meetings found that having the TV on in the background was the #1 faux pas with 77% considering this unacceptable.
53% of US students were dropped off or driven to school in a private vehicle in 2022 (🔒WP), which is a new record.
Southeast Asia is the region in which most countries give their citizens time off for the beginning of the Chinese New Year. An interesting fact in this article is that ~7% of the population in Suriname, S. America, are of Chinese descent.
🧪 Science, Climate, Environment & Technology
A recent study found that 28% of online journal articles are not digitally archived.
A researcher trained an algorithm on 61 hrs of video that was recorded from a head cam worn by a baby for short periods and the model identified associations between objects and words like “crib” and “ball,” suggesting that innate knowledge isn’t needed for language.
A new study suggests that ChatGPT can nudge people’s opinions on divisive issues like climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement towards supporting the scientific consensus. Users with divisive opinions also reported a worse experience with ChatGPT so they may be less likely to use it.
Early data suggests Jan. 2024 will set a record for the warmest Jan. on record, marking the 9th straight month of record highs. Jan. 2024 also marked the 1st time that global average surface temps. exceeded the 1.5°C Paris target for a full year.
A team of 3 students used machine learning to read text hidden inside charred, unopenable scrolls from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum and won $700K. The text discussed sources of pleasure like music, the color purple, and the taste of capers.
A new study suggests that the UAE can trigger enough rainfall to meet the annual water needs of at least 30K people with a massive solar farm.
Last year, a record 10K studies were retracted by research journals. Analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud and threatens trust in science.
The AI-generated fake nude images of Taylor Swift that recently went viral on social media were made by 4chan users (🔒Bloomberg) who launched a competition to bypass filters and rules in popular AI image generator services.
A new study found that hurricane winds have become so strong that we need to add a 6th category to the 1-5 Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, thanks to climate change.
Researchers found that the butte known as Castle Rock in Colorado is made of opal.
A new study found a link between rodenticides and deaths among wolves in Central and Northern Italy, suggesting that the chemicals that are used to kill rats pose a bigger threat to wolves than previously understood.
A new study of 19 sign languages identified 2 major families—European and Asian—that showed no evidence of any long-term contact. American sign language appears to be largely influenced by the French.
IBM submitted ~1.6K AI-related patent applications in the last 5 yrs, more than Google, Microsoft, and Samsung.
Using NASA satellite data, WP created an interactive globe that shows how CO2 emissions swirl through the atmosphere (🔒) and warms the planet.
Google renamed its Bard chatbot to Gemini, which will be its own app on Android and can replace Google Assistant as the primary voice assistant. Users can pay $20/mo for Gemini Ultra which includes 2TB of cloud storage.
New data suggests that there’s a liquid ocean under the icy shell of Saturn’s moon Mima. The ocean likely formed within the last 25M yrs.
Recovered fragments of an asteroid that exploded over Germany on Jan. 21 have been confirmed to be a rare type of space rock called Aubrite and could help shed light on Earth's origins.
The number of monarch butterflies that have appeared in their ancestral wintering areas in Mexico is down 59% this year. Experts cited heat, drought, and habitat loss as the causes.
Wishing you a good week
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