10 Items from the Week | 12 Jan 25
News from the past week, and a few other things.
👋 Hello Reader, I know it’s been a few weeks since I sent something out—it’s been a busy season, complete with travel, family, and festivities. Now, we’re into 2025, if you can believe that. Welcome to the future…a bit of a let down if I’m being honest. My first thought was that The Jetsons lied, but then I found out that the cartoon was actually set in 2062, so we still have time for flying cars.
Of the things that crossed my desk the past few weeks, below are a few that stood out.
1. Why would Trump want Greenland and the Panama Canal? Here's what's behind U.S. interest.
President-elect Donald Trump, during a long news conference on Tuesday, spoke about his interest in securing U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and said he would not rule out the use of military force. Greenland is located to the northeast of Canada and is largely covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. The largest island in the world, but home to only around 60,000 people, it is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, with its own elected government. Its location between the U.S., Russia and Europe makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes — especially as melting sea ice has opened up new shipping routes through the Arctic. It is also the location of the northernmost U.S. military base. The Northwest Passage, or Northern Sea route, was first crossed in the winter months by a Russian commercial vessel several years ago, and is a shorter route linking east Asia's major ports to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Western powers have already voiced concern about Russia and China using it to boost their presence in the North Atlantic. Greenland also has oil, natural gas and highly sought after mineral resources. Those mineral resources, which include rare earth elements, "have only been lightly explored and developed," Jose W. Fernandez, the U.S. Department of State's undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, said at a Minerals Security Partnership event in Greenland in November. Greenland also has the potential to provide a significant amount of rare earth minerals like Neodymium, which is used to make the magnets used in electric motors, the 2023 report said. Currently, China produces about 70% of rare earth elements.
NOTE: Size of Greenland for reference (from TheTrueSize.com)
2. Why did U.S. homicides spike in 2020 and then decline rapidly in 2023 and 2024?
In 2020, the average U.S. city experienced a surge in its homicide rate of almost 30%—the fastest spike ever recorded in the country. Across the nation, more than 24,000 people were killed compared to around 19,000 the year before. Homicides remained high in 2021 and 2022, but in 2023 they began to fall rapidly. Projections suggest the national homicide rate in 2024 is on track to return to levels close to those recorded in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet that spike in murders continues to deliver major costs in terms of the lives lost, the people incarcerated, and the perception of decreased safety across the country. Some commentators have suggested the increase in homicides during 2020 was a response to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May of that year. Others hypothesized that it was caused by a police “pull back,” in which officers chose to do less work in reaction to the protests that followed Floyd’s death. As more information has become available, these theories appear to be less supported by evidence than some initially thought.1 The evidence indicates that the national homicide rate was already on track to reach a peak far above the previous year even before Floyd was killed. (See Figure 1.) As Figure 1 demonstrates, murders began to rise rapidly in mid-April of 2020. Cell phone data show this is when residents started leaving home more often as lockdown policies eased and the weather grew warmer. During the 6-week period from April 12 to May 23 (weeks 16 to 21 in Figure 1), homicides went up by an average of 17 murders each week. New data offers a potential explanation. In this report, we analyze thousands of police records and compare them to changes that occurred in U.S. cities just before homicides started to surge. This showed that the spike in murders during 2020 was directly connected to local unemployment and school closures in low-income areas. Cities with larger numbers of young men forced out of work and teen boys pushed out of school in low-income neighborhoods during March and early April, had greater increases in homicide from May to December that year, on average. The persistence of these changes can also explain why murders remained high in 2021 and 2022 and then fell in late 2023 and 2024.
3. Africa Has Entered a New Era of War
An unprecedented explosion of conflicts has carved a trail of death and destruction across the breadth of Africa—from Mali near the continent’s western edge all the way to Somalia on its eastern Horn. Older wars, such as the Islamist uprisings in northern Nigeria and Somalia and the militia warfare in eastern Congo, have intensified dramatically. New power contests between militarized elites in Ethiopia and Sudan are convulsing two of Africa’s largest and most populous nations. The countries of the western Sahel are now the heart of global jihadism, where regional offshoots of al Qaeda and Islamic State are battling both each other and a group of wobbly military governments. This corridor of conflict stretches across approximately 4,000 miles and encompasses about 10% of the total land mass of sub-Saharan Africa, an area that has doubled in just three years and today is about 10 times the size of the U.K., according to an analysis by political risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft. In its wake lies incalculable human suffering—mass displacement, atrocities against civilians and extreme hunger—on a continent that is already by far the poorest on the planet. Yet, these extraordinary geopolitical shifts in sub-Saharan Africa have been overshadowed by higher-profile conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. That has led to less attention from global policymakers—especially in the West—grossly underfunded humanitarian-aid programs and fundamental questions over the futures of hundreds of millions of people. Africa is now experiencing more conflicts than at any point since at least 1946, according to data collected by Uppsala University in Sweden and analyzed by Norway’s Peace Research Institute Oslo.
NOTE: Great article that focuses on the issues in Africa--lots of good info and charts.
4. Long the Star Pupils, Girls Are Losing Ground to Boys
Girls have lost ground in reading, math and science at a troubling rate, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of student test scores across the country. Since 2019, girls’ test scores have dropped sharply, often to the lowest point in decades. Boys’ scores have also fallen during that time, but the decline among girls has been more severe. Boys now consistently outperform girls in math, after being roughly even or slightly ahead in the years before 2020. Girls still tend to perform better in reading, but their scores have dropped closer to boys. The findings suggest that pandemic learning loss hit girls particularly hard in ways that haven’t been addressed by schools. The most recent test scores show that girls haven’t yet recovered. This comes following longstanding gains for girls and women in educational attainment. Shutting down schools might have hurt girls more because they tend to do better in school generally, said David Figlio, a professor of economics and education at the University of Rochester who has studied gender gaps in education. “Girls have a comparative advantage in school and you take schools away, they’ll suffer more,” he added. Another hypothesis is that girls took on more household duties during the pandemic—including taking care of younger siblings—so were less able to focus on school.
NOTE: An interesting, and surprising development, given the trends I discussed here.
5. A looming 'demographic cliff': Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates
This "demographic cliff" has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Demographers say it will finally arrive nationwide in the fall of this year. That's when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors. But the downturn isn't just a problem for universities and colleges. It's a looming crisis for the economy, with fewer graduates eventually coming through the pipeline to fill jobs that require college educations, even as international rivals increase the proportions of their populations with degrees. "The impact of this is economic decline," Jeff Strohl, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, says bluntly. As fresh data emerges, the outlook is getting only worse. An analysis by the higher education consulting firm Ruffalo Noel Levitz, using the latest available census figures, now projects another drop in the number of 18-year-olds beginning in 2033, after a brief uptick. By 2039, this estimate shows, there will likely be 650,000, or 15%, fewer of them per year than there are now. These findings sync up with another new report, released in December by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), which says that the number of 18-year-olds nationwide who graduate from high school each year — and are therefore candidates for college — will erode by 13%, or nearly half a million, by 2041.The only thing that will restore stability in the higher education sector, says Wadhwani, "is a renewed sentiment that it's worth it."
6. Cocoa prices soar over $12,000
Cocoa futures crossed $12,000 per metric ton in early trading [18 Dec 24], nearly triple the price at the start of the year — threatening to raise the cost of America’s favorite indulgence. The now precious bean’s price rise is partly blamed on drought-diminished harvests in West Africa, a region which produces around three-quarters of the world’s cocoa. So far, the impact on consumers hasn’t been quite as extreme as the raw moves in the commodity itself, though major players in the chocolate market like NestléNSRGY $82.71 (0.18%), Lindt, and MondelezMDLZ $58.25 (-0.01%) all hiked prices at some point this year, citing higher cocoa costs. Some are even expecting an unprecedented ~10% increase in chocolate prices the coming year, potentially leaving a bitter taste in consumers’ mouths. Cocoa alone is only one small part of the chocolate supply chain, accounting for roughly 10% to 20% of these chocolate companies’ cost of goods sold, according to Jefferies. Still, the soaring price of chocolate’s core ingredient might be one reason why major confectionary companies are looking to consolidate. Last week, Hershey rejected an acquisition offer made by Mondelez, which, based on the company’s valuation, was likely north of $40 billion in total.
7. Meta Ends Fact-Checking on Facebook, Instagram in Free-Speech Pitch
Meta is ending fact-checking and removing restrictions on speech across Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg said in a video Tuesday, a move he described as an attempt to restore free expression on its platforms. “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in the video. He said Meta is getting rid of fact-checkers and, starting in the U.S., replacing them with a so-called Community Notes system similar to Elon Musk’s on the X platform, in which users flag posts they think need more context. While Meta will continue to target illegal behavior, Zuckerberg wrote in a separate Threads post, it will stop enforcing content rules about immigration and gender that are “out of touch with mainstream discourse.” Zuckerberg’s plan is likely to reshape the experience of billions of people who use Meta’s platforms. It steers sharply away from efforts started years ago in response to complaints from users, advertisers and politicians that abusive and deceptive content had run amok on Meta’s suite of apps. The effort to rein in such speech sparked its own backlash from people—especially conservatives—who said it often strayed into censorship. The pivot comes as Zuckerberg has looked to align himself and his company with the incoming Trump administration. The Meta CEO has had a sometimes strained relationship with Trump, which descended into open acrimony after Meta suspended Trump’s accounts in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
8. A Few Items on Real Estate
The Fed Cut Rates. Mortgage Costs Went Up.
Hopes were high that the Federal Reserve could make homes more affordable by cutting interest rates. So far, mortgage rates are rising instead. Average 30-year mortgages have climbed to around 6.7% from roughly 6.1% since the Fed started lowering rates in September, according to Freddie Mac. And they are only poised to rise further. That is because mortgage rates move with the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which has surged this week. Here are six charts showing the forces aligned against potential home buyers at the moment. Mortgage rates are based on long-term Treasury yields. Those are mostly driven by expectations for where short-term interest rates will be in the future, rather than where they are now. And those expected rates have been going up, even as actual rates have been dropping.
Exclusive: Homebuyers can access neighbors' political leanings with new real estate platform
A new real estate platform lets buyers see the political affiliations of their future neighbors and how many dogs may be living on their block. Why it matters: Tech startup Oyssey believes social data – like age, education and income demographics – is influencing buyers more than the physical conditions of a home. Driving the news: Oyssey is soft launching in South Florida and New York City this month. The company developed a website that lets buyers search for homes as well as a tool that streamlines contract negotiations.
NOTE: Ugh. I don’t think this is a good thing, which leads me to this next article:
9. Growing Tribalism Threatens the American Experiment
One of the more distressing developments over the past couple of decades has been America’s ever-worsening political and cultural polarization. Americans’ identities today are often more rooted in partisan affiliation and social class than in the past, which has created new fault lines in public life. On one side of this divide exists a blue tribe that is increasingly college-educated, urban-dwelling, knowledge economy-working, wealthy, secular, and culturally progressive. On the other is a red tribe that tends to have lower levels of formal education, lives in working-class suburban or rural communities in the Midwest and South, embraces more traditional religious views, and is culturally conservative. As many Americans come to embrace these identities more deeply, they risk becoming estranged from their fellow citizens, making it less likely that they will ever encounter non-caricatured versions of those who vote, think, and live differently from themselves. And this may produce subsequently higher levels of intergroup hostility and mistrust. What might have once been considered minor (if still meaningful) disagreements about a certain issue or policy may now seem like existential battles for the soul of the nation. All this has severely strained our relationships in everything from college to dating and marriage to our biological families—and even our ability to live among one another. So, how might we do this? Here are a few ideas: Respect pluralism. Find opportunities for inter-tribe engagement. Don’t assume the worst in our opponents. Advocate for meaningful electoral changes.
10. And, Finally Some Items on Alcohol Use
U.S. Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warnings on Alcoholic Beverages
The U.S. surgeon general said alcoholic beverages should carry cancer warnings to increase awareness that the drinks are a leading cause of preventable cancers. An act of Congress would be required to change the existing warning labels on bottles of beer, wine and liquor. Today, federal rules require only a warning against drunken driving and drinking while pregnant, as well as a general warning that alcohol “may cause health problems.” “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States,” Dr. Vivek Murthy said in his advisory issued Friday. “Yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk.”
Gray Area Drinking
In this engaging talk, Jolene Park shares her experience of gray area drinking — the kind of drinking where there’s no rock bottom, but you drink as a way to manage anxiety and then regret how much and how often you drink. Regardless of the cause of anxiety or discomfort in your life, and regardless of whether you’re using alcohol or another substance or behavior as an attempt to manage stress, Jolene uses her expertise as a Functional Nutritionist to explain the importance of replenishing your neurotransmitters in a comprehensive and consistent way, especially if you want to get off the stopping and restarting drinking merry-go-round.
Most US teens are abstaining from drinking, smoking and marijuana, survey says
Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results from a large annual national survey released Tuesday. About two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days. That’s the largest proportion abstaining since the annual survey started measuring abstinence in 2017. Among 10th graders, 80% said they hadn’t used any of those substances recently, another record. Among 8th graders, 90% didn’t use any of them, the same as was reported in the previous survey.
The business of selling booze is under pressure
On January 3, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for risk warnings to be included on alcoholic beverages, similar to those on cigarette packets, after new research linked alcohol use to ~100,000 cases of cancer and ~20,000 deaths each year in the US alone. Shares of several major alcohol brands, such as Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-FormanBF dipped — but for the most part, the reaction to the news was muted, perhaps because major Western alcohol companies have had a miserable few years even before that. To summarize: The top doctor in the US wants more public warnings on alcohol. Younger people don’t think drinking is cool like they used to. Other vices are increasingly legal and available. Weight-loss drugs might suppress demand further.
Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation
THE WORDS “retirement community” summon up images of easy chairs, overcooked food and endless daytime TV. Latitude Margaritaville, a community being built near Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, quickly disabuses these. “There was a toga party this past weekend,” says Lynette, a resident. “There was a live band, and it was a riot.” Barbie, another of the community’s “ambassadors” (residents employed by the developers to help sell it to potential newcomers), compares living there to “starting college all over again”. There are, she says, “drinks on the driveway, cocktails on the concrete”. If Margaritaville’s residents are representative of their age cohort, there will be a lot more to the toga parties than fancy dress. Whereas young people in rich countries these days are addicted to their phones, more anxious than previous generations and far less likely than them to use mind-altering substances or to party recklessly, their grandparents belong to a generation that experimented with sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. As they reach older age, they are not giving up their old habits. Among those for whom time’s winged chariot is hurrying a little nearer, drug and alcohol use—and abuse—have surged. And since many have also long since struck coyness from the statute books, sexually transmitted diseases are also spreading. The prevalence of gonorrhoea, to name but one, among Americans aged 55 and up has increased by more than six times since 2010.
NOTE: Here’s one interesting chart (among many others):
And a few others…
Other interesting things to cross my desktop
North America
See How a Fire in the Hills Turned Into a Historic Blaze
A brush fire on Tuesday set off one of the most destructive blazes in Los Angeles history: the Palisades fire. By Thursday evening, nearly 20,000 acres of land and thousands of structures had been burned, displacing thousands of residents. Here’s how the blaze swiftly traveled from the brush-filled hills to nearby residential enclaves, forcing residents to quickly move south through gridlocked paths.
NOTE: Good overview and graphics.
Trump Becomes First Former President Sentenced for Felony
A defiant Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to no punishment for covering up hush money paid to a porn star, cementing his status as a felon on the cusp of his return to the White House. Justice Juan Merchan, who handed down the sentence during a half-hour proceeding, said the extraordinary protections of the presidency insulated Trump from more substantial penalties. “It’s been a political witch hunt,” the president-elect said. “It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election.” The court hearing was unprecedented, making Trump not only the first former president to be found guilty of a crime, but the first president to be sentenced for one. But it was also a formality. It took place in the same drab New York state courtroom as his more than monthlong criminal trial. The judge, Manhattan prosecutors and one of Trump’s lawyers sat in the courtroom, surrounded by several screens showing Trump and his other lawyer, Todd Blanche. The packed gallery was filled largely with reporters.
Trudeau to Resign as Voters Sour on His Vision for Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he would resign, making him the latest global progressive leader to fall from power and leaving Canada rudderless as it prepares to contend with President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to upend free trade in North America. Trudeau’s resignation caps a decadelong political career during which the 53-year-old rose to global political stardom as a young, handsome and unabashed progressive whose appeal faded over time, until he became so unpopular that his Liberal Party forced him to step down before elections that must happen no later than October. Trudeau said he would stay on as prime minister until the party picks a new leader, a process that could take months and draw from the ranks of critics who pushed him out. The Liberal Party trails badly in the polls to the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, a populist who would be elected prime minister if the election were held now.
Economy
Unemployed Office Workers Are Having a Harder Time Finding New Jobs
The U.S. economy has added more than two million jobs over the past year. But more people who are out of work are having a hard time getting back in. As of November, more than seven million Americans were unemployed, meaning they didn’t have work and were trying to find it. More than 1.6 million of those jobless workers had been job hunting for at least six months, according to the Labor Department. The number of people searching for that long is up more than 50% since the end of 2022.
Education
Biden forgives $4.28 billion in student debt for 54,900 borrowers
The Biden administration announced [Dec 6] that it would forgive another $4.28 billion in student loan debt for 54,900 borrowers who work in public service. The relief is a result of fixes the U.S. Department of Education made to the once-troubled Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The debt relief comes in President Joe Biden’s final weeks in office. Biden has forgiven more student debt than any other president. He has cleared nearly $180 billion for 4.9 million people with student debt.
Business
How a $12.98 T-Shirt Is Made in America—at a Profit
The U.S. is awash in a sea of cheap imports that has destroyed much of the domestic apparel industry. In 2023, less than 4% of the apparel purchased in America was made here. Seeking to turn the tide, Donald Trump imposed tariffs in 2018 on Chinese imports during his first term as president and has proposed additional tariffs on all imports in his second term, including items from neighboring Canada and Mexico. But it wasn’t tariffs that made the $12.98 shirt economically feasible, says Bayard Winthrop, the chief executive and founder of American Giant, the U.S. apparel company producing them. It was Walmart’s heft—and guaranteed orders. The country’s biggest retailer—and importer of consumer goods—pledged in 2013 to buy more items that were made, grown or assembled in the U.S. In 2021, Walmart increased its goal and promised to spend billions more each year through 2030. More than half of Walmart’s sales come from groceries, most of which are produced domestically. How did it get the price down? By automating parts of the process to keep labor costs low, American Giant was able to compete with countries such as Vietnam and China where workers are paid a fraction of the U.S. minimum wage.
Real Estate
US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people
The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own. That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the U.S., with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
Cyber
Court strikes down US net neutrality rules
A US court has rejected the Biden administration's bid to restore "net neutrality" rules, finding that the federal government does not have the authority to regulate internet providers like utilities. It marks a major defeat for so-called open internet advocates, who have long fought for protections that would require internet providers such as AT&T to treat all legal content equally. Thursday's ruling does not affect state-level net neutrality laws, which in some places offer similar protections.
How Chinese Hackers Graduated From Clumsy Corporate Thieves to Military Weapons
China’s hackers were once thought to be interested chiefly in business secrets and huge sets of private consumer data. But the latest hacks make clear they are now soldiers on the front lines of potential geopolitical conflict between the U.S. and China, in which cyberwarfare tools are expected to be powerful weapons. U.S. computer networks are a “key battlefield in any future conflict” with China, said Brandon Wales, a former top U.S. cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, who closely tracked China’s hacking operations against American infrastructure. He said prepositioning and intelligence collection by the hackers “are designed to ensure they prevail by keeping the U.S. from projecting power, and inducing chaos at home.”
U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese-Made Router in Millions of American Homes
U.S. authorities are investigating whether a Chinese company whose popular home-internet routers have been linked to cyberattacks poses a national-security risk and are considering banning the devices. The router-manufacturer TP-Link, established in China, has roughly 65% of the U.S. market for routers for homes and small businesses. It is also the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies. Investigators at the Commerce, Defense and Justice departments have opened their own probes into the company, and authorities could ban the sale of TP-Link routers in the U.S. next year, according to people familiar with the matter. An office of the Commerce Department has subpoenaed TP-Link, some of the people said.
A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says
A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday. Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.
Health
Foods With the Most Plastic Chemicals: Study Reveals Surprising Results
From popular brands like Burger King, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Whole Foods to everyday kitchen staples such as rice and salt, a new study highlights the alarming extent of plastic contamination in foods. These findings come from investigations by PlasticList, an independent research group that has tested dozens of products for harmful plastic-related chemicals. Plastic contamination in food is becoming pervasive, with potential health risks ranging from hormone disruption to cardiovascular problems. The research, released on December 28 and conducted in the Bay Area, sheds light on how ubiquitous these pollutants are in the global food chain. Products from well-known American brands were found to contain high levels of plastic chemicals, highlighting that even trusted names are not immune. The study analyzed 300 items, including seafood, common kitchen staples, and bottled water, which emerged as the top culprits. The findings illustrate the extent of microplastic contamination in our food and its pervasive presence in our diets. Testing revealed the highest levels of phthalates in the following products across major food categories: Beverages: McDonald's Vanilla Shake (<4,500 nanograms per serving) was found to have the highest DEHP contamination among beverages. Fast Food: McDonald's Vanilla Shake (<4,500 nanograms per serving) also topped the fast food category. Dairy: Whole Foods Mozzarella String Cheese Low-Moisture Part-Skim (<280 nanograms per serving) led the dairy category. Prepared Meals: Kraft Mac & Cheese, measured after microwaving, (<700 nanograms per serving) contained the highest DEHP in this group. Seafood: Whole Foods Cold Smoked Atlantic Salmon (<570 nanograms per serving) had the most DEHP contamination in seafood products.
NOTE: want to get depressed by the foods on the list? Take a look at their study results here. Most surprising to me? Sour Patch Kids have less plastics than a Chick-Fil-A shake.
Did your kid get glasses post-pandemic? Study says myopia rates are soaring around the world
New research shows the rate of myopia among children and teens worldwide has tripled over the past three decades, with a particularly steep increase noted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A paper in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, which reviewed 276 studies published to June 2023 from around the world, concluded that more than one in three of all children and teens are nearsighted, triple what it was in 1990. "Emerging evidence suggests a potential association between the pandemic and accelerated vision deterioration among young adults," states the report, published in September. The authors forecast that if the current trends continue, about 740 million children and teens — more than half globally — will be myopic by 2050. Christian said the research suggests the trends are linked to kids spending more time indoors doing what's known as "near work," such as looking at books, computers or phone screens. The strain this puts on the eye muscles can cause myopia. Successive studies have shown how myopia is related to too little time outdoors in childhood. The 2018 University of Waterloo study, which focused on children aged six to 13, found that one additional hour of outdoor time per week could lower the child's odds of developing myopia by 14 per cent. "Time spent outdoors was the only child activity to have a significant impact on myopia," it stated.
Is the opioid epidemic finally burning out?
Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a government agency, suggest that nationally, deaths peaked around August last year. In the 12 months to July this year, there were 90,000 deaths—still an appalling total, but a reduction of around a sixth (see chart). Could America be nearing the point where it is, as Mr Weaver might put it, “done” with opioids? No one is exactly sure why deaths might have started falling. “We’re all speculating at this point,” says Daniel Ciccarone, a professor in addiction medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. Data on the number of fentanyl users are scarce, as are data on prices and purity. Addiction treatment has been expanding for years. But the drop in deaths is too sudden and too widespread (almost all states have experienced it) to be primarily down to this. There has been no dramatic increase in prescriptions of anti-addiction drugs, either. More naloxone kits (an injection which can reverse an overdose, first approved under the brand name Narcan) are being distributed. That must be helping, but also cannot fully explain the drop. One possibility is a supply shock. Another possibility is that the decline represents a return to pre-pandemic norms. When covid-19 hit, opioid overdoses soared. It is hard to say why, but feels intuitive: hospitals were full of covid patients, many treatment centres had shut, and more people were experiencing the sort of traumatic losses that can make them turn to drugs.
Why Are Americans Paying So Much More for Healthcare Than They Used To?
Healthcare spending in the U.S. reached $4.867 trillion in 2023, a 7.5% increase from the previous year. Americans spent about $4,000 on health insurance in 2023, up nearly 20% from five years earlier. Hospitals and doctors’ offices are paying more for workers, in large part due to worker shortages, rising wages and high turnover.
For Fun
The next generation of great strategists aren’t bothering with chess or poker
“Magic: The Gathering,” the trading-card game that Vice President-elect JD Vance said he grew up playing, is supplanting poker as the casual yet competitive strategy game of knowledge workers everywhere. The premise of the game is simple and not unlike chess. Instead of two generals commanding identical and opposite 16-unit armies, “Magic” features two or more wizards “casting” spell cards at each other, using magical energy “tapped” from land cards they control. Like poker, “Magic” can be played in different formats; just as poker has five-card draw and Texas hold ’em, “Magic” has Standard and Commander. But unlike poker, “Magic”’s strategy challenges don’t begin when 52-card playing decks are shuffled up and dealt. Players choose from a massive pool of 28,878 unique cards, millions of which have been printed since the game’s introduction. “Magic” publisher Wizards of the Coast maintains different sets of rules and legal card lists for different casual and competitive formats.
Have a great week!
The Curator
Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:
AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.