Good morning. In this edition:

• 💼 Gen Z + remote work
• 🧬 Breakthrough DNA treatment
• 🍿 A hostile takeover bid for WBD

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.91-minute read (1,039 words).

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“True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.”

–Augustine "Og" Mandino (1923-1996)

For years, remote work has been the young worker’s dream: being able to skip the commute and wearing real pants.

But new data shows Gen Z is quietly changing the narrative. While younger employees say they enjoy remote work more than older generations overall, they’re also the most likely to say “No thanks” to going fully remote.

• According to Gallup, only 23% of Gen Z workers who could work remotely actually want a fully remote setup, compared to 35% of older generations.

Why the preference shift?

A recent study offers insight into what younger workers are experiencing. Researchers tracked software engineers at a Fortune 500 company from 2019–2024 to see how collaboration changed across remote, hybrid, and in-office teams.

Their biggest finding: employees who worked in person at least occasionally received ~20% more feedback and delivered higher-quality work compared to those who worked entirely remote.

The increased in-person time also unlocked several other advantages:

• Clearer promotion paths: Managers could more easily see who was growing, contributing, and ready for bigger responsibilities
• Easier follow-ups: Questions were answered much faster in-person compared to digital messages.
• Improved “osmosis learning”: Younger employees absorbed norms and workflows by watching coworkers work.
• Better networking: Spontaneous conversations were more common—and more helpful—when workers shared the same space.

Big picture: Hybrid work has officially taken over as the dominant model in the US, while fully remote work has fallen sharply since the early pandemic, according to data from Gallup. Among employees who are capable of working remote: 28% are fully remote, 21% are fully in person, and 51% have hybrid work schedules.

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Humans are poised to receive a Wolverine-like regeneration glow-up, thanks to a new medical breakthrough.

A team of Cedars-Sinai researchers have developed the first-ever drug that can repair damaged DNA and regenerate tissue, according to a new study.

Their discovery, which was two decades in the making, has the potential to transform current treatments for heart attacks, strokes, inflammatory disease, and other major conditions.

What’s going on?

The medical breakthrough centers around a newly isolated RNA molecule, called TY1, that scientists found essentially acts like a cellular janitor.

• TY1 travels to damaged areas in the human body and activates immune cells which rally around damaged DNA and help clear out the molecular “junk” that gets in the way of healing.
• The result is a faster, more efficient repair process that allows the body’s natural recovery and regeneration to occur more efficiently.

In early tests on mice, the molecule helped regenerate heart tissue after injury and reversed inflammation in multiple organ systems, without the need for complex procedures like implanting stem cells or reprogramming DNA.

Big picture: Researchers say their next step is studying TY1 in a human clinical trial, with the goal of developing new treatments for a wide range of conditions, including heart disease and stroke.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🍿 Paramount launches hostile takeover bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, with all-cash offer to shareholders valued at $30/share; Paramount's financing partners include Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's private equity firm, as well as Saudi Arabia's, Qatar's, and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds; WBD agreed to sell to Netflix last Friday in a cash-and-stock deal worth $27.75/share.
• 🇨🇳 China’s trade surplus for goods and services has eclipsed $1 trillion annually for the first time ever, per new data from November.
• 💰 Number of 401(k) millionaires at Fidelity reached 654,000 as of last quarter, the highest level in records going back to the early 2000s. | Over half of all US homes (53%) have lost value in the past year, per new Zillow data.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏆📺 2026 Golden Globe nominees announced yesterday; One Battle After Another leads all films with nine nominations, while The White Lotus is tops among TV shows with six nods.
• ⚾ Jeff Kent elected to the MLB Hall of Fame via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee process; Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both one step closer to losing HoF eligibility.
• 🏈 CFB bowl schedule is now finalized; #11 Notre Dame declines to participate in a bowl after being snubbed for the College Football Playoffs.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 President Trump says he’ll sign an executive order to establish “ONE RULE” on AI regulation at the federal level, and limit state-level policies that regulate AI.
• 🦠🔋 Human cells can be 'recharged' by replacing their mitochondria, aka the powerhouse of the cell, new research suggests; the finding could lead to future benefits across healthcare and medicine.
• 📲 Social media use—not other screen time like TV or gaming—is tied to rising attention problems in teens, new study finds.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🌾 President Trump announces $12 billion aid package for farmers, largely in the form of one-time payments to row crop farmers.
• ☢️ The protective shield at Chernobyl—the infamous nuclear power plant in Ukraine—can no longer perform its main function of confining radioactive waste following a February drone strike, per the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Alina Habba, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, resigns as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey; it comes one week after a federal appeals court ruled she was unlawfully serving in the role; Habba plans to return if the court decision is reversed. | SCOTUS appears open to allowing Trump to fire FTC members without cause, in oral arguments yesterday over a 90-year precedent shielding independent agency commissioners. (Background)

☝️ The Hubble Space Telescope and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer recently captured fresh images of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS as it nears its closest approach to Earth this month; 3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed object known to have visited our solar system from interstellar space, and the subject of numerous scientific missions.

🤔 Did you know? In 2008, the city of Chicago sold off the rights to all city parking meters to private investors for the next 75 years, at a price of ~$1.1 billion (or $1.65 billion today, with inflation). Through 2024, that private company—Chicago Parking Meters—had earned ~$2 billion from the city’s meters, with 59 more years of ownership still remaining.

📰 Worth a read: Why are we curious about some things and indifferent to others?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Check out the recently discovered world's biggest spiderweb
• The joy of doing nothing in retirement
• Am I addicted to my smartwatch?

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Yesterday we covered a SCOTUS case over whether President Trump should be able to fire independent agency heads under a legal doctrine known as the unitary executive theory, where the US President possesses sole authority over executive agencies.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you agree or disagree with the unitary executive theory?

• Agree: 24%
• Disagree: 65%
• Unsure/other: 11%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 704 votes and 69 longform responses.

🫏 Trivia: What is the name for a female donkey?

🎓 True or false?...In chess, the King can only move a maximum of one square

🤔 Riddle me this: What has a head and a tail, but no body?

🐾 Texas-based United K9 is training pups to help veterans manage PTSD, physical injuries, and other mental health challenges, giving the vets independence and the dogs a new sense of purpose.

+Note: This story previously appeared in Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter surfacing all the good things you don't hear about in the news.

❓ Trivia: A jenny

🎓 T/F: False, it can move two squares through “castling”

🤔 Riddle: A coin

Advertise with us: Want to reach other smart and inquisitive readers like you? Become a DONUT partner here.