Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🍺 Teen sobriety is in
• 🤖 Major AI coup
• 🕵️ CIA’s “Operation Acoustic Kitty”

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.35-minute read (891 words).

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“Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there.”

–Hilary "Zig" Ziglar (1926-2012)

America’s teens are increasingly saying “no thanks” to alcohol, showing far lower rates of drinking compared to their parents’ generation.

But the trend may be something larger than drinking habits, reflecting a deeper shift in how young people socialize, date, and experience growing up.

By the numbers: Teen drinking has been steadily falling since the 1990s, according to the University of Michigan’s long-running Monitoring the Future study. But the decline has accelerated sharply in recent years.

• In 2025, 41% of 12th graders reported drinking alcohol within the past year, down from 75% in 1997.
• Among 10th graders, the figure fell from 65% to 24%, while drinking among 8th graders dropped from 46% to just 11%.

The decline also doesn’t appear to be driving teens toward other drugs. Instead, growing shares of young Americans are abstaining from substances altogether, with 8th and 10th graders reaching historic highs for non-use this year.

There are two main explanations

Some experts point to Gen Z’s growing obsession with wellness and self-optimization. Between fitness trackers, GLP-1 drugs, sleep scores, and the rise of “looksmaxxing” culture online, many young Americans are increasingly treating their bodies less like party machines and more like long-term projects.

• But researchers say Gen Z is also socializing differently than previous generations, spending far more time interacting through screens and less time hanging out face-to-face.
• This shift accelerated during the pandemic and rise of social media.

Economic pressures may also play a role. One recent survey found over half of young men (53%) and women (54%) didn’t spend any money on dates each month, while many Gen Z adults continue living with parents longer due to rising housing costs and student debt burdens.

Zoom out: Researchers increasingly describe Gen Z largely as a group of “late bloomers.” Compared to previous generations, today’s young Americans are waiting longer to drink, date, have sex, get driver’s licenses, move out, and reach other traditional adulthood milestones, while reporting record levels of loneliness and poor mental health.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you think the recent rise of teen sobriety across America due to various factors is a positive or negative trend?

• Positive
• Negative
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🤖 Andrej Karpathy, one of the world's best-known AI researchers and a founding member of OpenAI, is joining rival Anthropic.
• 🚀🏦 SpaceX selects Goldman Sachs for lead left position on what’s likely to be the biggest initial public offering ever.
• 🚨 Son of fashion chain Mango’s billionaire founder was arrested by Spanish police and accused of playing a role in the death of his father, who fell into a gorge while hiking together.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽ Arsenal wins first Premier League title since 2003-04, clinching the title after Man City failed to win yesterday’s match. | 🏀 Dallas Mavericks mutually agree to part ways with head coach Jason Kidd after five seasons.
• 📺 Grey’s Anatomy spinoff based in Texas receives greenlight from ABC; original show creator Shonda Rhimes and current showrunner Meg Marinis are co-creators and exec producers.
• 🏈 Nashville selected by the NFL to host Super Bowl LXIV in 2030. | Chiefs WR Rashee Rice sentenced to serve 30 days in jail after violating his parole by testing positive for marijuana; he’ll miss the Chiefs voluntary practices and mandatory minicamp.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦠 WHO chief says he’s "deeply concerned about the scale and speed" of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, as the death toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo rises past 130.
• 📅 The age at which you gain weight matters when evaluating increased risks of cancer, new study finds; for women, weight gain after 30 seems most dangerous, while men should try to avoid weight gain before 45.
• 🚀 Vega-C rocket from European Space Agency blasts off into space carrying the SMILE spacecraft; it’s designed to capture the first-ever global images of the magnetosphere, or the magnetic bubble that surrounds Earth.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🏛️ Trump admin’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” also includes an agreement to end all pending federal tax audits of President Trump and his businesses; in exchange, Trump is withdrawing lawsuits against the federal government seeking $10+ billion.
• 🗳️ Primary elections were held yesterday in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania; see live results.
• 💥 Senate votes 50-47 to advance a resolution to halt US military action in Iran without congressional approval, after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) switched sides fresh off his primary loss to a Trump-endorsed opponent; the measure still has little chance of becoming law amid GOP opposition.

👆Google is moving beyond the era of the “ten blue links.” The tech giant yesterday unveiled a major AI overhaul of Search, with plans to replace traditional lists of websites with interactive AI experiences. Other planned features include AI agents that can gather information and complete tasks on users’ behalf.

🤔 Did you know? The CIA once launched “Operation Acoustic Kitty,” hoping to train cats to become foreign spies by implanting microphones in their ears and radio transmitters at the base of their skulls. The operation came to a halt when, in its first official test, a cat wandered into the street instead of capturing the conversation of two men on a bench, and was hit by a taxi.

📰 Worth a read: What is the Thucydides Trap, and how does it apply to US-China relations?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Explaining the distinct smell of Abercrombie & Fitch in the 2000s
• The rise of “parallel play” friendships
• 100 best novels of all time

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How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Your challenge is to guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

1. 🦈 400: Number of shark species worldwide
2. 🎧 50,000: Songs uploaded to Spotify per day
3. 🧠 25%: Percentage of the human body’s oxygen used by the brain

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