Good morning, and a warm welcome to all our new subscribers. In today’s edition:

• ❄️ Europe hops on AC bandwagon
• 📐 Monkeys doing geometry
• 🧑‍🍼 Rise of the “Type C” parent

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.10-minute read (1,091 words).

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“Thinking is a habit, and like any other habit, it can be changed; it just takes effort and repetition.”

–John Eliot (1604-1690)

For decades, much of Europe treated air conditioning like ranch dressing: an American obsession that never really caught on. But after back-to-back summers of record-breaking heat, that mindset is slowly starting to melt.

AC sales heat up across the pond

Only around 1 in 5 European households has air conditioning, compared to roughly 9 in 10 US homes, according to the International Energy Agency.

But that gap may not last much longer:

• Samsung reports its European AC sales posted double-digit year-over-year growth in the first half of 2026
• Meanwhile, appliance maker Midea reported shipments to Spain and France jumped 108% from last year. One of its most popular portable units even sold out after an early heat wave sparked a buying frenzy.

Overall, the number of household AC units across the EU has grown from fewer than 7 million units in 1990 to ~57 million units in 2020, with projections topping 100 million by 2030.

Zoom out: The surge comes as Europe is grappling with hotter-than-usual weather. Researchers estimate a late-June heat wave caused 2,700 heat-related deaths in England and Wales alone, with the hot weather flaring back up in recent weeks.

Looking ahead…Fire crews are currently battling massive blazes in France, Spain, and elsewhere across Europe, fueled by extreme heat and high winds.

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If your food starts descending from the sky, don't panic—it’s not a case of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It's probably just your DoorDash order.

The company launched DoorDash Air, its in-house drone delivery service, this week after receiving FAA approval to operate commercial drone deliveries in the US.

Starting this fall, customers in eligible areas will be able to choose to have smaller orders flown from a nearby launch site, with the drone lowering their food or goods to the ground via tether.

• The company hopes to speed up deliveries for orders traveling between 3-5 miles, which DoorDash says currently take ~25% longer than shorter trips due to driver availability and distance.
• Its Autonomous Delivery Platform will act as the dispatcher, choosing between drivers, drones, Dot the robot, and other delivery options based on each individual order.

Dashing to catch up

Drone delivery has quickly shifted from a Jetsons-style futuristic concept to competitive business, with DoorDash joining Amazon's Prime Air, Alphabet-owned Wing, and Zipline in expanding commercial operations.

Zoom out: The global drone delivery industry has grown from just a few hundred million dollars five years ago to ~$1.4 billion today, with analysts projecting annual growth of 35%-40% over the coming years.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏦 Federal Reserve votes 9-3 to hold benchmark US interest rates steady at a range of 3.5%–3.75%, with three members voting for a quarter-point increase. | 📉 US stocks fall across the board, with Dow recording its worst day since April 2025 (S&P: -1.5% | Dow: -2.2% | Nasdaq: -1.7%).
• 🌐 Brookfield Asset Management and power company NextEra Energy are partnering to build a $100 billion AI data center on the site of a shuttered Cold War-era uranium-enrichment plant in western Kentucky.
• 🏢 Earnings corner: Meta reported record Q2 revenue but lower-than-expected earnings, issued a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast, and reported shrinking free cash flow; shares fell nearly 10% after-hours. | Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, while net income increased 31% year-over-year; shares rose ~3% after-hours.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🙏 Glen Hansard, Oscar-winning Irish singer-songwriter behind the song “Falling Slowly,” died in a motorcycle accident near Dublin early yesterday morning. | 🏆 BTS withdraws from 2027 Grammy consideration in protest of the award show’s new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, saying their music should be judged based on merit rather than being segregated by region.
• 🚨 Jared Leto accused of criminal sexual conduct by four women in new BBC documentary, Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret; alleged offences all took place when the women were teenagers.
• ⛳️ LIV Golf reportedly plans to cancel its $40 million season-ending championship due to lack of money, after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund previously cut off new funding.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦷 Cavities can be stopped without drilling by painting silver diamine fluoride directly on a tooth, per large US study; treatment permanently darkens the decayed part of the tooth, with scientists currently focused on baby teeth.
• 🐒 Monkey math: Researchers find monkeys use some of the same mental strategies as humans to recognize geometric patterns, suggesting foundations of geometry evolved in a common ancestor.
• 🫁 People’s risk-taking behavior increases with slow, deliberate exhales—aka prolonged exhalation—by boosting their focus on potential rewards, per small, proof-of-concept study.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🏛️ Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former face of America’s Covid response, invoked the Fifth Amendment 100+ times during a Senate committee hearing yesterday; it came days after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released excerpts from Fauci’s pandemic-era diary, alleging they contradicted public statements made on school closures and the virus’ origins; Sen. Paul later scheduled a vote to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for exercising the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify, alleging his pardon by former President Biden doesn’t apply.
• 🗳️ Senate votes 86-12 to advance a bipartisan sanctions bill championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that would impose 100% secondary tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and renew sanctions on Iran.
• ☢️ Five US states—TN, LA, OK, UT, and ID —agree to store excess nuclear waste from around the country in exchange for federal support to create nuclear energy hubs; the storage sites, which will be away from population centers, fault lines and flood plains, are part of a multi-decade effort to store 95,000+ metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

☝️A Welsh library recently received two books that had been checked out by a man's grandfather…over a century ago. The overdue titles from the Llanrwst Library survived two World Wars, the creation of the internet, the rise of social media, and more before finally making their way back to the shelves.

🤔 Did you know? Unlike every other rocky planet in our solar system, Mars is shaped more like a rugby ball than a perfect sphere.. The planet features a noticeably triaxial ellipsoid shape, meaning its three axes are all slightly different lengths, which scientists propose could have been caused by tidal forces from a long-lost ancient moon (called Nerio).

📰 Worth a read: The case against reading every email (except The DONUT, of course 😉)

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Rise of the “Type C” parent
• The roller coaster aiming to break 6 world records
• 4 questions to move beyond small talk and make new friends

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Yesterday we covered how President Trump recently escalated his push to eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold so Republicans can pass his voting bill, an idea which previously drew support among some Democrats when they controlled the White House and Congress.

❓ Our question to you: What are your thoughts on the Senate’s legislative filibuster requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation?

• It should remain in place: 72%
• It should be abolished: 15%
• Unsure/other: 13%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 621 votes and 47 longform responses.

Which US state shares the longest border with Canada?

(Keep scrolling for the answer)

🦝 The internet is losing its mind over Jimothy, a Seattle raccoon with a rounded spine and a major case of being-a-silly-goose. The local celebrity has become such a hit that Seattle City Council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck declared this season as “Jimothy Summer,” complete with a Jimothy art contest at local Bergen Place Park.

Alaska

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