Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 👶 America’s “baby corridor”
• 🦠 FDA walks back finding of cyclospora parasite
• 🇨🇦 Trump’s new 50% tariffs on Canada

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.89-minute read (1,036 words).

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"Someone who has never failed somewhere, that person cannot be great. Failure is the true test of greatness."

–Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Falling birth rates across the US have been a major talking point for years. But zoom in on the map and a different story starts to emerge: America’s middle is significantly outpacing its edges.

By the numbers: A “baby corridor” stretching through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas continues to post higher fertility rates than the rest of the country, despite a nationwide decline.

The US fertility rate stood at 53.8 births per 1,000 women ages 15-44 in 2024, per CDC data. But across those six central states, the rate was 10%+ higher than the national average, at 59.3 births/1,000 women.

What’s driving America’s ‘middle child syndrome’?

Researchers point to a wide range of reasons:

• Places like Texas and North Dakota are among America’s youngest states, meaning they have more women in their peak childbearing years.
• Child care tends to cost less in middle states than it does in many coastal regions, while cheaper real-estate prices also make buying a family-sized home more realistic.
• Women tend to have more children where they can more easily find higher-paying jobs, and the gender wage gap is lower in places like Dallas compared to Detroit or Pittsburgh, per family demographer Jennifer Glass.

Culture plays a role, too. Americans today are generally marrying and having children later than previous generations, especially in large metro areas. But rural communities and more religious regions tend to see earlier marriages and childbearing, providing a longer window for additional kids.

Worth mentioning: Higher fertility rates don't necessarily mean more babies overall. California still welcomes far more newborns each year than South Dakota despite a far lower birth rate, given its much larger population.

Zoom out: The average American woman is now expected to have about 1.6 children over her lifetime, down from 2.1 in 2007—and 7+ in 1800.

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Taking cholesterol medicine may soon feel less like a doctor’s order and more like your old daily Flintstones vitamin ritual.

The FDA late last week approved Lipfendra, the first daily pill on the market that blocks a key protein and allows the liver to extract and remove more “bad” LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream.

The once-daily tablet was approved after two clinical trials involving 3,200+ adults already taking the highest statin dose they could tolerate to treat high LDL levels.

• Among patients with cardiovascular disease or at high risk for it, LDL cholesterol fell 56% after 24 weeks on Lipfendra compared to a placebo.
• In adults with an inherited form of high cholesterol, LDL levels dropped by 59%.

A heartening development

The FDA’s approval represents a big shift for a class of drugs that, until now, has been dominated by injections costing upwards of $500/month. But Lipfendra, which goes by the generic name enlicitide, is expected to cost ~$315/month.

Merck hopes taking this medication becomes as routine as taking a statin, with primary care doctors able to prescribe it in addition to cardiologists.

Big picture: About 1 in 4 US adults has high LDL cholesterol, according to the American Heart Association.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🎥 Federal judge blocks $81 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger for two weeks while discovery proceeds in an antitrust suit brought by a dozen states; it’s the first step towards potentially granting a preliminary injunction essentially halting the merger from going forward while the case plays out.
• 🚗🤝 Icahn Enterprises, run by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, agrees to sell auto-service chain Pep Boys to private-equity-owned Mavis Tire Express Services for ~$700 million.
• ⚡ BlackRock leads $12+ billion debt sale to finance a massive new Meta-backed datacenter project in El Paso, Texas.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎶 Ella Langley’s “Choosing Texas” earns 14th week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, moving into a tie for fifth-longest stretch ever by a song.
• 🦸 Marvel unveils first full trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, which brings together nearly every hero in the MCU.
• 🏀 NBA Summer League: Golden State Warriors and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg defeat Memphis Grizzlies and star rookie Carlos Boozer to win the Summer League title.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🥬 FDA walks back its claim that Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce tested positive for cyclospora after determining the results were a false positive; the company’s voluntary recall is still in place as FDA testing continues, with iceberg lettuce still believed to be the culprit.
• ☕ Drinking up to five cups of black coffee/day (~400 mg of caffeine) is safe for most adults and isn’t linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, per the American Heart Association; their findings don’t apply to sugary coffee drinks or energy drinks.
• 🪸 Scientists discover thriving coral reef off the coast of Benin in West Africa that had been presumed dead for 60+ years; it’s the Gulf of Guinea's first confirmed mesophotic coral ecosystem, with results suggesting there could be many undiscovered reefs in the area.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🌎 Trump admin to impose 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods—including hockey sticks, wine, and cement—starting next month, citing accusations that Canada is discriminating against US exports.
• 🇨🇳🤖 China is reportedly tightening restrictions on AI companion chatbots as the country grapples with a shrinking population and record-low birthrate.
• 🗳️ Troy Jackson emerges as front runner to replace Graham Platner as Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate, securing support from a majority of delegates ahead of Saturday’s special convention. | Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) plans to run for a full six year Senate term in November, after replacing her late brother Lindsey Graham last week.

☝️ Anduril Industries yesterday unveiled Thunder, the military variant of its autonomous aircraft jointly developed with Archer Aviation. Thunder, which can fly on its own, is designed with armed reconnaissance in mind, and sells for a "fraction of the cost" of traditional manned assets, according to Anduril.

🤔 Did you know? A 2022 study by the National Institutes of Health found a gene that helped people survive the Black Death in the mid-1300s likely had the side effect of increasing susceptibility to autoimmune diseases in modern humans, including Crohn’s disease.

📰 Worth a read: He bought a house ‘sight unseen.’ Then he found three dead bodies.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Find your dream home — search today
• Ancient DNA solves 400-year Medici murder mystery
• 26-y.o. quits corporate job to become seamstress at Yellowstone

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Yesterday we covered how the US-Iran conflict is escalating again, with the cycle of attacks and retaliatory strikes resulting in the deaths of at least three US servicemembers in Jordan and Iraq over the weekend.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, when will the ongoing US-Iran conflict officially conclude?

• Within 0-3 months: 10%
• Within 3-6 months: 15%
• Within 6-12 months: 17%
• At least 1 year: 58%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 482 votes and 39 longform responses.

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👀 Watch: Why every single world map is wrong (5 min)

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❓ Trivia: Originally, Amazon only sold what kind of product?

🦵 True or false?…There are two parts of the body that can't heal themselves.

🧻 A serial record-breaker from Idaho reclaimed his overtaken Guinness title by balancing 195 toilet paper rolls on his forehead for 30 seconds. He said the biggest obstacle wasn't the weight on his neck, but rather stage fright, since one tiny wobble could send the whole TP tower crashing down.

❓ Trivia: Books

🦵 T/F: False; there’s only one part—your teeth.

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