Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. On today’s docket:

• Crypto has run into a rough patch. Should we be worried?
• Don't Look Up hits a new milestone
• And a pig's heart is beating inside a human for the first time

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today's newsletter takes 4.46 minutes to read.

"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength."

–Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

For transparency’s sake, we place any corrections front-and-center.

1. Anyone who replied to the email yesterday had your message routed to a nonexistent email address – so if you sent us a note or question, we completely missed it. A thousand apologies; please copy + paste your message in a reply to today’s email and we’ll take care of you.
2. We included the wrong link in yesterday’s sponsored section. You can still skip the waitlist and get 20% off ultra-sustainable and custom-built jeans from unspun by clicking here. (Their jeans are actually sick. Unspun was one of TIME’s “Best Inventions of 2021”)

🔢 By the numbers… The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency briefly fell below $40,000 on Monday as it, ether, and other altcoins struggle through what’s known as a ‘bear market.’ That’s when prices fall 20% or more from recent highs over a sustained period of time, often at least two months.

• Since November, when bitcoin reached its all-time high of nearly $69,000, the entire crypto market has lost roughly one-third of its combined market cap, which currently stands at ~$2 trillion.

🌍 Around the world: When China, the previous world leader in crypto mining, banned the industry outright last year, that didn’t stop folks from mining – instead, many moved to other energy-rich countries to stay in business. But over the past few months, Iran and Kosovo implemented crypto mining bans, citing soaring energy prices and blackouts.

📈 The big picture: While recent crypto news may seem all doom-and-gloom, we try to keep things in perspective. The sector’s market cap nearly tripled last year – ether notched a 408% gain, and bitcoin outperformed both gold and the S&P 500 for the third straight year (+70%).

Growing institutional adoption was also a bright spot in 2021.

• VC funding for crypto asset firms rose 720% to $25.1 billion, according to data from The Block Research, while mainstream companies like Tesla and Block purchased millions – or billions – worth of crypto as a long-term investment.

👁️ Looking ahead… Lawmakers in DC are still trying to figure out how to establish rules and guidelines to make crypto safer for investors and less appealing to cybercriminals. Scammers took home a record $14 billion in crypto in 2021.

• SEC Chair Gary Gensler recently said “a lot of people are likely to get hurt” if stricter regulation isn’t introduced to protect against fraud and manipulation.

+For crypto investors: The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law last November includes tax reporting provisions that make it easier for the IRS to track crypto activity among Americans – here's what you need to know.

🐷❤️ In a first-of-its-kind surgery, doctors at the University of Maryland announced the successful transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a human this week.

• 57-year-old Dave Bennett, who doctors said was too ill to qualify for a regular human heart, remains in stable condition four days after the procedure and is being weaned off a respiratory machine.
• ​​The donor heart came from a one-year-old pig that had been genetically modified to decrease the likelihood the patient's body would reject it.
• Doctors expressed caution when discussing Bennet's long-term health because "it's never been done before."
• But – "It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice," Bennett told Maryland's School of Medicine before the operation.
• This week's milestone follows a breakthrough surgery last year in which a pig's kidney was successfully transplanted to a human host, though the patient was brain-dead at the time.

+Not-so-fun fact: An average of 17 Americans die every day while waiting for an organ transplant.

+Explore: Three ethical issues surrounding pig heart transplants.

🦠 The Biden administration ordered private insurers to cover the cost of up to eight over-the-counter Covid tests per month per covered individual starting this Saturday. A quick recap of other virus-related news:

• The CDC estimates omicron made up 97% to 99% of all new cases for the week ending Saturday.
• The US reported a record seven-day average of nearly 140,600 people hospitalized with Covid yesterday; many people are showing up at hospitals for other reasons and then testing positive, according to some hospital and state data.
• The current seven-day moving average of US deaths is 1,633 – roughly half the 3,000+ per day seen in January 2021, when the previous hospitalization record was set.
• CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday revealed that 75% of deaths among fully vaccinated individuals occurred in people "who had at least four comorbidities."
• A handful of countries, including parts of Canada and Peru, are re-entering lockdowns due to a recent surge in cases and hospitalizations. On Monday, China, the only major country still pursuing a zero-Covid strategy, locked down its third city in as many weeks.

+Connecting the dots... Many global companies, including Samsung, Toyota, Nike, and Volkswagen, have reported recent supply-chain disruptions due to omicron lockdowns (especially in China).

Look, we get it. After all, it’s not hard to see why people go crazy for cashmere:

🙂 It’s soft!

😀 It’s lightweight!

😃 It’s warm!

😁 It’s luxurious!

😍 With proper care, it can last a lifetime!

If you’re one of many cashmere fans worldwide… we have good news for you. Our friends at Bellacor have decided to extend their temporary price reduction on their Reversible Solid Cashmere Throw Blanket until Jan. 22nd!

And if cashmere isn’t your thing… we have good news for you, too. Just for being a loyal reader of the DONUT, you can use the code DONUT25 to save an additional 25% on your purchase of select throws through January 18th!!!🍩😎

If you’re looking to upgrade your living space this new year, Bellacor has a wide range of products, styles, and price points from trusted brands to fit any budget.

• With excellent customer service, low prices, and free shipping on most orders, shopping with Bellacor is a no-brainer. 🤑 Just make sure to visit daily as they are always adding awesome new deals…

Check out Bellacor.com for your home decor needs

🌎☄️ ... but Don't Look Up is looking up to #1. The film has officially become Netflix's second-most successful movie of all time, Deadline first reported yesterday.

• Netflix calculates movie metrics by hours watched in a title's first 28 days on the platform, when the vast majority of viewing hours are recorded. Don't Look Up has been viewed more than 321 million hours since debuting on Christmas Eve.
• Spy caper Red Notice is still #1 (for now), notching more than 364 million hours in its first 28 days. Sandra Bullock-led thriller Bird Box clocks in at #3 with a little over 282 million hours viewed.
• Don't Look Up's plot centers on a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence playing distraught scientists scrambling to get politicians to act – and the public to believe them. Per Director Adam McKay, the comet stands as a metaphor for the climate crisis.
• The film's current Rotten Tomatoes' audience score stands at 78%. Its audience summary reads: "Although it can be heavy-handed with its messaging, Don't Look Up tackles important subjects with humor and heart."

+More Netflix metrics: On the TV side, Both Season 1 and Season 2 of The Witcher are now in Netflix's top ten of all time.

+A big few weeks for Leo: The actor's climate activism helped save a critically endangered tree in Cameroon... so scientists named it Uvariopsis dicaprio last week.

💬 Quoted… "Petitioners made no attempt to respond over the radio when their unit was called… For approximately the next 20 minutes, the DICVS [in-car recording system] captured petitioners discussing Pokémon as they drove to different locations where the virtual creatures apparently appeared on their mobile phones."

• Context: A pair of LAPD officers were fired in 2017 for ignoring a robbery in progress to – no joke – catch a Snorlax in Pokémon Go, according to ​court records recently uncovered by Axios.

🤯 Did you know?… The peacock mantis shrimp has the most powerful punch in the animal kingdom relative to its size. If humans were as strong as these miraculous creatures, we'd be able to literally throw a baseball into Earth's orbit.

📖 Worth a read… UFOs, the Channel Islands, and the Navy's 'drone swarm' mystery

• 👆 A near-complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur, or “sea dragon,” was uncovered at a British nature reserve in one of the country’s greatest fossil discoveries.
• ⚾ The NY Yankees hired Rachel Balkovec as manager of the Tampa Tarpons, its Low-A affiliate; the 34-year-old will be the first woman ever to manage an affiliated minor league team full time.
• 🪙 Poet Maya Angelou became the first Black woman to appear on the quarter when the US Mint officially began shipping coins featuring her image this week.
• 🚗🌐 GM is launching a used car website called CarBravo.
• 🏫 Chicago's public schools will return to classrooms today for the first time in five school days after the teachers union and the city agreed to a tentative deal. (From the Left | From the Right | See the 360° view on school during omicron).

+Clickbait: Watch an escaped herd of ostriches stampede through a Chinese city.

Are you currently invested in crypto? (Follow-up: Why or why not?)

Yes

No

+Note: A written response isn't required – all you need to do is click one of the links above and your vote is recorded. Poll results and the best comments for each response will be featured in tomorrow’s newsletter.

It was nearly 2 AM when a team of firefighters and paramedics in Orange County, CA, went to drop a patient off at the local hospital late last month. 

• In the few minutes their truck was left unattended, a man jumped in the driver's seat and drove away, beginning an hour-long police chase to retrieve the vehicle. 

🚒 An unexpected hero... Eventually, Richard Lynn, a homeless man who saw the drama unfold, ran out into the street to block the vehicle's path. 

• The truck came to a stop, and Richard and the driver spoke through the windshield for more than 20 minutes. Finally, he stepped peacefully out of the vehicle and surrendered.

One witness explained that all Richard wanted was for the driver to be okay: "[He] kept telling him, 'please get out of the truck. We don't want to hurt you,' and finally, the guy opened the door and surrendered peacefully."

Which pop star catapulted to fame by winning the first-ever season of American Idol in 2002?

A) Carrie Underwood

B) Avril Lavigne

C) Alicia Keys

D) Kelly Clarkson

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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D) Kelly Clarkson

Half-credit to those who picked Carrie Underwood, since she's the only other singer listed to have actually won American Idol (in Season 4).