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

• We take a look at “Partygate”
• The SAT is getting a facelift
• And the biggest eyes in the animal kingdom belong to... (Hint: it's pretty giant)

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today's news takes 3.75 minutes to read. Then it’s the fun stuff.

"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions."

–Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

🔍 Yesterday, UK police opened an investigation into gatherings at government offices that allegedly violated Covid lockdown rules. This marks the latest in a string of events the British press is calling “Partygate,” which could lead to the removal of Boris Johnson as prime minister.

• Johnson is facing calls to resign amid revelations that he or his staff attended a series of parties during periods when most social gatherings were banned in England due to Covid.
• He previously apologized after proof surfaced of his presence at a ‘BYOB’ party on the grounds of his official residence in May 2020 while the rest of the country was on lockdown. Johnson has been accused of misleading officials about the event.
• A pair of polls from last week show as many as two-thirds of Brits think the PM should resign. One Conservative lawmaker actually switched to the opposition Labour Party in protest.

👁 Looking ahead… A separate investigation led by senior civil servant Sue Gray into reports of lockdown parties at Downing Street is currently ongoing, with its report on the matter set to be published sometime this week (though it could be delayed).

+Speculation has entered the chat: If the Gray Report prompts 54 Conservative MPs to side against Johnson, he’ll have to face a vote of no-confidence – and if he were to lose it, he’d have to go. At least seven Conservative members of parliament have already called for a vote, while at least 20 others are said to be considering the move.

+Go deeper: Labour Perspective | Conservative Perspective

☝️ US Covid deaths have reached their highest levels since early last year, overtaking daily averages from the recent delta wave per CDC data. New cases are down ~15% over the past week, and hospitalizations are down ~6% over the same period.

A quick recap of other virus-related news:

• The FDA revoked emergency use authorization for monoclonal antibody drugs made by Eli Lilly and Regeneron after several recent studies found they’re ineffective against omicron; several treatments remain effective against the variant, including a monoclonal antibody produced by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology.
• A NY judge threw out the state's mask mandate on Monday, ruling the governor's office doesn’t have the authority to establish such a rule.
• The Biden administration withdrew its emergency Covid vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100+ employees after it was blocked by the Supreme Court last week; OSHA said it’ll continue to pursue the mandate through the regular, lengthier rule-making process.
• Pfizer/BioNTech began testing its omicron-specific vaccine in adults; studies show the original vaccines still offer good protection against severe illness and death.

+Listen to this: In a since-deleted letter published yesterday, Neil Young demanded Spotify remove either his music or The Joe Rogan Experience from the platform “because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines”; Young's music and The JRE are currently both still available.

+Go deeper: From the Left | From the Right

📝→💻 The SAT is going digital. The transition will begin internationally in March 2023 and in the US in March 2024, and will also include the PSAT. Test-takers will be allowed to use their own laptops or tablets, but they’ll still have to sit in-person at a monitored site, not at home.

• The new test will take about two hours, down from three. Reading passages will be shorter and followed by a single question and math problems will be less wordy, executives at the College Board say.
• A growing number of schools have eliminated standardized tests from their application process, citing concerns that scores are often closely tied to a student’s wealth or race.
• This year, more than 76% of all four-year colleges and universities won’t mandate an entrance exam score for admissions, per the nonprofit FairTest.
• Roughly 1.5 million members of the class of 2021 took the SAT at least once, down from 2.2 million in the previous year according to the College Board.

+Go deeper: The 360º View on Standardized College Testing

Simply put, layering is dope. Besides keeping us warm during the cooler months, it lets us mix and match our fancy new pieces with our old favs.

A couple of tips for layering like a pro😎:

• Focus on fabrics: mixing textures can add depth, especially when layers share colors.
• Stick to a couple of color families: blend similar shades and hues for a put-together look.
• Use patterns: just make sure to match the base color with other pieces.

But like anything else, effective layering requires a solid foundation. And what’s the foundation of layering? Essentials!🙌

👚If you want quality clothing that’s comfortable and doesn’t wear out after two washes, check out The Essentials Collection from Sub_Urban Riot.

• Whether it’s silky-soft sweatshirts, perfect-fitting loose tees, quality sweats, or tie-dye muscle shirts, they’ve got you covered.😉

♻️ Sustainable AND Affordable: Sub_Urban Riot clothing isn’t just cozy and stylish. They won’t charge 85 bucks for a t-shirt just because they can, but you won’t see $9 shirts either (which would contribute to an environmental crisis caused by unused and disposed garments).

Use the code DONUT and get 30% off your first order.

Step up your layer game with Sub_Urban Riot.

🤑 Get ready to work-in some new locations for your aspirational Zillow searches, because the most-recent WSJ/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index just dropped.

For those unfamiliar, the index identifies the top metro areas for homebuyers seeking an appreciating housing market and appealing lifestyle amenities – or in other words, the places that give off a “not super boujee yet but will be soon” kinda vibe.

🏆 The top five:

1. Naples/Immokalee/Marco Island (FL)
2. North Port/Sarasota/Bradenton (FL)
3. Kahului/Wailuku/Lahaina (HI)
4. San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles/Arroyo Grande (CA)
5. San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara (CA)

🏠📈 Zoom out: ​​US existing home sales rose to a 15-year high last year as demand surged mainly due to low mortgage-interest rates. Though as more employees opt to work remotely, many seem to be willing to move farther from their jobs in search of a lower cost of living or different lifestyle.

+Florida is booming: Zillow named Tampa its hottest housing market for 2022, and Redfin’s list of the 10 hottest neighborhoods for 2022 included eight in Florida.

💬 Quoted… “The adoption of a cryptocurrency as legal tender, however, entails large risks for financial and market integrity, financial stability, and consumer protection. It also can create contingent liabilities.”

• The story: The International Monetary Fund is urging El Salvador to drop bitcoin as legal tender.

📊 Stat of the day… The underwater volcanic eruption in the South Pacific earlier this month was hundreds of times more powerful than the 1945 Hiroshima nuclear blast, NASA said Tuesday.

🤯 Did you know?… Dolphins are used by the US military to protect nearly a quarter of its nuclear stockpile.

• In the event of an underwater intruder, the dolphins are trained to swim up and place a buoy device on their back or limbs using their mouth, which then inflates and drags the diver to the surface.

📖 Worth a read… ​​How Dua Lipa Stormed the Top of the Charts → (WSJ)

• 👆 AirCar, a flying car from Klein Vision, received official approval from the Slovakian government after completing 70 hours of flight testing. (Read more | Background from the DONUT)
• 📉 US companies using semiconductor chips are down to a five-day supply according to a Commerce Department report; firms typically had a 40-day supply in 2019. (Read more | Go deeper: Intel’s US chip commitment)
• ⚾ David “Big Papi” Ortiz was the only player to clear the 75% threshold for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame; notable snubs in their last year of eligibility include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Curt Schilling.
• 💰🚗 GM will invest $7 billion into EV and battery production in Michigan, its largest single investment in history.

📅 Background: On Monday, we covered the history of abortion, how the process and its public perception have changed over time, and what the future might hold.

🤔 Our question to you: When should abortion be legally allowed?

Under any circumstances

Under most circumstances

Under rare circumstances

Under no circumstances

Unsure/Other

+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.

A growing number of countries are pledging to achieve net-zero emissions. And to accomplish this, many are turning their focus to the livestock industry, which represents ~14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Today, we’re looking at the two main alternatives to conventional meat: plant-based and lab-grown.

🌱 Plant-ing the flag... The plant-based meat industry is still relatively young, with its two major players – Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods – launching their first products within the past decade. Nearly 10% of US restaurants currently offer plant-based meat alternatives, per a report from AI platform Tastewise.

• The most popular plant-based meat products have been shown to produce up to 90% fewer GHG emissions than beef, while reducing land and water usage by similar amounts. They also require slightly less energy to produce.

✋ Yes, but… Many investors aren’t convinced. Beyond Meat is currently the most-shorted company among the top 1,000 US firms, and its stock is down 60+% since July.

And this past week, Impossible Foods – which is still privately held – dismissed more than a dozen employees as part of an internal reorganization.

• “In the past six months, unexpectedly, there has been a rapid deceleration in the category growth rates of plant-based protein,” said Michael H. McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods.

🔬 Back to the lab... This brings us to cell-cultured meat. Using a bioreactor filled with nutrient-rich broth and cell-growth stimulants, scientists can create edible pieces of meat with just a few cells from a live animal.

• All different kinds of stem cells can be grown in a lab, meaning firms can create meats from exotic or endangered species like kangaroos, yaks, giraffes, or bluefin tuna.

✋ Yes, but… Some experts say cultured meats and fish don’t have the full flavor of their conventional counterparts. In real life, animals have muscles that flex and a specific gut biome that influences their development – none of which occurs in a lab.

• It’s also significantly more expensive than regular meat, with a wholesale price around $17 to $23 per pound (which translates to $50+ after markups). Many advocates argue that innovation will continue to decrease costs, though others aren’t so sure.

For weeks, residents of Fox Valley, WI, have been left baffled on garbage days.

After bringing their cans to the end of the driveway in the frigid cold, somehow, they always miraculously ended up empty and back in their garages by the morning – and it wasn't the collection company.

🔎 Playing detective... So resident Melody Luttenegger decided to solve the mystery. After waiting what seemed like forever out on her porch, she was surprised when, just after 8 AM, an older man pulled her cans up the long driveway and into her garage. 

The hero in question? Seventy-five-year-old Dick Pontzloff, who has spent his retirement completing kind deeds for strangers. 

• "I got sick of doing nothing," he told WFRV. "So I started going around and picking up garbage cans. Not just certain ones, everyone's." 

Among land animals, which species has the largest eyes?

A) Ostrich

B) Sloth

C) Lemur

D) Camel

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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A) Ostrich

Their eyes are roughly two inches in diameter, the same size as a pool cue ball and 5x larger than humans.

• The giant squid has the largest eyes in the entire animal kingdom, measuring up to 11 inches in diameter (the size of a soccer ball). 
• And these babies are powerful. They can detect a moving sperm whale from a distance of ~400 feet with virtually no natural light.