Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. As you’ve probably guessed, running a newsroom of writers with contrary opinions can lead to some passionate (yet civil) debates. But there is one thing that no one in our writer’s room really disputes: the idea that animals are a lot smarter than we humans give them credit for.

Let’s just say that putting together today’s email was incredibly validating.

On the docket:

• Peng Shuai resurfaced
• Frontier and Spirit shared some big news
• And single people may not have love this Valentine’s Day – but they’ll have chicken sandwiches

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today's news takes 3.96 minutes to read. Then we morph from the DONUT → The Riddler.

"You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren't paying attention to."

–Robin Williams (1951-2014)

🚯 More than 1 billion cigarette butts are left on the streets of Sweden each year, making it the country's most prevalent type of litter (62% of the overall total).

But Swedish startup Corvid Cleaning believes they have a more efficient and cost-effective solution to curb the waste: crows. The birds are taking part in a project to clean up the littered butts on a voluntary basis, and were specifically chosen because of their intelligence (more on that later).

⚙️ How it works:

• Crows are trained to pick up cigarette butts they spot on the street
• They bring those cigarette butts to a machine created by Corvid Cleaning
• After the crow drops the butt into the machine, it dispenses a food reward 👇

+Zoom out: A similar method was used by a Dutch startup in 2017, and by a French historical theme park called Puy du Fou in 2018. The idea for the latter stemmed from the park's falconry display where the birds picked up roses and brought them to a 'princess' in a castle, EuroNews reports.

Corvid Cleaning will complete a test in the Swedish city of Södertälje before potentially rolling out its method more widely (with the birds' health being a key consideration given what they're picking up). Globally, more than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered into the environment each year.

+Go deeper: Crows can use tools, remember people's faces and share grudges, transfer knowledge, solve complex puzzles, understand the concept of zero, and even mourn their dead. Some studies suggest their level of reasoning equals that of a 7-year-old human.

Learn more about crows, possibly the smartest non-primate species on the planet.

✈️🤝 Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines agreed to a $6.6 billion merger yesterday. If approved, the two largest domestic low-cost carriers would combine to create the fifth-largest airline in the US.

• The deal is structured so that Frontier controls 51.5% of the merged airline, with Spirit holding the remaining 48.5%. The new company will be chaired by longtime discount airline exec Bill Franke.
• The two airlines didn’t announce a new name, CEO, or headquarters location for the combined entity. Those will be revealed after the transaction closes, which is expected in the second half of this year pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
• In 2013, Spirit and Frontier had 2.8% of the revenue passenger miles flown by US airlines, per the Department of Transportation. By 2019, their combined market share nearly doubled to 5.4%.

+The big picture: The Justice Department has expressed concern about a reduction in airline competition in recent years. It’s challenged the handful of industry M&As over the past decade, requiring certain concessions from airlines before allowing them to proceed.

But the CEOs of Spirit and Frontier characterized their merger as increasing competition by creating another airline that can compete with the ‘Big Four’ – Delta, United, Southwest, and American – which control a combined ~75% of the US airline market share.

🎥⚖️ Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, co-producer of The Matrix: Resurrections, filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. yesterday, accusing the entertainment giant of breaching its contract by releasing the movie simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters.

• At the center of the lawsuit is The Matrix: Resurrections’ less-than-stellar performance at the box office, where it just recently passed $150 million globally on a ~$190 million budget.
• The suit calls out Warner Bros. for delaying the movie from April 2021 to late December and offering it to HBO Max subscribers at no additional cost, which Village Roadshow argues played a large role in the film’s relatively poor box office showing.
• In a statement, Warner Bros. called the lawsuit “a frivolous attempt by Village Roadshow to avoid their contractual commitment.”

+The big picture: When Warner Bros. unveiled its strategy to put its 2021 slate of movies on HBO Max and in theaters, it drew the wrath of many Hollywood producers and stars, who feared they would be shortchanged by the move.

The studio ended up cutting new deals with much of the talent involved in its 2021 films, which reportedly cost Warner Bros. $200+ million. No such deal regarding The Matrix: Revolutions was reached.

+It’s not just Warner Bros… Last July, Scarlett Johansson sued Disney alleging a similar breach of contract when her Marvel film Black Widow was released simultaneously on Disney+ and in theaters. She was reportedly seeking $50 million and later settled for undisclosed terms.

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🦧🐛 Chimpanzees regularly perform first aid on themselves and each other, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology.

• Starting in 2019, researchers in the Central African country of Gabon studied a population of 45 wild chimps living in the local rainforests.
• Over a 15-month period, they observed nearly 80 instances where the animals would grab an insect, stun it using their mouth, and gently apply the bug to an open wound on their body. It’s the first evidence of any non-human species applying insects to a wound.
• In three of those instances, the chimps applied their homemade insect poultice to a different group members’ injuries, which many say could end a long-running debate over whether chimps can display prosocial behavior.
• The study’s authors have yet to identify the type of insect these chimps are using, but they’ve narrowed it down to a species that’s less than a quarter-inch long and can fly.

+Zoom out: ​​Researchers have previously recorded self-medicating behaviors among chimps, such as chewing plant pith and swallowing whole leaves to kill intestinal parasites.

💬 Quoted… “Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault… This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world.”

• Context: Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai announced her retirement in a controlled interview in Beijing published yesterday. In it, the former No. 1-ranked doubles player also walked back previous sexual assault allegations she made against a former top Chinese official.
• The Women's Tennis Association, which has suspended all tournaments in China in response to concerns about Peng's well-being, said the interview “does not alleviate any of our concerns about her initial post.”

🔢 Stat of the day: The canned-cocktail market is expected to hit $4.5B this year, and grow 13x over the next decade.

+Go deeper: The Great Alcohol Battle

🤯 Did you know?… Sweden once experimented with a speed camera lottery system, where driving at or under the speed limit would make you eligible to win money from fines paid by speeders.

📖 Worth a read… Meet the NSA spies shaping the future → (MIT Technology Review)

• 👆 French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Moscow yesterday to meet with Putin… at a realllly long table.
• 🪜 Peter Thiel is stepping down from Meta’s board of directors.
• 🏫 New Jersey, Connecticut & Delaware will lift mask mandates for students and school employees starting next month. (From the Left | From the Right)
• ⚖️ The Supreme Court restored Alabama’s GOP-backed redistricting map in a 5-4 decision. (From the Left | From the Right)

+Love is in the air: With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, DoorDash and Shake Shack are launching a new limited-time dating app that rewards users with a free chicken sandwich when they match with someone.

Dillon Helbig has quickly become one of Idaho's most-popular authors following the success of his debut novel, The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis.

• The catch? Dillon is only eight years old – and he never actually had the novel published. 

Late last year, Dillon snuck his 81-page book into the local library and placed it on a shelf while the librarians weren't looking. They didn't find his novel until a few days later. 

📕 Part of the collection... Rather than throwing away his homemade book, the librarians gained Dillon's permission to sticker and catalog his novel as an official part of the library. 

• His story became an overnight hit, with the single copy currently featuring a waiting list of over 87 people.  

1. You have these fifteen matchsticks.👆 Remove six of them and leave ten.
2. The more you take of me, the more you leave behind. What am I?
3. This belongs to you, but everyone else uses it. (Hint: It’s not a physical object)

(answers at the bottom of the email)

Who’s the highest-grossing supporting actor of all time (excluding cameos)?

A) Margot Martindale

B) Warwick Davis

C) J.K. Simmons

D) Joe Pesci

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Check out our referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to this newsletter. 👇

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Dose of Knowledge:

B) Warwick Davis

• The English actor/comedian takes the top spot predominantly due to his appearances in both Star Wars (various roles including Ewoks) and Harry Potter (Professor Flitwick).

Puzzle answers:

1) By removing six matchsticks, you’re able to spell the word “ten”

2) Footsteps

3) Your name