Good morning. To all the moms out there who felt like a completely different person after having your baby, science agrees!

Not that you needed any more proof, but a study published last month in Nature Communications found significant changes occurred in the brain during pregnancy – including the loss of gray matter and changes to the “default mode network,” a group of brain regions involved in how you perceive and think about yourself – “contributing to the transformation in a woman's identity and focus that often [accompanies] new motherhood," per the authors.

When asked for comment, the wife of one DONUT employee (and new mom to a beautiful baby) said, “I don’t have the brain space to comment on this, I’m too busy being a working mom.” 

And on that note, here's a BIG shoutout to all the hardworking moms out there. We love and appreciate you❤️.

In today’s edition:

• 🚫 Should the US ban TikTok?
• 🇷🇺 Brittney Griner comes home
• ☄️ On the origin of our species

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.19 minutes to read.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

–William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

If you’re one of the more than 87 million Americans currently on TikTok, prepare for some bad news. The app and its magical FYP, aka the free-time eater, could soon go away for good😱.

Indiana filed a pair of lawsuits against TikTok on Wednesday, alleging the short-form video platform violated state law by 1) not disclosing the Chinese government's potential to access sensitive consumer information, and 2) rating the app for ages 12+ despite easy access to inappropriate content.

The suits, which the Indiana AG said are the first of their kind, were announced the same day that Texas banned the use of TikTok on all gov’t-issued devices, making the Lone Star state the fourth to do so over the past nine days.

And it’s not just some states with concerns. On a federal level, the app is banned from all Department of Defense-issued devices – and just last month, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr was quoted in an interview as saying, “I don’t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a [blanket] ban,” in reference to the short-form video app.

⏩🚫 Why all the fuss??... To put it simply, many regulators and lawmakers in the US are worried about the app’s ability to pass data to the CCP. All companies headquartered in China – a box that Bytedance, which owns TikTok, solidly checks – are legally required to render assistance to the government whenever asked, which includes providing info on individuals, customers, and companies.

And while TikTok has maintained that it does not share data to China, only storing US users’ information in America and Singapore, a series of recent reports challenge this assertion.

• At least some TikTok engineers based in China had access to nonpublic US user information, including phone numbers and birthdays, BuzzFeed reported in June.
• And a Forbes report, published in late October, details how ByteDance planned to use the app to collect information about certain US users.

👀 Looking ahead… TikTok is currently in negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US over how – or if – it can continue doing business in America.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, should TikTok be banned from every device in the US?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

🇵🇪 Peru swore in Dina Boluarte as its new president, making her the country’s first female prez in history. But the path to get there was anything but straightforward. On Wednesday, then-President Pedro Castillo announced plans to dissolve Peru’s legislature and rewrite the constitution, just hours before lawmakers held a vote to impeach him for alleged corruption. Castillo, who faced three total impeachment motions over his 17 months in power, was then arrested by Peru’s military. Vice President Dina Boluarte assumed Castillo’s role after lawmakers voted to impeach and remove him Wednesday evening.

🇮🇷 Yesterday, Iran carried out its first known execution of a prisoner arrested during ongoing anti-government protests. 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari, one of 11 people known to have been sentenced to death in relation to the protests, was convicted of “moharebeh” – a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God,” per APNews. Iranian authorities said Shekari blocked a street in Tehran while holding a machete, and injured a member of the country’s security forces. More than 1,000 Iranians arrested during the protests are facing indictments, per officials.

🇰🇷 South Koreans are set to get a year or two younger under new measures approved by parliament. The National Assembly passed a set of bills yesterday requiring the use of the international age-counting system, where age is based on birth date. Most citizens currently abide by their "Korean age," where a person is one year old as soon as they are born, and everyone collectively becomes one year older on New Year's Day. But starting in June, those ages will no longer be permitted on official documents.

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• Thoughtful gifts, just in time for the holidays
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🐌👍 Sometimes we need to be reminded faster isn’t always better, and what better way than with lifestyle goods that blend modern style with time-tested contemporary design?

Rediscover a slower approach to life today with Darling Spring.

After 294 days of being imprisoned in Russia for possession of less than a gram of hash oil, American and WNBA star Brittney Griner is headed home. Her release was officially secured yesterday as part of a one-for-one prisoner swap between the US and Kremlin.

🤔 Who did the US give up for Griner?... A convicted Russian arms dealer named Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death.” Bout had been in US custody for the past decade, after being convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for supplying weapons to a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill Americans. He’s also thought to be the inspiration behind the 2005 Nicolas Cage film Lord of War.

🇺🇸🤝🇷🇺 Behind the deal: Griner was arrested in February. Two days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. And while the US maintained Griner was wrongfully detained, the invasion added layers of complexity to securing her release.

• As negotiations dragged on, it reportedly became clear that Russia was pushing for the US to release Bout – a pretty big ask (case in point: a CBS 60 Minutes segment in 2010 labeled him “one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth”).
• This led the Biden admin to “negotiate hard,” per the BBC, to include Paul Whelan, a US corporate security exec currently serving 16 years in Russian prison for espionage, in any deal. America says he was also falsely imprisoned.

Negotiations reportedly came to a head over the past few weeks, after Russia responded to the last American proposal by saying they’d only accept Griner for Bout. The swap took place at a UAE airfield yesterday (pictured above), and Griner officially landed in the US this morning.

The global population just passed 8 billion last month. And if you think about it, all of that life had to stem from somewhere.

Enter: a new study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Central Science, which provides evidence that a unique type of radioactive meteorite may have initially brought life to Earth billions of years ago.

The study, conducted by researchers from Japan’s Yokohama National University, focused on carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, a specific class of meteorites containing small organic molecules as well as relatively large amounts of water.

Previous studies have shown that chemical reactions between these organic molecules and water can produce amino acids, otherwise known as the building blocks for life. But heat is also an essential ingredient in this equation – and rather lacking in space, which has a baseline temp of minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit.

• This is where the newly-published study comes to the rescue. Its main breakthrough was proving experimentally that the meteorites’ radioactivity could produce enough heat for amino acid reactions to occur.

✋ Yes, but… Amino acids can form via many different processes, including spontaneously when water droplets meet the Earth’s atmosphere. So while this study presents a possible candidate for the origin of life on our planet – and further validates the panspermia theory, which claims the original building blocks for life didn’t originate on Earth but were brought here by meteorites billions of years ago – additional research is still needed to determine the true origin of our species.

+Dive deeper: How did life evolve to how we know it today?

💬 Quoted…​​ “Alexa, thank my driver.”

• Starting Wednesday, every time an Amazon customer says the above phrase within earshot of an Alexa device, the driver who delivered their most recent package will receive a $5 tip at no additional cost to the customer. The company said it’ll dish out tips for the first 1 million “thank-you’s.”

⚡⛽ Stat of the Day: GM this week installed the first in a planned rollout of 40,000 new EV chargers across its network of North American dealerships, which the automaker said will almost double the number of public charging stations in the US and Canada.

• Nearly 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of a General Motors dealership, per a company executive.

🤯 Did You Know?... The longest-running lab experiment in the world is the Pitch Drop experiment, which demonstrates how pitch – a derivative of tar – is the thickest known fluid in existence. Only nine drops of pitch have fallen in the 95 years since the experiment began.

📖 Worth a Read: Scammers Are Scamming Other Scammers Out of Millions of Dollars → (WIRED)

🤔 On second thought, maybe thinking inside the box isn’t so bad… maybe we should actually lean into it instead. Is this just our cat brains talking? Perhaps, but we’re just excited about these boxes in particular!

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Think “inside the box” this year with Gift Boxes from The WMarketplace!

• ☝️NASA’s Orion capsule, part of the Artemis I mission, made its final pass around the Moon this week and snapped these high-res photos of the lunar dark side; Orion is scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🛍 Amazon launched Inspire, a new TikTok-like feature on its app allowing customers to buy products from a curated feed of photos and videos.
• ⚖️ The FTC filed an antitrust complaint yesterday to stop Microsoft's $75 million acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
• 🪙 FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried missed yesterday’s deadline for the Senate Banking Committee’s request to testify at an upcoming hearing; Chairwoman Maxine Waters said yesterday a subpoena for SBF is “definitely on the table” following reports that she didn't plan to compel his presence at the hearing.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder was accused of obstructing a congressional inquiry into the team’s toxic culture, per a House committee report released yesterday; the NFL was also at fault, the report claimed, for protecting Snyder by burying the investigation.
• 🍿 Wonder Woman 3 was axed this week by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new heads of DC Film, per The Hollywood Reporter. | Disney+ launched a cheaper, ad-supported tier for $7.99 per month yesterday; the price for the ad-free tier has increased to $10.99 per month.
• 🎤 Celine Dion postponed the remainder of her European tour after being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological condition. (Watch Dion’s video here.)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 The FDA authorized updated Covid vaccine boosters for kids as young as 6 months yesterday.
• 🚽 UC Boulder scientists recently demonstrated how tiny invisible particles are rapidly ejected when a lidless toilet is flushed, remaining suspended in the air for several minutes or longer.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 💵 The US printed its first currency in history with two female signatures on it yesterday; the new $1 and $5 bills feature autographs from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Treasury Chief Lynn Malerba.
• 🏛️ The House voted 258-169 to approve legislation that would cement same-sex marriage rights into federal law, sending the measure to President Biden for his signature. | The chamber also overwhelmingly approved an $858 billion defense bill that would eliminate the US military’s Covid vaccine mandate, sending the measure to the Senate.

CLICKBAIT

• 🌎☄️ This website lets you simulate an asteroid impact in your hometown.

The DONUT’s weekly news quiz is back. In just two minutes or less, see how your news superpowers stack up against our team.

Six years ago, Reuben Ray from Grand Rapids, Michigan, suffered two strokes and kidney failure. He luckily recovered, but was forced to go on dialysis to keep his kidneys functioning.

• While dealing with all of these life changes, his doctor recommended he adopt an emotional support dog.

🐶 D-O-G... Reuben adopted a chihuahua soon after, naming him D-O-G, or OG for short. For years, OG has kept Reuben company at his dialysis treatments, and also when he moved into an assisted living home. 

• That is, until he went missing just over a month ago😢. 

❤️ Lost, then found: After reaching out to his local community, Reuben was overwhelmed with how many people responded and searched for the lost dog. Just two weeks after OG went missing, he was found and reunited with his grateful owner.

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Unsweetened chocolate
• Unsalted butter
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Vanilla
• Powdered sugar
• Peppermint extract
• Milk
• Red food colo
• Dark chocolate chips

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Butter
• Apple
• Ground cinnamon
• Fresh sage
• Pork tenderloin
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• Shallots
• White wine
• Chicken broth
• Apple cider
• Heavy whipping cream

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Onion
• Carrots
• Celery sticks
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Red pepper flakes
• Thin-skin potatoes
• Garlic cloves
• Chicken or vegetable stock
• Bay leaves
• Fresh thyme
• Cream or coconut milk

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

☝️ Recipe #1: Candy cane brownies

✌️ Recipe #2: Roasted pork tenderloin with sage

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Creamy vegetable soup