Good morning. And to all the couples out there, Happy Valentine’s Day. Almost nothing beats the warm embrace of someone you love blah blah blah. This intro is for our single, perhaps ready to mingle crowd, aka nearly 50% of American adults.

Sure, the couples might have their cutesy posts, lifetime commitments, and dogs with their own Instagram accounts, but ya know what you have: savings. And there ain’t nothin’ sweeter than the love of some cold, hard cash. According to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation (which sounds like a super practical group in Star Wars), people between the ages of 35 to 44 will spend an average of $335.71 on Valentine’s Day gifts.

If you’re single though, that number drops to a big ol’ $0 (based on internal data done at DONUT HQ).

Oh and for the partners of The DONUT staff wondering, “I’m not seeing you spend anywhere close to $335.” Don’t worry – it went towards next month’s rent. Love you!

And with that, THE NEWS.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.99 minutes to read.

“Don't try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff.”

–Betty White (1922-2021)

If The Kids Are All Right was getting a modern-day reboot, it’d probably be titled “The kids are not alright.” According to new CDC research published yesterday, nearly three out of five high school girls in the US reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2021, representing a 60% increase over the previous decade.

🗣📝 Background: The CDC has conducted a survey every other year since 1990, with the stated intention of measuring US high school students’ health and well-being. This most recent survey included responses from more than 17,000 US high school students – and here’s what it found.

• Sadness/hopelessness: The percentage of high-school girls who reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness rose from 36% in 2011 to 57% a decade later. That figure is nearly double the rate for high school boys, which grew from 21% to 29% over the same period.
• Suicidal thoughts: Three in ten high school girls said they seriously considered attempting suicide in 2021, up from 19% a decade prior. For boys that number increased by one percentage-point, to reach 14%.
• Sexual violence: Nearly one in five high school girls reported experiencing sexual violence within the past year. That represents a 20% increase since 2017, the first year the CDC started collecting such data.

👍 But it’s not all doom and gloom… Several measures of teens’ health and well-being have improved since 2011. That includes declines in the usage of alcohol (-41%), marijuana (-31%), and illegal drugs (-32%) – as well as reduced levels of bullying at school (-25%) and fewer instances of risky sexual behavior.

+Important: If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

🇮🇳 India now holds the world’s fifth-largest reserves of lithium, following the recent discovery of a 5.9-million-ton deposit. It marks the first major discovery of lithium in India, with the only other reserves being a deposit of 1,600 tons that was discovered two years ago. It’s also a step towards reduced dependency – up to this point, India had been reliant on Australia, Chile, and Argentina for any imports of lithium, which is a key material in the production of batteries found in most EVs and personal devices (including phones, tablets, and computers).

🇷🇺 The State Department yesterday issued its strongest “Do Not Travel” alert for Russia and warned all Americans to leave the country. The Level 4 advisory cites a range of reasons, including the potential for harassment and wrongful detention, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, and the US Embassy’s limited ability to assist its citizens. And in other Russia-related news, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said yesterday that Russian forces are plotting to overthrow Moldova’s government in order to stop the country from joining the EU alongside Ukraine.

🇨🇳🎈 Chinese officials accused the US of regularly flying high-altitude balloons over its airspace. The White House disputed China’s claims that more than 10 US balloons had flown over Chinese airspace since the start of 2022. Experts noted that Beijing didn’t provide evidence of their existence, or specify whether the balloons were flown over China’s internationally recognised territory versus its claims in the South China Sea, most of which aren’t recognised under international law.

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BeReal's weekly downloads are down ~95% from its 2022 highs, according to a recent tweet from venture capitalist Sasha Kaletsky. Which begs the question: is BeReal about to BeDone?

📈 Let’s back up: BeReal was 2022's wunderkind app. It won Apple's App Of The Year award, soared to popularity with over 50 million installs in the first nine months of last year alone, and inspired hundreds of think pieces asking if the app's "no likes, no followers, no ads" ethos foretold the end of social media as we know it.

📱 The current state of affairs:

• The app has over 70 million total downloads since launching in late 2019.
• 20 million of those people were using it daily as of October, per TechCrunch (for context: about three years after Facebook was launched, the site boasted 20 million monthly active users).
• Many BeReal users are reporting consistent glitching and crashing though; in July 2022, there was a 254% increase in negative reviews for the app, per Apptopia.

👀 Looking ahead… One big business question remains for the ad-free BeReal: how will it make money? Subscriptions, possibly, per the Financial Times (paywalled).

But after raising a $60 million funding round that valued the startup at ~$600 million sometime last year, revenue doesn’t seem to be too top of mind for its team. Per the company’s own website: “You may be wondering if we’ll have ads or how we think about monetizing the app. First, we want to stick around for as long as you’ll have us, but working with brands is not our priority.”

Spirit sales surpassed beer in market share last year for the first time ever, according to a new industry report based on supplier revenues. And though the switch has been coming for a while, the journey to get here has arguably been longer than Shrek’s trek across deserts and mountains to rescue Fiona.

For the previous 12 years, spirits had been gaining market share on beer. But in 2022, they finally got the monkey off their back – but juuuuuuust by a little bit.

• Spirit sales hit a record $37.58 billion last year, a 5.1% year-over-year increase. Beer sales, which include hard seltzers, clocked in at $37.46 billion.
• That works out to give spirits a 42.1% market share in the US, vs. 41.9% for beer (wine holds the other ~16%).

🍺🍸 Big picture: Even though beer’s market share is shrinking, revenue is still increasing. But America’s consumption habits are shifting – away from the type of beer you’d want to day-drink in college, and towards more premium craft beers. Sales of craft beer jumped 8% year-over-year in 2021, compared to just a 1% increase in overall beer sales.

And the premium alcohol trend carries over to spirits, too. The AP reports that more than 60% of the spirit sector’s total US revenue last year came from sales of high-end and super-premium spirits, mostly led by tequila and American whiskey.

💬 Quoted…​​ “All of your other piddly recipes are just David in the face of beef stew. It keeps trucking.”

The most popular recipe in the New York Times Cooking database – containing thousands of what it calls the best recipes in the world – is old-fashioned beef stew. And it’s not just a flash in the pan: it's held the title for decades now, and like LeBron is still putting up big numbers.

• The recipe, which carries an average rating of five stars, has been viewed more than 24 million times over the past three years.

✈️ Number of the Day: A United Airlines flight from Hawaii to San Francisco came within 800 feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean in December; the previously unreported incident was revealed on Sunday by airline industry publication The Air Current.

🤯 Did You Know?... There isn’t a special “queen bee egg”; bees can turn any normal worker egg into a new queen by feeding it a special diet called royal jelly.

📖 Worth a Read: The unknown giants of the deep oceans and how they’re discovered → (BBC Future)

• ☝️ A meter-long asteroid made impact with the Earth’s surface early Monday morning, creating a bright flash in the skies over Western Europe; the asteroid was first detected before it entered Earth’s atmosphere, which has only happened six other times.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏭🚘 Ford announced plans to build a $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, in partnership with a Chinese supplier.
• 📈 Shares of Palantir rose as much as 19% in extended trading yesterday after the data analytics company reported its first profitable quarter.
• 🪙 New York regulators yesterday ordered crypto firm Paxos to stop minting new tokens of Binance USD, the world’s third-largest stablecoin, citing issues related to Paxos’ relationship with Binance; Paxos also confirmed it’s the subject of an ongoing SEC investigation in connection with BUSD.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🦖💜 Barney is back, Mattel announced yesterday, and the purple dinosaur has an all-new look (millennials be warned, this new Barney is… a lot).
• 📺 Arrested Development is leaving Netflix, the streamer told Hollywood Reporter yesterday; the licensing agreement for all five seasons will expire on March 15th.
• 🏀 The University of Alabama men’s basketball team scored the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time in 20 years.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🛰️ A Russian space freighter docked at the ISS has sprung a coolant leak, making it the second Russian vessel to do so since December; the new leak isn’t expected to interfere with operations as the craft was set to be ditched over the Pacific Ocean.
• 🐁 An international team of scientists managed to grow mini human intestines with a working immune response inside mice; the breakthrough could lead to more robust testing of the effects of drugs on the human body, per a new study published in Nature Biotechnology .

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚫⚠️ The EPA said it hasn’t detected any "levels of concern" of hazardous substances within homes located in East Palestine, Ohio, where a 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed earlier this month – though local residents have reported finding hundreds of dead fish and chickens.
• 🏛️ Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton was fired yesterday by President Biden after an inspector general's report alleged that he abused his government vehicle and misrepresented himself as a law-enforcement official.
• 🍫💰 Mars Wrigley was fined by US safety regulators after two workers fell into a vat of chocolate at a Pennsylvania factory.
• ⚖️ A Georgia judge ordered the partial release of a report by a special grand jury that investigated efforts by former President Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results; excerpts will be made available on Thursday. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

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Yesterday we covered a resolution from House Democrats seeking to expel Rep. George Santos from the chamber over falsehoods he told while campaigning (which isn’t expected to pass), as well as a pending House Ethics Committee investigation into Santos’ conduct.

❓ Our question to you: Do you think Rep. Santos should be expelled from the House?

• 👍 Yes: 75%
• 👎 No: 14%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 11%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 14,180 votes and 1,095 longform responses.

Farms around the world are slowly starting to integrate solar panels into their pastures. 

🐑☀️ Unbaalievable benefits... The movement benefits not only renewable energy efforts, but the sheep and other livestock as well.

• Shade from the solar panels provides the perfect lounging area for the livestock; it also helps grass and other plants flourish with protection from the sun. 
• These new projects combining farming and solar energy are called agrivoltaics. 

❓ Trivia: On which holiday did Alexander Graham Bell submit his patent for the telephone?

💕 True or False?... Valentine’s Day is named after the Greek goddess of love.

🤔 Riddle Me This: What can be touched, but can’t be seen?

(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.👇

❓ Trivia: Valentine’s Day

💕 T/F: False, it's named after St. Valentine

🤔 Riddle: A heart... at least we hope it can't be seen😅