Good morning. We’ve got an absolute banger of a newsletter for ya today:

• 🛫 NASA is working on supersonic passenger jets
• 🇪🇸 Spain’s #MeToo moment continues to gain steam
• 💎 Lab-created diamonds are *Silicon Valley voice* disrupting the global industry, bro

Let’s rock ‘n roll.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.99-minute read.

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"Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn something new."

–Augustine "Og" Mandino (1923-1996)

For those of you who’ve dreamt of having dinner in New York and dessert in Paris (or vice versa), NASA has you covered.

The space agency is currently developing a “quiet” supersonic aircraft that can travel up to 5x faster than current passenger jets – which would allow travelers to fly from New York to London in just 90 minutes – it revealed in a press release last week.

🌬️✈️ Background: After investigating the business case for passenger air travel at speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (1,535-3,045 mph) over the past few years, NASA concluded that potential passenger markets exist in about 50 currently established routes to and from the US.

And these routes all have one thing in common: like The Flying Dutchman, they travel over water. Since laws in many countries – including America – prohibit supersonic air travel over land due to the loud noise it produces (think: sonic boom), each of these 50 routes would fly across either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

But that may not be the case for much longer

NASA hopes the new “quiet” supersonic aircraft it’s developing, called X-59, will provide data to regulators that helps change those rules.

• If everything goes to plan, X-59 will produce a sonic boom with a ground volume level of ~75 decibels, about the same amount of noise as a vacuum cleaner.
• For reference: the now-retired supersonic Concorde jet – which had a top speed of 1,354 mph, enabling NYC-London trips in three hours – produced a continuous sonic boom of 110 decibels, roughly equivalent to the sound of thunder. Normal conversation comes in at roughly 60 decibels (just fyi though, the decibel scale isn’t linear).

👀 Looking ahead… NASA has issued a pair of 12-month contracts to teams led by Boeing and Northrop Grumman to explore air travel possibilities and identify the necessary technologies to make passenger air travel at speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4 a reality.

Since launching their platform, Doobert has facilitated over 15,600 rescues, 6,100 transports, and added 35,500 volunteers to their ranks through the Dooberteer Initiative!

• They let animal allies “Dooberteer” in different ways, like animal fosters, transporters, or in-person/virtual volunteers.🏆👏

And you can also help out just by shopping in the Doobert Store, where 5% of every purchase is donated to an animal rescue of your choice. Shop popular food brands, supplements, toys, and lots more.

Help the animal rescue of your choice today by shopping Doobert. (Or become a Dooberteer!)

🇪🇸 Spain’s #MeToo moment continues to gain steam. Spanish prosecutors are investigating Luis Rubiales, the president of the country's soccer federation, for sexual assault over his nonconsensual kiss of a women’s national soccer team member following their World Cup victory. The backlash against Rubiales has continued to grow in recent days, with Spain’s prime minister calling the kiss an “unacceptable gesture” and the country’s equality minister describing it as a “form of sexual violence that we women suffer on a daily basis and until now has been invisible.”

🇨🇳🏗️ Chinese developer Evergrande saw its stock fall 79% in its first day of trading since March 2022. Evergrande was once China’s largest real-estate developer before it defaulted on its ~$300 billion worth of debt in 2021 and failed to publish financial results for the year, prompting the Hong Kong stock exchange to suspend the company’s listing. Evergrande’s stock resumed trading yesterday after the firm belatedly published financial results for the past two years, showing a net loss of more than $113 billion over that period.

🇫🇷🍷 The EU and French government are paying winegrowers $216 million to destroy their surplus stock. A global drop in demand for wine in recent years has led to overproduction, a sharp fall in prices, and major financial difficulties for many winemakers in France, especially in the Bordeaux and Languedoc regions. Officials say the new government funds are “aimed at stopping prices collapsing” in the industry, and will be used by producers to distill their wine into pure alcohol for other products like cleaning supplies or perfume.

…you’re either mistaken, or just took a massive drag from the cross joint.

According to the National Weather Service, Tropical Storm Idalia – one the first major hurricanes of the Atlantic hurricane season, which typically runs from June to November – is expected to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane (winds between 111-129 mph) before making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast tomorrow.

When it does, the biggest danger to residents and properties won’t necessarily be the winds – it’ll be the storm surge, which could result in some areas of the state experiencing 7 to 11 feet of water above ground level. Storm surge was the #1 cause of death during Hurricane Ian last year.

• 46 Florida counties are now under a preemptive state of emergency due to Idalia, up from 33 over the weekend. Evacuations have also been ordered for many counties, including those around Tampa.
• Thousands of Florida National Guard members are also on standby. Because safety comes first, then teamwork.

🌀 Zoom out: Globally, warmer sea surface temps and a rise in water levels have been contributing to an increase in the intensity of tropical storms. Over the 39-year period from 1979-2017, the number of major hurricanes increased while the number of smaller hurricanes decreased, according to a study published in PNAS.

Synthetic diamonds have been around since 1954, but only in recent years has technology made their mass production cheaper.

And, as consumers have become more conscious of the perceived financial and ethical cost of mining natural stones, this technological advance is upending the entire diamond market.

• Synthetic/lab-created diamonds have grown to comprise ~16.5% of the $89 billion global diamond market, up from 3.5% in 2018.
• Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry retailer by items sold, raised its full-year guidance earlier this month on strong demand for lab-created diamonds, its fastest-growing segment.

At the same time, diamond prices have tanked. Prices for a polished 1-carat natural stone have dropped more than 25% since their 2022 peak to reach their lowest level in eight years ($5,185).

Prices for synthetic diamonds have dropped even more, falling from ~$5,000 per 1-carat polished stone in 2016 to $1,425 currently, the Financial Times reports. Experts attribute this to a rush of suppliers entering the booming market.

💎 Bottom line: Diamonds aren’t the only thing in this story under pressure. The current dynamic of lower prices + increased supply is putting natural diamond suppliers (read: companies that own diamond mines) in a tough spot, many of which may need to weigh the feasibility of continuing to operate in the same way given the state of the overall market.

Since 2005, EnerHealth has been the trusted pioneer of mushroom-infused coffee. They always roast in small batches to ensure premium quality, and a delicious, mushroom-free taste.

And now they offer two of their most popular blends in freeze-dried instant form, making it easier than ever to sip and energize🍄☕. Ingredients include:

• 🧠 Freeze-dried Cordyceps for improved focus and mental clarity
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• 💪 Freeze-dried Chaga, which is packed with antioxidants to boost the immune system

Mushroom-infused coffee has other important benefits too, like fighting inflammation and anti-aging. Discover what it can do for you with the trusted mushroom-coffee OG, EnerHealth.

Use code DONUT25 and save 25% off mushroom-infused coffee.

💬 Quoted… "I'd get to the security to go in and they'd say 'I'm sorry the toilets are around the corner' or 'the bingo is in the other room'. You could see some people looking over thinking 'Who's brought their gran? What's going on here?'"

Former UK school teacher Joy France (shown in picture👆), the subject of a newly released documentary, has found an unexpected retirement calling. The 66-year-old has become – seriously you’ll never guess it but feel free to keep trying – a battle rapper.

• What drove France to go from schooling folks in the classroom to schooling folks on stage? “I wondered whether I could go in there as me and dispel a few myths about older, short, fat, white-haired women… Older women tend to just become invisible and stereotyped, so that was the plan, to see whether I could do it."

Check out the 15-minute film here (language warning).

🏈🎥 Stat of the Day: The talent agency representing the Tuohy family and Michael Oher – the subjects of the 2009 film The Blind Side – was paid a combined total of $767,000 by the film production company that financed the movie, the firm’s co-heads recently revealed.

🤔 Did You Know?... When Edwin Hunter McFarland developed the first Thai-language typewriter in 1891, he left out two consonants due to a lack of space – which eventually led to those consonants becoming obsolete.

📰 Worth a Read: How to get your mojo back → (Psyche Magazine)

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from this year’s BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition, which aims to showcase the “intersection between art and science.”

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Masterworks

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board (S&P: +0.6%; Dow: +0.6%; Nasdaq: +0.8%).
• ✈️ American Airlines was fined $4.1 million by the US Department of Transportation for keeping passengers on its planes for too long during tarmac delays; it’s the largest fine ever levied for such a rules violation.
• 🏪 Rite Aid is reportedly about to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over mounting debt due to opioid lawsuits. | 🏬 The Nordstrom store located in downtown San Francisco closed its doors for good after 30+ years in business; at the same time Nordstrom is leaving SF, IKEA is moving in.

*From our partners: 🖼️📈 Everyday investors profited from a $45 million Banksy collection thanks to Masterworks, who last sold at a 32% net gain. Masterworks has completed 14 exits, with three recent sales delivering net annualized returns of 17.8%, 21.5%, and 35%... skip the waitlist and join.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with BetterHelp

• 🤸 Simone Biles, 26, became the first American gymnast in history to win eight career national all-around titles with her victory at the US Gymnastics Championships Sunday night.
• 🍿 Gran Turismo narrowly topped the domestic box office in its debut this past weekend, earning $17.4 million versus $15.1 million for Barbie (in its sixth weekend).
• 🏈 The Dallas Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for former No. 3 overall pick QB Trey Lance. | 📅 Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray will miss at least the first four games of the season as he recovers from an ACL tear suffered in December.

*From our partners: 🫶 BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service, and it's 100% online. You can do therapy from your house, your room, or even your couch. Join the millions that have started therapy through BetterHelp – sign up today for 25% off your first month.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 📰 The Columbus Dispatch paused its AI sports-writing tool after a handful of stories went viral for their… robotic style, as well as the use of phrases like “close encounters of the football kind.” | 🤖 OpenAI launched ChatGPT Enterprise, a business-level generative AI tool that was beta tested by Block, Canva, and Estée Lauder.
• 💪 An aggressive form of childhood cancer that forms within muscle tissue has been successfully transformed into normal, healthy muscle cells; the breakthrough treatment was detailed in a study published yesterday in PNAS.
• 🚀🇮🇳 India announced plans to launch its first space-based solar observatory mission this upcoming Saturday; the craft will be stationed about 933,000 miles from both the Sun and Earth.

MISCELLANEOUS

• ⚖️🔥 Hawaiian Electric yesterday denied claims that its power lines were responsible for the wildfire that destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed at least 115 people, saying power had been shut off for 6+ hours before the fire started; the statement came in response to a lawsuit from Maui County blaming Hawaiian Electric for the blaze.
• 🌆 Major names in Silicon Valley – including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen – are reportedly backing a company that’s planning to build a new “mega-city” near San Francisco; the company has spent more than $800 million buying thousands of acres of California farmland.
• ⚖️ A federal judge scheduled former President Trump's criminal trial over allegations that he tried to overturn the 2020 election for March 4, 2024; the date is one day before the Super Tuesday primaries, where Republican primary voters from 15 states will cast their ballots. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ⚾ A Little League World Series walk-off for the ages.

Yesterday, we took an in-depth look at the US economy, which has largely defied predictions that growth would cool over the past few months but also appears headed for turbulence in the near future.

❓ Our question to you: To all working professionals: would you consider the growth outlook in your industry/sector of the economy to be positive or negative over the next 12 months?

• 👍 Positive: 46%
• 👎 Negative: 54%

❓ FOLLOW-UP: Which industry/sector of the economy do you work in?

• 👍 Popular responses for “Positive”: Construction, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, tech
• 👎 Popular responses for “Negative”: Education, real estate, manufacturing, tech

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 9,364 votes and 852 longform responses.

On her 90th birthday, grandmother Hilary Oxley wanted to do something exciting to celebrate.

Rather than needlepointing or having a quaint picnic with her family as some may expect, however, the daring grandma decided to jump out of a plane. 

🪂 Behind the move: This wasn't Hilary's first time skydiving; she made her first jump ten years ago to celebrate her 80th birthday. 

• “It was easier me coming out of a plane than it was getting on,” the nongenarian said. “I still go shopping and I think, ‘What do I want?’ That’s more of an ordeal for me than what I’ve done here.”

📻 Trivia: Which female-comprised '80s band sang the hits Venus and Cruel Summer?

🤼‍♂️ True or False?... Many Japanese sumo wrestlers purify the ring before they enter by casting pepper.

🤔 Riddle Me This: What question can you never honestly answer "yes" to?

(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: Bananarama

🤼‍♂️ T/F: False, they throw salt

🤔 Riddle: Are you asleep? (or "Are you dead?")