Good morning. On today’s docket:

• 📝 American schools just received their pandemic report card
• 💡 How hydrogen could be renewable energy’s knight in shining armor
• 🏛️ More and more lawmakers are choosing to leave Capitol Hill

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 5.01-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

"In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story."

–Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

American students suffered learning losses during the pandemic, but the negative effects were less severe compared to other developed nations.

That’s according to new data from the Program for International Student Assessment, aka the world’s most comprehensive assessment of student learning, which is administered once every few years to 15-year-olds from 81 OECD member states and partner economies.

The program’s most recent global assessment, published yesterday, found US students lag behind their peers in industrialized countries when it comes to math, scoring 3% lower last year than the average among participating OECD countries. At the same time, American teens scored higher than OECD average in both reading (+5%) and science (+2%).

• Both the US and overall OECD scored lower across all three academic categories in 2022 compared to the previous assessment in 2018, with the steepest drop-off for both occurring in math.
• The US now ranks sixth in reading, 12th in science, and 28th in math out of a combined 81 OECD countries that took the test – all slight improvements compared to the last time the exam was administered in 2018.

📸 Big picture: Nearly three dozen countries maintained or improved upon their pre-pandemic math scores in 2022. Countries that did so shared some common characteristics, including shorter school closures during the pandemic and fewer impediments to remote learning, per the OECD’s report.

Ten countries – including the UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, and South Korea – saw their students score proficiently in all three categories last year, which the report largely attributed to “high levels of socio-economic fairness” in those nations.

📊 Flash poll: In general, are you satisfied with how US schools handled the Covid pandemic, given the circumstances?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israeli forces are closing in on Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza that Israel says represents Hamas’ last major stronghold in the region. Israeli leaders also believe the city houses Hamas’ main leaders in a complex series of underground tunnels, as well as the 100+ Israeli hostages who are still in captivity after being taken in the militant group’s initial October 7 attack. More than 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million has been displaced from their homes, per the UN, a figure that includes hundreds of thousands of people who fled northern Gaza at the request of Israel’s military.

🇷🇺🇸🇦​​🇦🇪 Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting the Middle East. The diplomatic trip marks Putin’s first trip beyond China, Iran, and the former Soviet states since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In his upcoming meetings with leaders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE this week, Putin is scheduled to discuss the Israel/Hamas War and possible joint actions to coordinate global oil production and ensure price stability.

🇩🇰🇸🇪 Denmark’s largest trade union is joining Swedish workers in a strike against Tesla. The EV maker has been locked in a dispute with a Swedish labor union for over a month after refusing to sign collective bargaining agreements with mechanics due to a company policy against doing so. Danish harbor workers and drivers will stop transporting cars in and out of Sweden in about two weeks to prevent Tesla from using Danish ports in order to circumvent Swedish blockades. The Danish strike will only affect Teslas meant for the Swedish market.

Researchers in France recently uncovered what they believe is one of the world’s largest deposits of white hydrogen, which represents a potential near-unlimited source of renewable energy.

Why hydrogen?... The No. 1 element on the periodic table is widely considered the cleanest source of natural fuel upon being burned, since, like most humans, it produces pure water as a by-product. In theory, hydrogen could replace fossil fuels in factories, trucks, ships, and planes, eliminating up to half of all global carbon emissions.

• There’s just one catch: most naturally occurring hydrogen exists in combination with other molecules and requires energy-intensive processes to extract, which is counterproductive to reducing emissions.
• But natural hydrogen – called white hydrogen because of its purity – is considered a potential game-changer because it doesn’t require any extra energy to refine before burning. It’s also relatively common across the globe in deposits buried beneath the ground.

💡 Bottom line: According to the US Geological Survey, the Earth contains enough white hydrogen to meet humanity’s energy needs for thousands of years – though only a small fraction is accessible for recovery. Still, the fraction that is available represents enough to meet global energy demand for the next few centuries.

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House Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who served as temporary speaker for three weeks earlier this year, announced yesterday that he won't be running for reelection when his term ends.

And McHenry isn’t the only lawmaker getting the hell out of Dodge. So far, a total of seven senators and 31 House members have announced they'll be leaving Congress – including 13 last month, the highest number in more than a decade, according to Ballotpedia. These numbers aren’t one-sided either, they include both Democrats and Republicans.

Driving the exodus… If you’ve seen the movie The Perfect Storm, it’s a little like that. Except in this case, the elements of the perfect storm are dysfunction/extreme partisanship, age/health concerns, and ambition.

Many retiring lawmakers cite chaos that makes governing difficult if not near-impossible, extreme partisanship, and childish behavior — for example, insults like "p***y" and "smurf" were exchanged on Capitol Hill last month – as their reason for leaving, while others are on the older side and just hanging it up. Ten Democratic House members are also leaving to run for the Senate or presidency.

🏛️ Bottom line: Most of the departures announced so far don’t involve competitive seats. But the handful that do provide pickup opportunities for Republicans or Democrats that could help determine who controls Congress come 2025.

💬 Quoted… “It’s a fundamental change in how pharmacy services are priced.”

• CVS Health, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, is moving away from the complex formulas used to set the prices of the prescription drugs it sells and shifting to a simpler model that could upend how American pharmacies are paid, the WSJ reports. Quick context: pharmacies are typically paid using a system not directly linked to what they spent to purchase the drugs. But moving forward, CVS is tying its reimbursement to what it pays for the drugs – a model sometimes known as “cost plus,” similar to what's used by Mark Cuban’s discount pharmacy. Consumers should see some drugs cost less under the model, while others could rise in price – however, more should show declines than increases, per CVS execs.

😬 Stat of the Day: Trust issues aren’t just for single millennials. Recent polling data shows only 36% of Gen Z-ers say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in science – and the trust numbers only get worse when it comes to the criminal justice system (23%) and the news (16%). (Shameless plug: if you know any Gen Z-ers looking for enjoyable, nonpartisan, and trustworthy news, make sure to send ‘em your DONUT referral link; it can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.)

🤔 Did You Know?... In every US state, whoever pushes the button on a slot machine is entitled to the winnings. This law was tested in 2017, when a man who had his female friend push the slot machine button for good luck won nothing, while she went home with the entire $100,000 jackpot.

📰 Worth a Read: Why Franklin, Washington and Lincoln considered American democracy an 'experiment' – and were unsure if it would survive → (The Conversation)

• 👆 The Northern Lights were visible in the US as far south as Colorado this past weekend due to heightened solar activity over the previous few days.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Tenikle

• 💰 US markets closed mixed yesterday (S&P: -0.1%; Dow: -0.2%; Nasdaq: +0.3%). | 💼 US job openings in October measured ~8.7 million, compared to a downwardly revised 9.4 million in September; the October figure was below economists' estimates and is the lowest level since March 2021.
• 🏦 Wells Fargo is setting aside $750 million–$1 billion for "unanticipated" severance costs in Q4; the charge is related to low staff turnover, per execs.
• 🧬 23andMe, a genetic testing company, revealed that hackers have been able to gain access to the ancestry data of ~6.9 million of its customers.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⛳ The PGA Tour + LIV Golf: The December 31 deadline for the entities to pair up is fast approaching. | 💰 The NCAA proposed rules yesterday that would allow D1 schools to directly compensate athletes in ways not tied to educational resources for the first time. | 🏈 Heisman Trophy finalists were unveiled yesterday; LSU's Jayden Daniels, Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., Oregon's Bo Nix, and Washington's Michael Penix Jr. made the cut.
• 🎶🎄 Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" hit #1 in the US for the first time, 65 years after its release.
• 🎮 The first GTA VI trailer is out. Watch it here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with RYSE

• 💊 Eli Lilly said its recently approved weight-loss drug, called Zepbound, is now available in pharmacies across America.
• 🤖🤝 Meta, IBM, and 50+ other AI companies and research institutions have formed the AI Alliance, which supports an open-source approach to artificial intelligence.
• 🛰️ Drug startup LambdaVision is aiming to develop the world’s first cure for genetic blindness onboard the International Space Station.

*From our partners: 🪟 Convert your current window shades into motorized SmartShades - RYSE takes just minutes to install and can be controlled via smartphone, voice control, and more. Until Dec 31st, get up to two free accessories with your purchase. Get RYSE SmartShades today.

MISCELLANEOUS

• ⚖️ The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case over the constitutionality of taxing unrealized profits; the case could have sweeping effects on the US tax code.
• 🏫 The presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce over their plans to address a recent rise in antisemitism on their campuses.
• 🏛️🎖️ The Senate unanimously confirmed over 400 military promotions yesterday after Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) ended his blockade of such actions undertaken in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🏆🎶 The 100 best songs of 2023.

For as long as he can remember, high school senior Charlie Jeffers has loved Legos. 

The toys were the perfect mix of two of his passions, art and mathematics, and Charlie wanted as many kids as possible to experience the joy that came from the toy. 

Problem 🤝 Solution... Thus, Pass The Bricks was formed, an initiative founded by Charlie where he takes donated used Lego sets and washes, sanitizes, sorts, and reassembles the bricks into “new” sets to give to underprivileged communities.

• So far, Charlie has received 903+ pounds of Legos, out of which he's created over 3,000 unique builds for redistribution. 

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the stated value.

1. 🎳 13: Length of a bowling pin in inches.
2. 💓 1,000: How many times a hummingbird’s heart beats each minute.
3. ⌚ 40 million: Total number of seconds in a year.

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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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.👇

1. Over, it's 15 inches.
2. Over, it's 1,200 BPM.
3. Under, there are 31,536,000 seconds in a year.