Good morning. We’ve got a jam-packed newsletter today, so let’s just rock n’ roll🤘🎸.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.92-minute read.

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“Words are the clothes thoughts wear.”

–Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

Around 130,000 people are converging on Las Vegas this week to attend CES 2024, an annual affair that bills itself as the most influential tech event in the world.

The event begins today and runs through Friday, boasting 1,200 attending startups and more than 4,000 exhibitors from all over the world.

And, as you’d expect from one of the world’s preeminent tech conferences, the companies showcasing products are bringing more heat than Gordon Ramsay’s face in the middle of a tirade. A few examples:

• TVs: LG unveiled the world's first 4K wireless transparent TV yesterday (which is exactly what it sounds like).
• Health tech: Oral care company Oclean is showcasing a wifi-enabled toothbrush that features an algorithm-controlled motor, five brush modes tailored to specific needs, an interactive touchscreen that shows you areas you missed, and an AI voice guide to help you improve your technique.
• Wearables: Dusk Rx – which is up for a 2024 CES Innovation Award – promises to be the world’s first prescription-ready glasses that gives users control over the tint of their lenses via the frame or within an app. On a different front, a pair of high-tech leggings developed by Barunbio touts a high-tech electric microcurrent intended to boost athletic performance.
• Home tech: Samsung has already announced smart cooktops, vacuums, and fridges with AI baked in, while LG will show off an AI-powered home robot that it claims will “understand context and intentions as well as actively communicate with users.”

👀 Looking ahead… In addition to being fictional billionaire Miles Bron’s favorite event – ya know, because of all the disruption – CES 2024 boasts some big-name attendees. ~60% of the Fortune 500 companies will be in attendance, and speakers/panelists include execs from companies like Samsung, LG, and Microsoft, as well as Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

For this reason, the event is seen as a breeding ground for dealmaking. And even though many of the showcased products are years away from commercial viability, it also provides insight into future tech trends and how these massive companies plan to play a part in them.

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🇧🇩 Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina won a record fifth term following boycotted national elections. Hasina and her Awami League party secured ~75% of parliamentary seats in Sunday’s election – though voter turnout was around 40%, or half as high as the previous election in 2018. The drop came after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party announced a poll boycott in response to the mass arrest of BNP members by PM Hasina in the previous months, as well as her refusal to resign and allow a neutral authority to run the election.

💥 A senior Hezbollah commander was killed by a suspected Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. The militant group framed yesterday’s incident as the second recent assassination by Israel of a militant leader in Lebanon, following the death of a Hamas commander last week. Israeli officials declined to comment on both killings. Separately, Israel’s military said it succeeded in destroying the fighting capabilities of all 12 Hamas battalions stationed in northern Gaza.

🇮🇳 India’s first solar observation mission reached its final orbiting position. After a four-month journey through space, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft reached its final orbiting spot nearly 1 million miles from Earth on Saturday. From this position, the probe will carry out scientific studies about the Sun’s activity and its effects on Earth, with a goal of protecting satellites or other spacecraft.

In recent decades, global insect numbers have declined so much that flowers have taken reproduction matters into their own hands, er, petals, and are increasingly evolving to pollinate themselves, according to a new peer-reviewed study.

Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research ran a genetic analysis of modern field pansies from Europe and North America against older ones grown from seeds collected in the 1990s and 2000s.

• They found modern plants showed a 27% increase in self-pollination rates along with a 20% decrease in nectar production, since the plants were being visited less frequently by insects.
• Other aspects of the field pansies, including the leaf size and the total size of the plant, haven't changed significantly across the decades.

The researchers concluded that modern wild flowers appear stuck in a negative feedback cycle in which plants produce less nectar, meaning there is less food available to insects, which in turn accelerates the declines of both groups.

The trend towards self-pollination may prove useful in the future. Biologists planning for upcoming human trips to Mars believe some self-pollinating plants – in combination with certain insects who add soil nutrients – hold the key to growing food on the red planet.

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💬 Quoted… "We just relied on the Tesla computer to decide how far we would drive and sleep."

• Last summer, Tesla owner Simon Wong and his 12-year-old son went on a 28-day, 12,000-mile trip with their Model Y to see all four corners of the US, per a recent interview with Business Insider. Wong said he typically traveled 400-600 miles per day while occasionally stopping for 15 minute breaks to recharge, and spent about $750 in total to charge the EV (about half as much as a similar trip using a gas-powered vehicle).

📰🔴🔵 Stat of the Day: Just over 3% of full-time journalists identify as Republican, down from 7% in 2013 and 18% in 2002, according to a new survey from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. For reference, 36% of journalists currently identify as Democrats, compared to 28% in 2013 and 36% in 2002.

🤔 Did You Know?... The Monday after the conclusion of the NFL season is colloquially known as Black Monday in the NFL, due to the high number of coaches who get fired – and yesterday was no different. The Atlanta Falcons parted ways with Arthur Smith, while the Washington Commanders dismissed Ron Rivera.

📰 Worth a Read: The surprising reason there are so many Thai restaurants in America → (VICE)

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the finalists for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s People’s Choice Award, with voting open through the end of this month.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Sabavi Home

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board (S&P: +1.4%; Dow: +0.6%; Nasdaq: +2.2%).
• ✈️ JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes announced plans to step down next month; he’ll be replaced by current president and COO Joanna Geraghty, who will become the first woman to lead a major US airline.
• 💼 The Biden administration is expected to release a final rule this week that will make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏌️ Tiger Woods ended his commercial partnership with Nike after 27 years.
• 🏆👀 The Golden Globes awards show drew 9.4 million total viewers, representing a 50% increase compared to last year.
• 🏈 Michigan beat Washington 34-13 last night to win the school's first college football national championship since 1997.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Ergatta

• 😬🚀 The first US Moon landing attempt in over 50 years successfully launched into space yesterday, but a propulsion system issue and a “critical” fuel leak on the robotic lander appears to have doomed the mission’s chances for success.
• 👓 Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset will become available in the US on February 2 and start at $3,499, the company announced.
• 🪐 ↩️ Venus, which orbits in a direction opposite to every other planet in our Solar System, may have developed its unique rotation due to an ancient moon with a backwards orbit that collided with the planet’s surface.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌨️ A fast-moving winter storm is expected to bring strong winds, possible strong tornadoes, serious flooding, snow, and blizzard conditions to the eastern half of the US through Wednesday.
• ✈️ United Airlines found loose bolts on multiple Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft after the vast majority of models were grounded by the FAA in response to a door panel detachment during a flight on Friday.
• 🗳️ The Florida Republican Party replaced its chairman in a special election yesterday amid a police investigation into sexual assault allegations.

CLICKBAIT

• 😊📅 How to feel a little better in 2024.

Yesterday, we covered how the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts of universities and companies across the country have taken a step back in recent months due to a combination of legal and economic factors.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at US universities and companies?

• 👍 Yes: 46%
• 👎 No: 41%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 13%

Click here to read the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 6,824 votes and 464 longform responses.

The holiday season may be over, but some leftover cheer has made its way to the Berlin Zoo. 

😋 A special treat... Elephants, bison, and deer alike are chomping down on some delicious unsold Christmas trees, donated by vendors close to the zoo. 

• The zoo only accepts unsold and wrapped trees to ensure the health and safety of all animals.

❓ Trivia: What is a group of sparrows called?

🪨🌊 True or False?... Stones always sink in water.

🤔 Riddle Me This: David’s father has 3 sons: Snap, Crackle, and _____.

(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: A host

🪨🌊 T/F: False, pumice stones (and others) can float

🤔 Riddle: David