Good morning. Quick reminder: we have some pretty cool merch.

In fact, if our merch was the weather, it’d be even cooler than the temp at the start of the Bills/Steelers game last night. If it was a movie character, it’d be Ryan Gosling from Drive. If it was the crowd’s reaction to an awards show monologue… well, you get the picture.

And, much like TikTok, we have a little something for everyone:

• Embarking on an indie music career? You gotta check out our trucker hat.
• If “dancing queen” is your spirit animal, our DONUT Stop Dancing t-shirt is a must-see.
• Enjoy the cozier things? Kick back by the fire with a good book, a hot glass of tea, and any one of our comfy hooded sweatshirts that cuddle you so good you’ll forget about your ex.

Now – onward and upward. The news awaits.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.74-minute read.

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

“Happiness is only real when shared.”

–Christopher McCandless (1968-1992)

Marijuana is less harmful and has a lower potential for abuse than initially thought, and should be removed from the federal government’s most restrictive category of drugs, according to a newly published review from FDA researchers. Somewhere, Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg are sharing a celebratory joint.

Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance, alongside other drugs considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use (like meth, heroin, and LSD). But in 2022, the US government began considering whether to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III substance instead.

As part of that review, FDA researchers investigated the existing scientific and medical evidence regarding marijuana, and found three main data points to support the drug’s reclassification:

1. Marijuana doesn’t seem to elicit serious outcomes compared to other Schedule I drugs, even in products with high levels of THC (the main psychoactive ingredient).
2. “Some credible level of scientific support” exists for using marijuana as a therapeutic treatment.
3. Marijuana withdrawal is less serious than other hard drugs or alcohol, and more similar to that of tobacco.

The potential impact: While reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III wouldn’t affect the drug’s illegal status on a federal level, doing so would open up a wide range of new opportunities for businesses across America.

• Marijuana companies could write off normal business expenses, saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
• The marijuana industry could finally have access to banking services and institutional investment, instead of being banned due to Schedule I status.
• US scientists could study the effects of marijuana on human patients, expanding on current – but incomplete – research that indicates some health benefits alongside risks like anxiety and dependence.

👀 Looking ahead… All eyes are now on the DEA, which has the ultimate authority on scheduling substances. The agency is expected to render its decision on marijuana rescheduling in the coming months.

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🌋🇮🇸 A volcano in Iceland erupted twice on Sunday, sending lava into a nearby town. The pair of eruptions, spaced slightly over four hours apart, caused molten lava to flow into the evacuated town of Grindavik and engulf several houses. Local officials say the eruptions don’t pose an immediate risk to the rest of Iceland, and that the flow of lava had almost stopped as of yesterday afternoon. It marks the fifth volcanic eruption in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula since 2021.

🇹🇼 Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party won a record third consecutive presidential term. Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s current vice president, received more than 40% of the votes in Saturday’s three-way presidential election, with overall voter turnout coming in at 71%. The result marked a defeat for the Chinese government, which had called for voters to reject Lai's Democratic Progressive Party due to its stance that Taiwan is a de facto sovereign nation and should remain independent of Beijing.

🌍 Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked another US-owned container ship, in spite of a previous military response. The Houthis, an Iranian-backed Shia group that has been battling for control of Yemen for 20+ years, say the three dozen attacks on commercial shipping over the past six weeks are aimed at pressuring Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Monday’s missile launch, which didn’t cause any major damage to the US ship, came days after the US and UK militaries carried out retaliatory airstrikes intended to degrade the Houthis’ attacking capabilities.

Earnings season kicked off on Wall Street last Friday, with four of the top six US banks reporting their results for Q4 of last year.

However, economic analysts weren’t exactly prepared for what these results said – and it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes with a magnifying glass to figure out why.

All four banks fell short of analysts’ expectations due to the timing of fees associated with the FDIC’s rescue of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last spring. The banks opted to include these one-time fees in their Q4 earnings reports, bringing down overall results.

• JPMorgan Chase reported a 15% annual drop in Q4 earnings – largely due to a $2.9 billion FDIC rescue fee – but closed out its most profitable year on record.
• Citigroup saw a $1.8 billion quarterly loss, which the bank almost entirely attributed to its $1.7 billion FDIC fee.
• Bank of America reported $3.1 billion in Q4 profit, down 50+% compared to the previous year, in addition to a $2.1 billion FDIC fee.
• Wells Fargo experienced an annual increase in Q4 earnings, despite a $1.9 billion FDIC fee.

🏡 Meanwhile, on Main Street: Bank executives said their metrics regarding the US consumer came in strong last quarter, due to wage gains outpacing inflation and a robust labor market. But they also warned that more pain could be ahead: higher costs and interest rates are causing more Americans to fall behind on their mortgage, car, and credit-card payments.

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💬 Quoted… “It was a lost valley of cities. It’s incredible.”

• It turns out, Percy Fawcett from The Lost City of Z was onto something. Scientists using lidar recently discovered a cluster of ancient, lost cities in the Amazon rainforest that had flourished for about a millenia. The five large settlements and 10 smaller ones – connected by roads and intertwined with the agricultural landscapes and river drainages across 116 square miles – were built and occupied by the Kilamope and Upano peoples from about 500 B.C. to between 300 A.D. and 600 A.D., with the size of the population still tbd. Many scientists previously assumed that no ancient groups had built large settlements in the rainforest – but, much like a breakdancer, this discovery turns that on its head. The core area of one of the uncovered settlements is as large as Egypt's Giza Plateau or the main avenue of Teotihuacan in Mexico, NBC reports.

💼💻 Stat of the Day: Remote workers are 31% less likely to get promoted than their in-person counterparts, according to a new analysis of 2 million workers conducted by Live Data Technologies.

🤔 Did You Know?... The Rubik’s Cube turns 50 in 2024. And, like most 50-year-olds these days, it’s still a force to be reckoned with (#dadstrength). The cube claims 42% market share in the brain teaser category, and sales – which clocked in at ~$75 million in 2022 – are still growing.

📰 Worth a Read: The forensic scientist who uses bugs to solve murders → (Smithsonian Magazine)

• ☝️ Cities across America celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday with acts of service, prayer services, and parades, though frigid conditions limited events in many areas.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Sabavi Home

• 💰 US markets closed mixed on Friday (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: -0.3%; Nasdaq: +0.02%); markets were closed yesterday for MLK Day. | ✈️ Delta Airlines reported Q4 earnings that beat analysts’ expectations; though the airline’s shares dropped ~9% on Friday after the company trimmed its 2024 earnings forecast.
• ⌚ Apple is removing a blood-oxygen sensor from some of its smartwatches to get around a patent dispute, per multiple reports. (Background)
• 🚜🤝🛰️ John Deere and SpaceX reportedly inked a deal to bring satellite internet connections to tractors, harvesters, and crop sprayers located in remote areas.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT (NFL EDITION)

• 🏈 NFL Wild Card round: The Texans, Chiefs, Packers, Lions, Bills, and Buccaneers won their matchups and advanced to the Divisional Round. | 👀 The first streamed NFL playoff game, Saturday’s Chiefs-Dolphins matchup shown on Peacock, was the most-streamed event in US history with 23 million viewers.
• 🗣️🤝 The NFL and Disney are reportedly in “advanced talks” that could result in the league buying an equity stake in ESPN. | 🎠 Football head coach carousel: The University of Alabama replaced Nick Saban with Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, while the New England Patriots replaced Bill Belichick with Jerod Mayo (currently the NFL's youngest head coach at 37).
• 🏆 The 75th Emmy Awards took place last night; Succession and The Bear nabbed six awards apiece. See the full list of winners.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Meowtel

• 🙌 NASA finally got the stuck lid off the container holding the bulk of its samples collected from the asteroid Bennu. (Background)
• 🚀💥 The Peregrine Mission lunar lander is headed back to Earth and should burn up in the atmosphere; the mission last week encountered a propellant leak dooming its chances of success.
• 💧 Researchers found that water molecules at the surface of salt water are organized differently than previously thought, contradicting models found in textbooks.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🥶 More than 93 million Americans were under windchill advisories yesterday; an ongoing cold front and winter storms stretched from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic.
• 👑 The 2024 Miss America crown was awarded to Second Lt. Madison Marsh, an officer in the Air Force; she’s the first active-duty service member to win the competition.
• 🗳️ Former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation GOP caucus with 51% of the vote; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in second (21%); former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley placed third (19%); Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (8%) ended his campaign and endorsed Trump (more coverage coming in tomorrow’s newsletter). (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🚗 What kind of driver will your kid be? This test can tell.

On Friday, we covered OpenAI’s newly launched GPT Store, as well as fears from some experts and lawmakers that AI development is moving too rapidly.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, is AI development moving too fast?

• 👍 Yes: 62%
• 👎 No: 17%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 21%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 5,825 votes and 364 longform responses.

The Close-up Photographer of the Year 2023 competition has declared its finalists and winners. Among them: a shrimp floating over a rainbow sea star, a butterfly peering in at a wedding party, and ants firing off acid to protect their territory (above).

• The contest, which is in its fifth year, celebrates both micro and macro photography and strives to show the hidden wonders of our natural world.

🐜 Tiny things matter, too. “It’s often easier for people to get behind conservation stories featuring ‘cute’ or more obvious animals and plants: rhinos, pandas, orchids," said competition co-founder and jury member Tracy Calder. "But the lesser-known insects and plants we often consider weeds have a huge role to play in keeping everything balanced. Close-up photography often showcases these animals and plants."

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Agri
2. Bib
3. Culin
4. Etho
5. Her

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Agri = Field (e.g., agriculture)
2. Bib = Drink (imbibe)
3. Culin = Food (culinary)
4. Etho = Custom (ethology)
5. Her = Stick (adhere)