Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ❌ Behind the typo that lyfted Lyft
• 💧☄️ On the origin of species
• 🤔 The dispute surrounding Deadpool’s “record-breaking” movie trailer

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.46-minute read.

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

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

–Jim Rohn (1930-2009)

Lyft shares hit a 52-week high yesterday after reporting earnings that showed its best financial quarter in history – and also contained a major typo that appears to have sent investors' trading algorithms into a buying frenzy.

Here’s what happened: When Lyft initially published its Q4 earnings report Tuesday afternoon, it forecast that a key profit metric called “margin expansion” was expected to climb by 500 basis points, or 5%, in 2024.

• However, minutes after the original release, the company informed investors that its margin expansion projections contained one zero too many and corrected the number to 50 basis points, or 0.5% growth.

But the damage was already done

In today’s stock market, many trades are executed by high-tech algorithms that react to new financial information in fractions of a second. And when these algorithms saw Lyft’s typo indicating a far-better-than-expected outlook for 2024, they started Hulk-smashing the buy button.

• Lyft’s shares rose nearly 70% in after-hours trading almost immediately after the initial earnings report was published – then fell sharply back to +16% after Lyft said its positive 2024 outlook was overstated, wiping out over $2 billion in market cap.
• But, even without the typo, Lyft’s Q4 earnings report was good enough for many investors to buy back in. The company’s stock closed trading yesterday up 35%, a figure that includes Tuesday’s after-hours bonanza.

😬 Mistakes, mistakes: Lyft joins a handful of other major companies in recent years that have published typos impacting their stock-price. These include cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike forecasting revenue of $38.6 million instead of $138.6 million (-6% stock drop), and now-defunct pharma company Galena forgetting the word “not” while saying it was the target of an investigation into over-prescribing of a painkiller (-3%).

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🇮🇳 Indian farmers are marching towards New Delhi in protest of agricultural policies. Tens of thousands of farmers began protesting this week seeking higher produce prices, a new pension system, and debt relief. The protest is a renewal of a year-long movement between 2020 and 2021 that led to the repeal of various agricultural laws, with farmers saying the government hasn’t kept the promises it made back then. New Delhi authorities are barricading entry points to block the protesters from reaching the capital city.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine says it has now disabled a third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Ukrainian officials yesterday announced that it used high-tech drones to sink a Russian military ship transporting ammunition in the Black Sea, with Russian officials declining to immediately comment on the attack. Ukraine’s military says it has "destroyed" 25 Russian military vessels and one submarine during the war to date.

🇮🇩 Indonesia Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in the presidential election. The former general claimed victory based on unofficial tallies, which showed he had ~60% of votes with over 80% of the vote counted in the sampled polling places – though the official count may not be finished for up to a month. Subianto is linked with various human rights abuses from his time as a general during Indonesia’s 30+ year-long dictatorship, which he denies.

The origin of life debate has been reignited (maybe all the sparks flying around yesterday had something to do with it?). Researchers detected water on the surface of an asteroid in space for the first time, providing more evidence that the life-sustaining liquid first arrived on Earth from outer space.

More details: As part of their research, scientists from NASA and the German Space Agency studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data gathered by a now-retired plane called SOFIA that was outfitted with an infrared telescope.

• They found two of the four asteroids exhibited a specific wavelength of light that indicates the presence of water molecules on their surface, with an estimated ratio of one 12-ounce bottle of water per cubic meter of soil.

💥 The impact (literally): While water molecules have previously been detected in asteroid samples returned to Earth, the latest discovery marks the first time they’ve been found in space, lending more credence to the theory that water – and potentially life itself – came to our planet billions of years ago via meteors.

Which begs the question – if water did actually come from space, and humans are 60% made-up of water, would that technically make us aliens?

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💬 Quoted… “Maintaining ‘intellectual domination’ over an AI system does not, on its own, make a person an inventor…”

• The US government really wants to remind people it’ll only grant patents to humans and that, when it comes to this realm, AI is like a window shopper – on the outside looking in. A 27-page guidance document released by the US Patent and Trademark Office this week clarifies that while AI may be used to create inventions, “a natural person [has to have] provided a significant contribution to the invention” in order to seek patent protection. Translation: simply telling an AI to build something and then trying to patent that creation is a no go, bub (for now at least).

🍿👀 Stat of the Day: According to Disney, Marvel Studios‘ Deadpool & Wolverine trailer received 365 million views within the first 24 hours it was published, making it the most-viewed trailer in history. But that record also comes with a Barry Bonds-sized asterisk – Disney counted all 123 million people who watched Sunday’s Super Bowl, since the trailer played as a commercial during the game, per Gizmodo.

🤔 Did You Know?... The average life expectancy of people with Down syndrome has increased from 25 years in 1983 to 60 years today.

📰 Worth a Read: The Unstoppable Move That’s Taking the NBA by Storm → (WSJ)

• ☝️ In recent weeks, Los Angeles officials have struggled to prevent graffiti artists from tagging a series of 30-story unfinished buildings next to the Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena, which have turned into a local tourist attraction.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Binoid

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board. (S&P: +1.0%; Dow: +0.4%; Nasdaq: +1.3%) | 📈 Uber's stock rose more than 14% after the company announced an up to $7 billion share buyback. | 🏫 Baylor University's endowment fund has risen to the top of university endowment performance rankings, outpacing the much-larger Ivy League funds in terms of returns. Read more.
• 🚫 Colorado sued to block Kroger's $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons; it's the second state after Washington to do so.
• 💼 Cisco is cutting 5% of its global workforce, or ~4,250 jobs.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🦸 Marvel announced the cast for its reboot of Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn.
• 📺 Jon Stewart‘s return to The Daily Show on Monday brought in 1.9 million viewers, the show’s biggest audience since 2018.
• 🏀 The Orlando Magic retired big man Shaquille O'Neal's #32; it's the first time the franchise has ever retired a number; Shaq is now the third NBA star to have his jersey retired by three teams.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Olyra

• 🚀🙅 SpaceX delayed the launch of Intuitive Machines' private robotic moon lander due to technical problems with its Falcon 9 rocket; the next launch attempt is scheduled for today.
• 🧠🤖 OpenAI is rolling out a “memory” for ChatGPT that allows the bot to remember users’ information and conversations over time. | 🌏🤖 Hackers connected to the Iranian, North Korean, Chinese, and Russian governments are using AI chatbots to write phishing emails and study potential targets, per new research from Microsoft and OpenAI.
• 🦠 The CDC is reportedly considering a change to its Covid guidelines that would remove the recommendation to self-isolate for five days after testing positive.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🚨 At least one person was killed and 22 others were injured in a shooting that took place during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City yesterday. | ⚖️ A group of 12 Jeffrey Epstein victims filed a lawsuit accusing the FBI of covering up its failure to investigate the convicted sex trafficker despite receiving credible tips as early as 1996.
• 🙏 Bill Post, who led the baking team that invented Pop-Tarts, passed away at the age of 96.
• ☢️🚀🇷🇺 The US government has told Congress and European allies about new intelligence related to recent Russian attempts at developing a space-based nuclear weapon intended to shoot down satellites, per multiple sources.

CLICKBAIT

• 🙅🧾 How to avoid the IRS ‘audit lottery,’ according to tax pros.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Lil Jon Will Finally Turn It Down, Release Guided Meditation Album → (Consequence Sound)
• Australian swimmer James Magnussen says he’ll ‘juice to the gills’ to win $1M+ prize in Enhanced Games → (The Guardian)
• Man's Tinder AI Makes Date With Woman, Forgets to Tell Him and Stands Her Up → (Futurism)
• Mount Everest: Climbers will need to bring poo back to base camp → (BBC)
• Australian beach hosts ice bath world record attempt → (UPI)

Yesterday, we covered how thousands of drivers for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash went on strike across the US on Valentine’s Day in an effort to increase their pay.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support the current state of the gig work economy?

• 👍 Yes: 34%
• 👎 No: 33%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 33%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 4,078 votes and 306 longform responses.

Did you know Tuesday was International Pancake Day? 

The small town of Liberal near Wichita, Kansas, certainly did. Hoping to break two pancake-themed world records in honor of the holiday, the town used 120 feet of tables to lay out 900 feet of pancakes. 

• Frank Hampton, Liberal's "Pancake Maestro," also attempted the record for the highest pancake flip, achieving an altitude of 32 feet.

🏆There's a record for everything... Both attempts now have to be judged and confirmed by Guinness World Records. 

How many US states are considered landlocked?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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27 states

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