Good morning, and welcome to March. In today’s edition:

• 🦠 New details have emerged regarding Covid’s origin
• 🏈 The NFL tea, according to its players
• 🤑 Millennials are about to be rich, per a new report

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.96-minute read.

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“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

–Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

A series of newly released documents provide evidence some virologists say represents a “smoking gun” confirming the theory that Covid first originated in – and eventually leaked from – a scientific laboratory in Wuhan, China.

The documents, obtained by health advocacy group US Right to Know, come from a 2018 grant proposal for a collaboration between US and Chinese scientists called Project Defuse.

• The proposal described how coronaviruses – including the one that causes Covid – could be found, combined, and granted the ability to infect human cells, with the stated goal of finding ways to protect against such viruses emerging in humans (aka gain-of-function research).
• The new Defuse documents also show a number of scientists were concerned that China’s Wuhan Lab of Virology – which is at the center of the Covid lab leak theory – represented a safety risk, since their precautions against adverse events like lab leaks weren’t up to US standards.

Yes, but… Some scientists, including proponents of the idea that Covid leaked from a lab, cautioned the latest details don’t represent a “smoking gun” confirming the Covid lab-leak theory – especially because the proposal for Project Defuse was ultimately rejected.

They also say that because the documents in question are from early 2018, they don’t constitute enough direct evidence to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that Covid leaked from a lab.

📸🦠 Bottom line: Many experts are undecided on Covid’s origins, but the rest have fallen into two main schools of thought: 1) Covid was the result of natural transmission, meaning it passed from animals to humans, or 2) it originally leaked from a lab, likely in Wuhan.

• In total, eight US federal agencies have investigated the origin of Covid. Four concluded the virus was likely the result of natural transmission, two said Covid likely leaked from a Chinese lab, and two are still undecided.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, which of the following is the most likely explanation for Covid’s origin?

• Lab-leak hypothesis
• Natural transmission
• Other

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💥 At least 112 people were killed and 760 injured during a humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza yesterday. Israel’s military and Palestinian officials/witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the situation, which involved a convoy of trucks delivering aid to Gaza City. Palestinians say Israeli soldiers opened fire at people waiting for aid deliveries without provocation, setting off a stampede among the thousands of Palestinians gathered. Israeli officials say Palestinians surrounded the aid trucks once they entered Gaza City in a crush that fatally trampled dozens of people, and that a short while later Israeli troops down the road from the aid convoy opened fire on a crowd who approached a military checkpoint, killing fewer than 10 people.

🌎 Global freedom has declined for the 18th year in a row, per a new report. Watchdog group Freedom House’s annual report found that political and civil liberties fell in 52 countries last year, with the decline mainly due to war, election manipulation, and attacks on political pluralism. Thailand was the only country to upgrade from "not free" to "partly free," while Finland kept its top spot as the world’s freest country.

🇨🇦🇲🇽 Canada reimposed its visa requirement for Mexican citizens. Canadian officials say the move is aimed at slowing a recent influx of Mexican migrants seeking asylum, which has strained Canada’s social services and immigration system. When Canada first lifted its visa requirement for Mexican visitors in late 2016, local asylum claims stood at 110/year. In 2023, that figure rose to nearly 24,000, with 17% of all asylum-seekers coming from Mexico.

If humanoid AI robot startup Figure was the new kid in school, it’d already have an invite to sit at the “cool” lunch table.

The startup has raised $675 million from Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Chat GPT-maker OpenAI, Microsoft, and others, it announced yesterday. The funding values Figure, which was founded in 2022, at $2.6 billion.

What’s the goal?... Figure is aiming to build human-like robots powered by AI that can perform dangerous or undesirable jobs, as well as be put to use in manufacturing, warehousing, retail, and shipping and logistics, “where labor shortages are the most severe.” Its machines aren’t intended for military or defense applications.

• The company has released several videos of the Figure 01, its general-purpose humanoid robot, performing tasks like making a cup of coffee or picking up a plastic crate and moving it elsewhere.

🤖 Zoom out: The humanoid robot industry is like Soho House on a Friday night – pretty crowded. Amazon-backed Agility Robotics is opening a factory that can produce up to 10,000 of its bipedal Digit robots per year. Tesla is working to build a humanoid robot (Optimus). And robotics company Boston Dynamics has already developed Atlas.

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The second-annual NFL Players Association Team Report Cards, the result of a survey of 1,706 current players to find out information about their team across 11 different categories, were released this week (see the methodology). 

Some key takeaways:

• The Dolphins and Vikings are in a league of their own. For the second year in a row, Miami and Minnesota finished in the top two spots. Rounding out the top five teams were the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
• While the Chiefs may be popular among Kansas City-residents and casual football fans, its players don’t necessarily agree. The Chiefs received the second-lowest team grade in the league – only the Washington Commanders were ranked worse.
• NFL life isn’t as glamorous as one may think. Cincinnati Bengals players reported that half of the showers in the locker room don’t work, and that there are five functioning toilets for the entire team. Tampa Bay Buccaneers players say they consistently see bugs in the showers, while Commanders players reported multiple sewage leaks in their facility. Many teams also charge for daycare.

👀 Looking ahead… This report is taken seriously across the league, with the release of the inaugural players’ survey last season resulting in some real changes. The Arizona Cardinals, for example, stopped charging players for meals – and the Jacksonville Jaguars opened a new training facility, which resulted in “no more rats," NFL Players Association president JC Tretter told ESPN.

💬 Quoted… “[O]ur praise for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Knowles Carter has no limit, and we offer our boundless thanks to these two world class artists for entrusting AMC to collaborate with them.”

• To the surprise of absolutely no one, it appears that hitching your financial bandwagon to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé is a good business move. AMC Theatres reported earnings this week that beat analysts’ expectations, with a 12% quarterly increase in revenue and a nearly 3x bump in operating profits – “literally all” of which is attributable to AMC’s concert-film distribution deals with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, CEO Adam Aron said. Swift’s concert film grossed a record $262 million worldwide, while Queen Bey’s grossed $44 million.

💰 Stat of the Day: Over the next two decades, a massive wealth transfer from older generations will make millennials the “richest generation in history,” with an estimated $90 trillion worth of property- and equity-rich assets moving between generations over that period, according to a new report from global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

🤔 Did You Know?... According to Lady Gaga, it took her just ten minutes apiece to write the hit songs “Born This Way,” “Just Dance,” and “Poker Face.”

📰 Worth a Read: He Got Bored. Built the Red Bull Empire. Then Cracked Formula One, the World’s Fastest Sport → (WSJ)

• ☝️ Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander sent back the first clear images of the lander on the surface of the Moon; they include the above photo showing Odysseus with a broken leg (on the left) prior to touchdown, which caused the craft to fall over on its side.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Hedonova

• 💰 US markets rose across the board in February (S&P: +5.2%; Dow: +2.2%; Nasdaq: +6.1%); the S&P and Nasdaq had their best February's since 2015. | 👌 The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, a key inflation metric, matched analysts’ expectations, growing 2.4% year-over-year in January, a decline from the prior month's 2.6%. | 📈 Energy drink company Celsius reported strong Q4 earnings; revenue increased 95% year-over-year; the company's shares closed up 20%.
• ✌️ Oprah Winfrey is leaving the board of WW International (formerly WeightWatchers); she’ll also be donating her equity in the company to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
• 📝 The SEC is reportedly probing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s internal communications to determine whether the company misled investors.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏸🥒 America’s two largest pro pickleball leagues – Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association (aka PPA Tour) – completed their long-awaited merger yesterday.
• 🏀 Caitlin Clark, the Iowa women’s basketball star, is forgoing her final year of college eligibility to enter the WNBA draft (held in April); she’s widely projected to be the No. 1 overall pick.
• 🍿 Dune Part Two hits theaters nationwide starting today; Warner Bros. is projecting a $65 million weekend debut at the domestic box office.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with The Average Joe

• 🤖🫡 Large language models typically give better answers when user prompts are respectful, while failure to do so can "significantly affect LLM performance," per a new research paper that has yet to be peer reviewed.
• 🌋 Popocatépetl, which is widely considered Mexico’s most dangerous active volcano, erupted 13 times over a 24-hour period ending yesterday.
• 📈 Alcohol-related deaths in the US rose during the pandemic to reach 500/day in 2021, per a new CDC study.

*From our partners: 📈🥳 Become a better investor in just five minutes… Get market trends and insights anyone can understand with The Average Joe investing newsletter – and stick around for the humor and memes. Join 255,000+ readers and subscribe free to The Average Joe.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🇺🇸🇲🇽 President Biden and former President Trump made separate visits to the US-Mexico border yesterday.
• 🏛️ The House (and Senate) approved a stopgap government funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at midnight tonight; President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law before the deadline.
• ⚖️ A US judge blocked Texas’ new immigration law that would allow state authorities to deport unauthorized migrants, ruling it violates the federal government’s sole immigration authority; the decision was immediately appealed by Texas. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💾🎶 Flop rock: inside the underground floppy disk music scene.

👆 Mary Forsythe just celebrated her 100th 25th birthday. 

🎶 Forever young ... The city of Sand Springs issued a proclamation yesterday marking what's officially the Oklahoma woman's 100th birthday – though it was technically just the 25th time Mary has seen her February 29th birthday come and go. 

• "I always thought I was blessed," Forsythe told ABC News of her Leap Year birthday. "It was so much fun. We celebrated whenever we wanted to."

Our weekly news quiz is live. In just two minutes or less, see how your news superpowers stack up against The DONUT team.

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Turnip
• Olive oil
• Yellow onion
• Celery
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic
• Kielbasa
• White beans
• Crushed tomatoes
• Chicken broth
• Water
• Small pasta
• Parsley leaves

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Red bell peppers
• Plum tomato
• Red onion
• Habanero pepper
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Vegetable oil
• Tomato paste
• Basmati rice
• Jamaican style curry powder
• Beef bouillon
• Dried thyme
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Ground nutmeg
• Bay leaves
• Salt
• Chicken stock
• Unsalted butter
• Green peas

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Butter (for greasing pan)
• Eggs
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Bisquick
• Salt
• Shredded coconut

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Southern swamp soup

✌️ Recipe #2: Jollof rice

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Sad cake