Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🤠 Country music is having a moment
• ♻️ There’s a new way to convert CO2 into green fuel
• ♟️ The 10-year-old “Messi of Chess” took down the world champ

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.76-minute read.

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

P.P.S. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday following a brief Easter holiday break.

"The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away."

–David Viscott (1938-1996)

In yesterday’s Dose of Discussion about the abortion pill mifepristone, we incorrectly said a potential Supreme Court decision in favor of the legal challenge to mifepristone would outlaw the pill in all US states.

• In reality, such a SCOTUS ruling would roll back the FDA’s prescribing rules to what they were in 2011, shutting down telemedicine access to mifepristone and restricting its use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy – but stopping short of a blanket ban.

Note: This is the 50th correction out of the 542 newsletters we've published since January 2022 (for context, each newsletter contains 20+ news events).

Sotheby’s “Sports Week,” an annual event revolving around a series of sports memorabilia auctions, begins later today and runs through April 12. And it’s becoming a bigger deal than Ron Burgundy (if you’re reading this, sorry, Ron!).

Some of the things for sale over the next two-ish weeks:

• A pair of Muhammad Ali’s shorts from his legendary 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” match (expected to sell for $4 million–$6 million).
• A Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey from Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, in which he scored 40 points, his highest-scoring Finals performance ($1.5 million–$2.5 million).
• 50 pairs of shoes donned by some of the league’s greatest players, including MJ, Kobe, LeBron, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook.

The items up for auction are collectively expected to fetch over $12 million, with individual purchase prices ranging from $500 to $6 million.

The sports memorabilia market is like a child trying to execute a big jump at the playground – on the upswing. Sports memorabilia saw higher demand during Covid following the release of the popular Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls’ documentary series, The Last Dance.

This demand boost was first applied to Jordan collectibles, then translated into other sports memorabilia, CNBC reports. And it appears the experience is almost like a gateway drug – Sotheby’s says its average clients for sports memorabilia are 20–40 years old and mostly new to auctions, with some sales leading to more purchases in the contemporary and watch categories.

👀 Looking ahead… The sports memorabilia market was pegged at $26 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach ~$135 billion by 2032 after adjusting for the current reality of NFTs.

After her battle with cancer, Cathy Paraggio became acutely aware of the discomfort of traditional activewear, particularly for individuals with heightened sensitivity. This began a mission to create activewear that’s as comfortable as it is sustainable. Cathy partnered with her son and NoNetz was born.

What makes NoNetz different?

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• ♻️ Swim trunks made from recycled plastic bottles
• 🎣 Rash guards made from reclaimed fishing nets
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Furthermore, every NoNetz purchase supports the removal of non-recyclable plastics from our oceans. And they even plant a tree for every newsletter signup.

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🇨🇳 Chinese President Xi Jinping met with US executives amid declining foreign investment. During yesterday’s meeting, President Xi sought to reassure American business leaders that China still represents an appealing place for investment, despite recent friction between the US and Beijing over trade, technology, human rights, and other issues. Foreign investment in China fell 8% in 2023 from the previous year, with some foreign business groups pulling back from the country due to concerns over new national security laws.

🇹🇭 Thailand is one step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage. In a 400-10 vote, the country’s parliament approved a bill that recognizes marriage between two people regardless of gender, with equal inheritance and adoption rights. The bill still requires approval from Thailand’s Senate and its king, both of which are expected by the end of 2024. If approved, the measure would make Thailand the third Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.

🇧🇷🇫🇷 Brazil and France launched a $1.1 billion investment plan to protect the Amazon Rainforest. The investment, which will be raised over the next four years, is aimed at stopping deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 and improving trade between the two countries. Tuesday's announcement came after deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon halved in 2023, the first year of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s tenure.

During this year’s Super Bowl, Beyoncé dropped two new songs – “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” – and announced a country album, Cowboy Carter, scheduled for release on March 29 ("tomorrow," aka midnight tonight).

And boy, are listeners excited. “Texas Hold ‘Em” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs list on February 24 (it debuted on February 11), making Queen Bey the first Black women to ever hold the #1 spot on that chart, while “16 Carriages” came in at #9. As of this writing, the two songs have racked up ~235 million streams on Spotify.

But country music was on an upswing even before Beyoncé…and this was most likely due to a separate star: Morgan Wallen. Country music streaming grew 24% year-over-year through Q3 2023, with Wallen being responsible for almost a third of the growth, according to entertainment data company Luminate.

• Gen Z and millennials are also contributing to the country surge. In 2023, 36% of streams of Spotify’s Top 50 songs were country songs, compared to 2% in 2016.

…and mainstream artists are increasingly riding the wave🏄. Lana Del Rey and Post Malone are reportedly preparing to release country albums, while Ed Sheeran could also be unveiling a country music project soon, according to Billboard.

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Carbon dioxide is the primary planet-warming gas produced by human activity, accounting for more than 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions. But what if CO2 could also be a part of the climate solution?

An international team of scientists have developed a new method to drastically lower emissions from fossil fuels by turning CO2 into methanol, a sustainable source of fuel, per a new peer-reviewed study.

• Previously, scientists had figured out how to recycle the CO2 created by fossil fuels and use it for other products – but their method required significant amounts of hydrogen gas, which ended up increasing the overall emissions from the process.

But this new approach is far more environmentally friendly. In their recent study, the researchers used a light-based technique called photocatalysis to transform CO2 into methanol, a sustainable fuel that produces 80%-95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline or diesel.

👀 Looking ahead… The scientists say their next objective is to improve the efficiency of their new CO2 recycling process, with an overall goal of using their method to help countries achieve net-zero emissions targets in the coming years and decades.

💬 Quoted… “If I lose in this position, I have to retire from chess.”

• Ten-year-old Faustino Oro, aka the “Messi of Chess,” isn’t lacking in confidence. The youngster uttered the above sentence while playing a quick-fire match against Magnus Carlsen, the No. 1-ranked chess player in the world – and Oro quickly followed through on his smack talk, earning the victory over Carlsen ten moves later. Their match was part of an online “bullet chess” tournament in which players have one minute on their respective clocks for each game.

🧠📈 Stat of the Day: Younger generations in the US have larger brains than their predecessors, according to a new peer-reviewed study. Scientists at UC Davis found Americans born in the 1970s have 6.6% more brain volume than those born in the 1930s, with a consistent increase in brain sizes over time.

🤔 Did You Know?... In both 2008 and 2009, a Texas high school athlete named Bonnie Richardson won the Texas State Track Team Championship entirely by herself.

📰 Worth a Read: Did SunnyD really turn a girl orange? → (The Hustle)

• ☝️ The winners of the 2024 World Nature Photography Awards were announced last week; the competition, which plants a tree for each entry, saw photographers from dozens of countries around the world submit their work.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Hedonova

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.9%; Dow: +1.2%; Nasdaq: +0.5%); the S&P 500 notched another record-high close.
• 🤖 Amazon announced an additional $2.75 billion in funding for AI startup Anthropic, bringing the tech giant’s total investment in the company to $4 billion.
• ⚖️🪙 FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be sentenced later today for his crimes tied to the crypto exchange’s 2022 collapse; prosecutors are seeking 40-50 years in jail, while SBF’s lawyers are arguing for 5-6 years.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎶💰 Recorded music revenue in the US rose 7.7% last year to reach $17.1 billion, marking the eighth consecutive year of revenue growth, per the Recording Industry Association of America.
• 🎮 Marvel announced a new video game called Marvel Rivals, which is a 6 v. 6 hero shooter involving characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, and Magneto.
• 🏀 The NBA is reportedly investigating Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter in connection with unusual betting activity. | 💰 NCAA President Charlie Baker said the organization is encouraging states to ban prop bets involving student athletes.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with onewith

• 💉 Ozempic, the weight-loss/diabetes drug which Novo Nordisk sells for ~$1,000/month in the US, could be profitably produced for less than $5/month, per a new study published in JAMA Network.
• 🐄🐦 Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas have tested positive for bird flu, in what experts say is likely the world’s first known cases of bird flu in cows.
• 👶 Employers see a net gain of between $0.90 and $4.25 for every dollar spent on childcare benefits for their employees, per a new study by Boston Consulting Group and nonprofit Moms First.

*From our partners: 🌊 onewith swimwear fits like underwear… Edgeless, dig-free, and elastic-free. Just unmatched comfort and confidence in swimwear that feels like a second skin. Shop onewith and join the swimwear revolution.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎰 The $1.1 billion Mega Millions jackpot was won on Tuesday night by a single ticket sold in New Jersey; it marks the eighth-largest jackpot in US lottery history.
• 🐭🤝 Disney and appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed yesterday to settle all litigation over control of the special tourism district that includes Walt Disney World.
• 🏭 The Biden administration announced a $1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan; it would become the first such plant to be reopened in the US.

CLICKBAIT

• 🏘️🥇 2024 Best ZIP Codes to Live in America.

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

• Rescued 'baby hedgehog' turns out to be a pom pom from a hat → (UPI)
• Lego instructs California police department to stop using Lego heads to mask identities of suspects → (Fox News)
• South Carolina has $1.8 billion but doesn’t know where the money came from or where it should go → (Associated Press)
• Louie the raccoon from Florida named 2024 Cadbury Bunny → (USA Today)
• Ready, steady, eau! Paris waiters race returns to French capital → (BBC)

Yesterday, we covered oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a case challenging whether the FDA improperly expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

❓ Our question to you: How do you feel about the lawsuit before SCOTUS seeking to reverse the FDA’s approval of mifepristone?

• 👍 Strongly agree: 16%
• 📈 Agree/Somewhat agree: 9%
• ↔️ Neutral: 10%
• 📉 Disagree/Somewhat disagree: 12%
• 👎 Strongly disagree: 53%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 5,410 votes and 428 longform responses.

Sixteen year old Jasper O’Briant has been fighting cancer for over two years. Between regular doctor visits and chemotherapy sessions, he also had to undergo an invasive surgery on his left arm that left him with a prominent scar. 

In an effort to cheer up Jasper and help him feel less alone, his dad, Jody O’Briant, and brother. Nathan, got tattoos to match Jasper's scar. 

• “I was fully on board when we had discussed it," said Nathan. "It was never a second doubt in my mind as to what was going to happen there. It was something I wanted to do immediately for him."

💬 What he's saying: “I didn't get to choose to have [surgery] done to me. It was, to be quite frank, it was that or death," shared Jasper. "So I didn't get to choose and the fact that they chose to put something permanent on their body was very meaningful,” he said, adding that he thought “the idea was really awesome.”

+Editors Note: This story first appeared in the Daily DONUT in March 2023. It was so sweet, we had to share it again!

Which two European countries share Lake Geneva?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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France and Switzerland