Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ✈️ It’s about to be a hot travel summer, per airline execs
• 🇦🇪 The UAE is currently under water
• 🐳 How the first human-whale conversation could help us talk to aliens

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~5.19-minute read (1,381 words).

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“Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.”

–Lao Tzu (571 B.C. – 501 B.C.)

Shares of United Airlines rose 17% yesterday, turning in their best day in three-and-a-half years. And, while the airline posted earnings and revenue after Tuesday’s bell that came in above expectations, a large portion of this rise can be attributed to its forward-looking guidance.

In other words – the magic 8-ball says travel demand, which has remained high despite lingering inflation and recently publicized safety issues, is about to go even higher.

• United Airlines will carry record numbers of travelers this summer, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella said on its earnings call yesterday.
• And this hot travel summer extends beyond just United. “Demand continues to be strong, and we see a record spring and summer travel season with our 11 highest sales days in our history all occurring this calendar year,” Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on his company’s earnings call last week.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Boeing’s woes are starting to reverberate throughout the industry. United Airlines would have turned a profit in Q1 had it not taken a $200 million hit due to the temporary grounding of Max 9 jets in January following an in-flight door plug blowout, while shares of Southwest – famously a one-airplane company (the Boeing 737) – fell ~15% in March after adjusting guidance downward due to uncertainty about new plane deliveries.

👀 Looking ahead…Strong demand for international trips and rebounding corporate travel have major airlines leaning into more premium experiences. While United recently announced upgraded first- and business-class cabins – along with Delta and American – Nocella said on Wednesday’s earnings call that the airline could further segment the front of the plane (where the fancy people sit).

• And, as any savvy traveler knows, premium experiences start when you get to the airport – not after boarding. Delta is slated to open a new, more exclusive tier of airport lounge later this year.

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🇦🇪 The UAE experienced its heaviest rainfall since record-keeping began 75 years ago. Nearly six inches of rain fell in Dubai over a 24-hour period ending Tuesday – around 1.5x what the city usually records in an entire year – with some areas seeing up to 10 inches of rain. The torrential downpour led to flooding that blocked roads and caused flight cancellations, in addition to 18 reported deaths in neighboring Oman. Yesterday, UAE officials denied media reports that a rain-enhancing technology called cloud seeding was involved in the record downpour.

🇨🇳 Chinese researchers say they’ve developed a chip that could cut AI energy demand by 99+%. The new Taichi microchip is powered by light rather than electricity, allowing it to boost chip operating speed by passing data at the speed of light. Chinese researchers say if the chip is scaled up sufficiently, it could train AI models and run tasks as well as silicon chips while using one-thousandth of the energy.

🇷🇺 Hackers linked to Russia’s military claimed responsibility for sabotaging a Texas water plant. The January hack in the small town of Muleshoe, Texas – which caused a tank at a local water facility to overflow – was recently claimed on Telegram by individuals with a history of hacking for Russia, per a new report from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant. The FBI is currently investigating the incident, with Mandiant saying it’s unclear whether the Russian government was involved.

ByteDance, the China-based company that owns TikTok, has quietly launched a new app over the past few months in France, Spain, Japan, and South Korea.

The app, called TikTok Lite and designed for users 18+, is a pared-down version of the flagship product that made “TikTok-famous” an adjective, but with one notable difference – it rewards people with money for using it.

• Each user is presented with a daily target of 3,600 coins, which can be earned by performing certain actions, including liking videos, following accounts, inviting friends, etc.
• These virtual points can be converted into Amazon vouchers, PayPal gift cards, or cash to spend during creators’ livestreams. For context, the app says its daily points target is designed to be reached in about an hour, with a payout equivalent to $0.38. Rewards for power-users are capped at $1.06/day.

Similar to in the US, TikTok’s user growth in Europe is slowing. According to a report from The Information ($) that cites internal company documents, TikTok Lite’s launch is designed to boost the company’s number of users on the continent.

But – also like in the US – regulators could stand in its way. TikTok has until today to respond to a request for information from European Union regulators, who are raising concerns about the app’s potential impact on minors, as well as the mental health of its users given the potentially addictive nature of its incentivization.

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Scientists recently held the first known “conversation” with a humpback whale in its native language – aside from Dory, of course – in an experiment aimed at providing insight into how humans could one day communicate with alien lifeforms, according to a recent study.

The research team was led by the SETI Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. And, while the organization normally looks to the skies, its scientists did their best impression of Sebastian from Little Mermaid and focused 🎶under the sea🎶 for this experiment.

Here’s what happened: The researchers played underwater recordings of humpback whales to others of the same species gathered off the coast of Alaska. While most of the whales ignored them, a female named Twain started circling their boat and mimicking the noises.

• Twain evidently had a lot to say – over the next 20 minutes, she responded to the researchers' calls by matching the interval variations between each recorded playback.
• “So, if she waited 10 seconds, I waited 10 seconds. We ended up matching each other. We did this 36 times,” said UC Davis scientist Brenda McCowan.
• The scientific team said their next step is to try having more in-depth “conversations” with humpback whales.

🐳 Bottom line: The SETI Institute believes whales represent a proxy for aliens that humans might encounter on another planet, since they’re intelligent creatures whose sounds contain complex messages similar to human languages.

💬 Quoted: “Whether it’s your Beyoncé fold up fan or a whole smoked pork belly, we want to help you reunite with your prized possessions!”

• Uber just released its eighth annual Lost & Found Index, which chronicles the most popular and surprising items left behind by riders over the past year. Clothing, luggage, and headphones topped the list of the most commonly forgotten items – but there were also some… unique items that riders reported lost. Our four favorites (because we couldn’t pick just three): “two containers with spiders in them”, “a personalized blanket featuring a picture of me and my dog”, “a candle that says ‘See you in court,’” and a “street sign saying ‘She’s drunk’ and a picture frame.” Uber also found January 21st is the most forgetful day of the year, while the most forgetful times were between 9-10 pm.

⚖️ Stat of the Day: The Justice Department has reportedly agreed to pay ~$100 million to 100 victims of Larry Nassar, a convicted sex abuser and former national women’s gymnastics team doctor, over the FBI’s failures to take gymnasts who reported his abuse seriously. The DOJ’s agreement, which has yet to be finalized, would bring the total price tag of payouts over legal liability for Nassar’s actions to ~$1 billion.

🤔 Did You Know? During the Middle Ages in Europe, animals were judged as if they were humans – meaning it was possible to sue any animal and bring them to trial (usually for murder or criminal damage).

📰 Worth a Read: The case for stopping efforts to contact whales aliens → (Big Think)

• ☝️ Boston Dynamics unveiled a new all-electric version of its humanoid robot Atlas yesterday; the next-gen machine is designed to move in the most efficient way possible, rather than being constrained by a human range of motion like its old hydraulic version.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Asutra

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board (S&P: -0.6%; Dow: -0.1%; Nasdaq: -1.2%). | 📉 Wall Street economists largely predict the Fed will wait until at least September before cutting interest rates, per the CME Group’s FedWatch gauge.
• 🗳️ Tesla’s board asked shareholders to again vote in favor of CEO Elon Musk’s pay package – valued at a maximum of $55.8 billion – after a Delaware court struck it down in January; shareholders were also asked to approve moving Tesla's incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
• 🚙 Ford is recalling ~456,000 Bronco Sport SUVs and Ford Maverick pickup trucks due to a battery issue. | 🦞 Red Lobster is reportedly exploring bankruptcy.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned from the NBA for life for allegedly betting on games, passing on information to gamblers, and claiming illness to influence a wager. | ⛹️‍♀️ WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league is “pretty confident” it will expand to 16 teams, up from its current 12, by 2028.
• 🎶🏛️ Music by ABBA, Biggie, and Green Day were among the 25 recordings added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry this year.
• 📽️ The Sundance film festival – which has been held in Park City, Utah, for the past 43 years – announced that it’s open for pitches from US cities that wish to become the festival’s new permanent home starting in 2027.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Paleovalley

• 🫂 Hugs and other forms of physical touch can help reduce feelings of pain, depression, and anxiety in people of all ages, per a new meta-analysis of 212 previous studies. | 💉❗ The FDA warned that fake Botox is responsible for recent reports of vision problems and difficulty breathing or swallowing across at least nine states.
• 🛒 Amazon will license its Dash Cart-cashierless tech to other retailers.
• ☄️ The annual Lyrid meteor shower kicked off this week; peak meteor activity is expected to be reached on Monday.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓 The president of Columbia University testified before Congress yesterday over a reported surge in antisemitism on campus amidst the Israel-Hamas war.
• 🏛️ House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a trio of separate bills that would provide billions in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
• 🚫📝 Senate Democrats dismissed both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that were previously approved by House Republicans, deeming them “unconstitutional.” (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 😬📺 An AI rom-com looks about as bad as you’d expect.

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

• Whales and dolphins now have legal personhood in the Pacific → (The Conversation)
• Wrong couple get divorced after solicitor ‘clicks wrong button’ → (The Guardian)
• Gamer buys 4,000 copies of Alan Wake, none of them work → (PCGamesN)
• Man balances running lawnmower on his chin for 9 minutes, 17 seconds → (UPI)
• Two-Story House ‘Floats’ Across San Francisco Bay. No, We Are Not Joking → (News18)

Yesterday, we covered a new Stanford report that found AI systems can exceed human performance in several basic tasks, signaling that artificial general intelligence – AI that’s as capable as humans in all cognitive tasks – could soon emerge.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, when – if ever – will an AI system achieve artificial general intelligence?

• Within the next 2 years: 27%
• In 2-5 years: 24%
• In 5-10 years: 21%
• In 10-20 years: 8%
• In 20+ years: 8%
• Never: 12%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 4,197 votes and 276 longform responses.

A little over five years ago, British man Simon Dell started building tiny homes for a wild mouse he found in his backyard.

• While the little buildings were originally meant to keep the mouse safe from cats, Simon found that they also helped his mental health. He had struggled with depression on and off for years, and the mouse houses gave him a new purpose and daily joy.

Fast forward to today: Simon has expanded the little village to include multiple homes, stores, and tiny hobby areas for the mice. Also included are instruments for painting, photography, sailing, and more. Simon has about 20 mice that frequent the homes, while he also documents the mouse village on social media for 150,000+ followers.

💬 What he's saying: “Without photography, and the fun of making little things for little things, I could soon sink back into deep depression," Simon told the Good News Network/SWNS. "Photography [of the village] gave me a reason to get up and out again and the mouse village gave me back my smile. I hope it gives others the same joy it gives me.”

Which Caribbean island, pictured above, sets aside two-thirds of its landmass as protected park land?

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Martinique