Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🧠 Scientists are pushing a new standard for animal consciousness
• 🚄 Another high-speed rail project broke ground in the US
• 🪐 Is there a hidden “Planet 9” in our Solar System?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~5.25-minute read (1,397 words).

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

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

For those of you who’ve always considered your pet part of the family, you’re not too far off – scientifically speaking.

A far greater number of animals have the capacity for consciousness than humans previously thought, according to a new declaration signed by over three dozen leading researchers.

First things first: While there isn’t a standard definition for consciousness, the term generally refers to an ability to have subjective experiences.

• For an animal, such experiences would include smelling, tasting, hearing, or touching the world around itself, as well as feeling fear, pleasure, or pain.
• In some cases, consciousness can mean that animals have more complex mental states, including a level of self-awareness.

The new declaration argues in favor of widespread animal consciousness. In the three-paragraph document, scientists say decades of research shows “strong scientific support” for the idea that all mammals and birds are conscious. It also supports “at least a realistic possibility” of consciousness in all reptiles, fish, amphibians, octopuses, and insects.

Researchers who signed the declaration cite a range of scientific findings to back up their claims:

• Several different animals – including chimpanzees, Asian elephants, and cleaner fishes – appear to recognize their own image when presented with a mirror (unlike this writer after a crazy night out🫣).
• Octopuses seem to react to anesthetic drugs, and will avoid settings where they experienced past pain.
• Crayfish display anxiety-like states which can be altered by anti-anxiety drugs.
• In the insect world: bees show apparent play behavior, while Drosophila fruit flies have distinct dream-like sleep patterns that are influenced by their social environment.

👀 Looking ahead… The declaration argues that scientists and policymakers must take into account the growing evidence pointing to widespread animal consciousness when considering potential risks to those animals.

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🇬🇧 The London Marathon was an event for the record books. Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning Olympic marathon champion from Kenya, broke the women’s-only world record by 51 seconds on Sunday, turning in a 2:16:16 time. *DJ Khaled voice* Anotha record: The race ended up setting a new record for the highest amount raised by the event for charity, with $83 million. Overall, the race set 44 Guinness World Records, including the fastest marathon run while dressed in an inflatable costume.

🇨🇳 Chinese swimmers competed in the 2021 Olympics despite testing positive for doping. Following a pair of media reports on Sunday, the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that 23 Chinese swimmers – including three gold medalists – tested positive for a banned heart medication months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. WADA said it cleared the swimmers to compete after China asserted that the positive tests were due to substance contamination, though international officials called for a new independent investigation into the situation.

🇲🇽 Mexico is experiencing an unusually violent election season. Nearly 300 candidates in Mexico’s upcoming national elections in June have requested government protection, following the recent murders of 24 candidates. A recent report found ~400 people connected to the Mexican elections have been affected by political violence – ranging from threats to kidnapping and murder – since last September, including 127 candidates.

Amazon apparently has a lot in common with a fictional monkey that hangs out with a man in a yellow hat. For years, the tech giant has been gathering intel on its competitors via an internal project codenamed “Project Curiosity,” according to a new investigative report from The Wall Street Journal.

How Project Curiosity worked: Started in 2015, the project’s initial aim was to better understand and improve the experiences of e-commerce sellers across various online marketplaces, per the Journal.

Senior management gave the team working on the project approval to create a shell company, buy inventory, and find warehouses so they could pose as sellers on competitors’ websites.

• The operation, run under the company banner “Big River Services International”, has grown to sell ~$1 million/year of goods via e-commerce marketplaces – including eBay, Shopify, Walmart, and, yes, Amazon.

Like early NASA, hidden figures are crucial to its success. Project Curiosity has purposely worked to establish a delineation between Big River and Amazon, per the Journal.

• Team members communicate with any outside entity using a non-Amazon email address, but use an Amazon email address to communicate internally.
• Reports are also sent to Amazon execs using printed, numbered copies rather than email to limit the paper trail.

📝 Bottom line: Nearly every company researches its competitors. But Elizabeth Rowe, a University of Virginia law-school professor who specializes in trade secret law, told the WSJ that misrepresentation to competitors to gain proprietary info can lead to lawsuits regarding trade secret misappropriation.

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Many Southern California residents will soon be able to wine and dine in Las Vegas and still make it back home in time for bed – all without booking a flight.

Construction officially began yesterday on Brightline West, a new $12 billion high-speed passenger line connecting Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.

• The project, which aims to be operational ahead of LA’s hosting of the 2028 Summer Olympics, involves laying 218 miles of new track mostly along the median of Interstate 15.
• Once complete, the route will take two hours to travel from Southern California to Las Vegas – roughly half the typical driving time – at an average speed of 115 MPH and a top speed of 200 MPH (comparable to other high-speed rail systems globally).

Big picture: After decades of losing market share to cars and planes, the US passenger train industry is working on itself, similar to Brad Pitt’s character in… Bullet Train. Brightline West’s sister project – simply named the Nippon Speed line Brightline – began carrying travelers on a new $5 billion route connecting Miami and Orlando last September, making it the first private US passenger train service in over a century.

👀 Looking ahead… Texas developers are working on a new rail route that would travel from Dallas to Houston in ~90 minutes, while US and Canadian local governments are planning a high-speed rail route between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland.

💬 Quoted: “The strongest statistical evidence yet.”

• There may be a hidden ninth planet in our Solar System – and it’s not Pluto (sorry ‘lil guy). In a pair of new studies, two Caltech planetary researchers presented evidence to support their theory that a “Planet 9” has been hidden under astronomers’ collective noses for centuries. The Caltech researchers, who have long promoted the existence of Planet 9, argue that the orbits of objects at the far reaches of our solar system – beyond Neptune’s orbit – heavily imply the existence of an unseen planet, which is likely over 250x further away from the Sun than Earth.

💰🏦 Stat of the Day: What do asset management firms and T-rexes have in common? Over the past decade-plus, these firms have slowly overtaken banks to become the apex predators of the US financial system. In 2008, American banks controlled roughly the same amount of funds as traditional and alternative asset managers in the US, at ~$12 trillion apiece. But today, such asset managers – including giants like State Street, Blackrock, Blackstone, and KKR – control roughly $43.5 trillion, nearly twice the banks’ $23 trillion, per a new WSJ analysis.

🤔 Did You Know? Roughly 4% of the world’s population has hit the genetic lottery and never experienced a headache. Scientists are currently unsure whether it’s due to biological or environmental factors.

📰 Worth a Read: Britain's mysterious WW2 'island of death' → (BBC Culture)

• ☝️ A newly unearthed photograph that appears to show the iceberg that sank the Titanic is now up for auction; the image was captured by an undertaker two days after the ship sunk.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Incogni

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.9%; Dow: +0.7%; Nasdaq: +1.1%); the S&P snapped a six-day losing streak. | 🏡 The median price of luxury homes hit an all-time record of $1,225,000 during Q1.
• 📉 Express, the longtime mall retailer whose portfolio also includes UpWest and Bonobos, filed for bankruptcy.
• 📱 The EU launched a formal investigation into TikTok Lite, citing concerns about its addictive design that rewards users with money for performing certain actions. (What is TikTok Lite?)

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎸🏆 The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2024 inductees, which include Cher, A Tribe Called Quest, Dave Matthews Band, Mary J. Blige, and Ozzy Osborne. See the full list of inductees. | 🦸 The new trailer for Deadpool and Wolverine dropped yesterday. Check it out.
• 🎮 Gaming company Embracer Group, home to properties like CATAN, Lord of the Rings, and Tomb Raider, is splitting into three separate companies.
• 🏀 The Athletic unveiled its 2024 Anonymous NBA Player poll. Read it here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Pair

• 🤖 Sam Altman, VC firm a16z, and others are reportedly participating in a $20 million funding round for Exowatt, a startup focused on building AI data centers.
• 🛰️ NASA's interstellar explorer Voyager 1 did its best E.T. impression and phoned home over the weekend; it's the first time in five months that ground control has heard from the craft.
• 🦠 A mutated, drug-resistant bacteria has been found on the International Space Station.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓 Columbia University moved classes online yesterday to “de-escalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps” regarding on-campus confrontations over the Israel-Hamas war. | 🎓 At Yale University, police arrested ~50 student protesters following a week-long pro-Palestinian demonstration on the school’s campus; the arrests began after students declined Yale’s offer to leave the area and meet with university trustees.
• ⚖️ The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to a Biden administration law aimed at regulating homemade "ghost guns."
• 🇺🇸 US military forces in Iraq and Syria faced two separate rocket and explosive drone attacks in less than 24 hours, per multiple reports.

CLICKBAIT

• 🌋 Views of the most powerful volcano in our solar system.

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• 🌁😷 91% of the global population lives in places where air quality does not meet World Health Organization standards. (Read more)
• 🏌️ Nelly Korda won her record-tying 5th straight LPGA tournament on Sunday, while Scottie Scheffler won the 4th PGA tournament in his last 5 starts earlier today. (Read more)
• 🥽 One-third of US teens (33%) have access to a VR device – but 56% of those teens say they rarely use it, per a new Piper Sandler survey. (Read more)
• 🔵🚘 The proportion of Democrats buying Tesla vehicles dropped by 60+% between fall 2022 and the same period one year later, per research firm Strategic Vision. (Read more)
• 💰 The net worth of US adults under the age of 40 has cumulatively increased by 80% since 2019. (Read more)

Yesterday, we covered the House passing a series of four standalone bills that include $95+ billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as a potential TikTok ban in the US.

❓ Our question to you: Do you support the package of four bills that passed the House this weekend?

• 👍 Yes, in its entirety: 24%
• 📝 I support some bills but not others: 36%
• 👎 No, I don’t support any: 27%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 13%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 3,301 votes and 359 longform responses.

Eight years ago, high school cross-country coach Luis Escobar was trying to think of ways to motivate his athletes to keep running over their summer vacation. 

He was brainstorming with his wife when she got an idea: why don't the kids run with local shelter dogs? 

Jarrin...ran with her idea: After she got in touch with a local animal shelter, the kids were taught the basics of running safely with canines – then they hit the road. The program was a roaring success, and, nearly a decade later, it's become the blueprint for other high schools nationwide. 

💬 Time capsule: “It was super fun. The kids were having a great time, the dogs were having a great time,” Luis said of that very first day. “Tails were wagging, and kids were smiling."

🌋 Trivia: Which planet in our solar system has the most volcanoes?

🏝️ True or False?... Jamaica is the largest island in the Caribbean. 

🤔 Riddle Me This: When given one, you’ll have either two or none. What is it?

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize.

Start referring.👇

🌋 Trivia: Venus 

🏝️ T/F: False, it’s Cuba

🤔 Riddle: A choice