Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇺🇸 America is becoming a nation of homebodies
• 👚 The big screen is coming to your closet
• 🖼️ Uncovering fake Van Goghs

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.72-minute read (1,256 words).

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“How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.”

–Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

They say not all who wander are lost, but those who never leave the house always know where a bathroom is – a stance a growing number of Americans share. The US is spending more time at home than ever before, per a recent analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual American Time Use survey.

• The new research found Americans' time at home increased by 1 hour 39 minutes per day from 2003 through 2022.
• Overall, Americans ages 15–34 spent more time at home than other groups, clocking in at ~2 more hours/day in 2022 compared to 2003.

Driving the trend: Experts attribute a large share of the increase to more Americans working from home, a trend present before the pandemic but further exacerbated by Covid. Between 2003-2019, the share of Americans’ work time spent at home rose from 13% to 17% – and once the pandemic hit, that figure spiked to 29%.

But data also shows other activities like shopping, eating/drinking, and religion have gradually shifted into the home over the past 20 years, as advancements in technology and rising prices have made going out a less attractive option.

• The number of Americans shopping on any given day fell from 46% in 2003 to just under 40% last year, while the US online shopping industry grew from $17 billion to $99 billion over the same period.
• 59% of Americans’ religious activities occurred at home in 2022, up from 24% in 2003.
• Average monthly spending on transportation rose to $1,098 in 2023, representing the second-largest expenditure for Americans behind housing.

Zoom out: While loneliness isn’t necessarily the same as being alone, Americans’ time spent at home has been rising in parallel with social isolation and loneliness. US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared a national loneliness epidemic in May 2023, citing data that shows ~50% of Americans have experienced loneliness in recent years.

📊 Flash poll: In general, which of the following best describes your personal experience over the past 5-10 years?

• I’ve been spending more time at home
• I’ve been spending more time outside of the home
• My time at home hasn’t changed significantly

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🐻🏆 128 “Grazer” won Fat Bear Week in a landslide. The ~700-pound bear made Fat Bear Week history yesterday by becoming the first competitor to win while caring for a cub. In a rematch of last year’s finals, Grazer soundly defeated 32 “Chunk” to claim a second straight victory that also felt deeply personal to her fans, as Chunk had attacked and killed Grazer’s second offspring earlier this summer.

🌀 Hurricane Milton re-intensified to a Category 5 storm. Milton appears headed for the Tampa area, where it's expected to make landfall as a Category 3 storm late tonight or early Thursday. The National Hurricane Center is warning of a life-threatening storm surge up to 15 feet high. Florida officials have issued mandatory evacuation orders for 11 counties, encompassing ~5.9 million people.

🪼 An alien-like species of deep sea jellyfish fuse their bodies together when injured. In a study published this week in Current Biology, researchers described how comb jellies (aka ctenophores) tend to fuse together when injured, creating a single massive individual with permanently combined nervous systems and stomachs. It marks the first recorded instance of such behavior in any species.

Thanks to a newly launched AI media platform, Chappell Roan’s medieval VMA getup and Taylor Swift’s punk aesthetic are now only a click away.

Introducing: Shopsense, a US company that allows viewers to shop their favorite celebrities’ looks in real time using AI – without even having to pause the TV.

How it works: With a phone, users snap a picture of an outfit they like. From there, Shopsense’s AI technology sorts through billions of products to surface similar items – but at actually affordable, normal-people pricepoints.

The company partnered with Paramount Global to introduce the technology at last month’s VMAs, but hopes to eventually expand to scripted TV.

• “Look at an old sitcom like Friends,” CEO and co-founder Glenn Fishback told VideoWeek. “Imagine this shoppable capability back then! Everyone wants to have that haircut or the sweaters and the looks. We’re putting a modern twist on that.”

👀 Zoom out: As video and commerce continue to converge, Paramount isn’t the only studio leaning into in-program shopping. Disney and Peacock also recently announced new shoppable ad formats.

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“Digital nicotine.”

If cigarettes were smoked online, they’d look like a certain mobile app with a musical note for a logo, a new legal complaint alleges.

A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general sued TikTok yesterday, accusing the company of creating an intentionally addictive app that harms children and teenagers while making false claims about its safety, and of allegedly operating an unlicensed money transmission business through its live streaming and virtual currency features.

• TikTok says these claims are "inaccurate and misleading," and points to features such as default screen time and privacy settings for under-16s.

What does the science say about social media and mental health? Short answer: it’s complicated. A 2020 meta-analysis of meta-analyses (aka the gold standard of statistical reviews) found increased use of digital technology led to a small negative effect on well-being, but a causal link between the two was difficult to pinpoint.

However, it’s clear things are trending in the wrong direction. The CDC’s latest biennial survey on US high school students’ health and well-being, published February 2023, found the percentage of girls who reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness rose from 36% in 2011 to 57% a decade later. That figure is nearly double the rate for high school boys, which grew from 21% to 29% over the same period.

⚖️ Zoom out: If being sued for alleged harms to children is cool, consider social media platforms Miles Davis. In addition to TikTok, Snap, YouTube, and Meta are all facing lawsuits in this vein (multiple in some cases).

• ☝️ NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured these views of the October 7-8 aurora while orbiting Earth onboard the ISS; the aurora was created by a massive solar flare last week that was the largest since 2017.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Asutra

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +1.0%; Dow: +0.3%; Nasdaq: +1.5%). | 📝 Hindenburg Research disclosed a short position in Roblox and accused the gaming platform of inflating user numbers and engagement; Roblox shares fell 2% on the day.
• 📱 Google was ordered by a federal judge to allow the creation of independent app stores on Android.
• 🚗 GM is ditching the Ultium name amid other EV changes.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 The WNBA Finals are set. The Minnesota Lynx won a deciding Game 5 against the Connecticut Sun last night, earning the right to face the New York Liberty in Game 1 of the Finals tomorrow night. | 🏈 The New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start to the NFL season (and 20-36 record overall). | 🏀📲 NBA reporter Shams Charania is leaving The Athletic for ESPN, where he'll replace Adrian Wojnarowski as Senior NBA Insider.
• 🎶💰 Taylor Swift is the world’s richest female musician with a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes; Swift surpassed Rihanna ($1.4 billion) to claim the top spot.
• 🇧🇷📲 X was allowed by Brazil’s Supreme Court to resume operations in the country following certain concessions by the company.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Niphtio

• 🏆🤖 The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”
• 💊 Danco Laboratories is preparing to ask the FDA to approve use of its abortion pill regimen Mifeprex (the brand-name version of mifepristone) for management of miscarriages, per the Wall Street Journal.
• 🌌 Astronomers discovered a distant galaxy that appears similar in complexity to our Milky Way – but existed just 700 million years after the Big Bang, contrary to current scientific belief that such a galaxy would require billions of years of evolution.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🧑‍⚖️ Georgia’s Supreme Court restored the state's six-week abortion ban while justices consider an appeal to a lower court decision that had briefly struck down the 2022 law.
• 🇺🇸💰 The US federal deficit hit $1.8 trillion in the latest fiscal year, slightly lower than in 2023, per the Congressional Budget Office; the US spent $950 billion on interest, up 34% from 2023 (mostly because of higher rates) and surpassing military spending. | 🎰 Mega Millions lottery tickets will jump from $2 apiece to $5 starting in April; Mega Millions says players will get "improved odds to win the jackpot," "bigger jackpots more frequently," and faster-growing prizes.
• 🗽 Mohamed Bahi, Mayor Eric Adams’s former chief liaison to the Muslim community who stepped down this week, was arrested on federal witness tampering and destruction of evidence charges related to Adams’ indictment last month. | 🚨🗳️ An Afghan national living in Oklahoma City was arrested by the FBI and charged with conspiring to conduct a terrorist attack on Election Day in the US on behalf of ISIS.

CLICKBAIT

• 🏙️ The Safest Cities in America in 2024.

🚫🖼️ Stat of the Day: It seems Neil Caffrey is still hard at work. This month, the Van Gogh Museum exposed three privately owned “Van Gogh” artworks as fakes, including a faux painting that was authenticated by the very same museum in 2008 and later sold for nearly $1 million at auction. The fakes were discovered after a trio of museum specialists did a technical deep dive on Van Gogh’s known portfolio, and uncovered abnormalities like improper brushwork and coloring in the three artworks.

🤔 Did You Know? A sheep and a goat can mate to produce a hybrid animal called a “geep” (or sometimes a “shoat”).

📰 Worth a Read: How do you win a Nobel Prize? A visual dive into the medal-winning scientists → (Nature)

Some 40 years ago, a singular ancient seed was found during an archeological dig near Jerusalem. For years, scientists could not tell what type of tree the seed would sprout or exactly how old it was. But in 2010, they finally planted it.

• Within weeks, the seed sprouted. Botanists then determined that it was ~1,000 years old and belonged to a species that no longer exists.

While the research team still can't determine the exact species of the tree until it flowers or blooms, they believe it belongs to the Commiphora Wightii family, a rare species of tree mentioned in the Bible and other historical texts.

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

1. ☀️ 150 Earth days: The equivalent time for one solar day on Mercury (from sunrise to sunset) 
2. 🦇 25%: Percentage of mammal species that are bats

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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.

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1. ☀️ Over, it takes 176 Earth days
2. 🦇 Under, nearly 20% of all mammal species are bats

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