Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 👥 The second Trump administration is taking shape
• 🚘📲 Autonomous ride-sharing hits LA
• 🖼️ “AI God”

… and more.

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

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“Enthusiasm is a vital element toward the individual success of every person.”

–Conrad Hilton (1887-1979)

Last week, President-elect Trump was declared the victor of the 2024 election – and in the days since, he’s nominated several major Cabinet members and senior advisors for his upcoming administration.

Cabinet-level roles

All of Trump’s Cabinet picks are expected to secure confirmation from the Senate, if necessary, as Republicans will hold a 53-47 advantage in the chamber starting next year.

Here’s a rundown of the nods thus far:

• Homeland Security Secretary: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who largely shares the president-elect’s views on immigration.
• EPA head: Former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, whom Trump says will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” to promote economic growth, while still maintaining "the highest environmental standards."
• Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who has been outspoken about rooting out what he has called “woke-ness” in the military.
• Ambassador to the UN: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a vocal supporter of Israel who made headlines this year after grilling university presidents over pro-Palestinian student protests.

And while he has yet to be formally announced, Trump is widely expected to nominate Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) as Secretary of State. Senator Rubio favors confronting adversarial countries like China, Iran, and Cuba, and has echoed Trump’s calls to end the war in Ukraine.

Other senior advisors

In the White House, Trump picked campaign co-manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff, the first woman to fill the role, while advisor and speechwriter Stephen Miller was named deputy chief of policy.

• Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who shares the president-elect’s tough-on-China stance as well as his skepticism of US aid for Ukraine, was tapped to become the National Security Advisor.
• Tom Homan, a former ICE official under both the Obama and Trump administrations known for his strong views against illegal immigration, was selected for the unofficial role of border czar.
• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of Israel, was tapped to serve as US ambassador to Israel.

Looking ahead… There are still several major Cabinet positions left for Trump to nominate before (or shortly after) taking over the White House on January 20. These include his attorney general as well as the secretaries of treasury and health – the latter of which could go to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., per Trump allies.

And outside of the cabinet, Trump has hinted that billionaire Elon Musk will have a major role within his administration, though it’s currently unclear what those exact duties would be.

📊 Flash poll: In general, how do you feel about President-elect Trump’s picks for his administration thus far?

• I support most or all of Trump’s picks
• Trump could have chosen better in most or all areas
• It’s a mixed bag – some good, some bad

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🇸🇦 Saudi money does have limits. Nadhmi al-Nasr, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city project Neom since 2018, abruptly left his role in recent days, according to multiple reports. No reason was given for the departure. The project, a priority of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that calls for a mountain ski resort, floating business district, and two 106-mile-long skyscrapers taller than the Empire State Building, has been plagued by delays, cost overruns, and staff turnover, and will now be handed over to the country’s ~$1 trillion Public Investment Fund to manage. On a semi-related note: some tough decisions lay ahead for Saudi officials. The country has greenlit $1+ trillion in mega-projects designed to quickly pivot its economy away from oil (including Neom) – but is struggling to attract foreign investment and doesn’t have enough money to see them all through.

😋 Road trip: Michelin traverses the Lone Star State. The first Texas version of the famed Michelin Guide – launched in 1900 as a way for drivers to literally burn rubber and, eventually, buy more tires – was unveiled this week, with a focus on five cities: Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. 15 restaurants were awarded a Michelin Star, while dozens of others were recognized. All in all, it was a costly effort: getting the guide to Texas cost the state’s tourism board and the cities a collective $900,000.

🚘📲 Autonomous ride-sharing hits LA. Starting yesterday, anyone in Los Angeles is able to use the Waymo One app to hail a self-driving robotaxi – no more waitlist. It marks yet another milestone for Waymo, which started as a secret project at Google 15 years ago; its ride-hailing service also operates citywide in Phoenix and San Francisco. The company now sees 150,000+ paid rides/week across its three markets, up from 100,000 in August, and recently raised a $5.6 billion funding round to expand its operations across the US.

We all tend to think the music of our youth is the best (s/o 2000s pop-punk, aka divorced dad rock) – and thanks to science, we have an idea of why that’s the case.

It turns out, the music we listen to during our formative years has a bigger impact on our minds than we thought, thanks to the “reminiscent bump.”

Bump, bump, bump

The reminiscent bump phenomenon claims that people recall much stronger memories from the ages of 10-30 than at any other point in their lives. These memories play a major part in making us who we are, and music seems to take up a significant amount of space.

• A 2021 study by Durham University looked at the “musical reminiscent bump” and its effect on our psyches. Researchers found “music that was in the charts during one’s adolescence was not only rated as more familiar but was also associated with more autobiographical memories.”
• In short, the music of our teenage years sticks with us for life – and is often linked to a sense of pleasant nostalgia. That's why we think our music is the best.

🧠 Not just music… The reminiscent bump phenomenon can also be applied to movies, TV shows, and even celebrities – anything we interacted with on a regular basis during those formative years.

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“They’re effectively just making a zebra less stripey.”

Vigorous debates aren’t just reserved for sports fans and Parliament – scientists love a little mental tussle, too.

Researchers and conservationists at the Quagga Project say they’ve brought a zebra-like mammal, the quagga, back from the dead. But critics say their nearly four-decade long quest, started in 1987, has done nothing but create a similarly looking knockoff.

Per the Wall Street Journal:

• Quaggas, a sub-species of the plains zebra, were once endemic to southern Africa, but hunting decimated their population. The last known quagga died at the Amsterdam zoo in 1883.
• Unlike zebras, quaggas only had stripes on their heads, necks, and sometimes backs. Their hindquarters were generally stripeless and brown, while their belly and legs were white.

The “revival” process… involved mating zebras with lighter, sparser, or browner stripes with each other, which resulted in reduced striping on the offsprings’ hind ends, legs, and bellies. The project says ~10% of the 150 animals it owns now would blend easily into a 19th-century herd of quaggas.

🧬 Zoom out: Scientists are also working to revive other extinct animals, including the Woolly mammoth and a type of giant Galápagos tortoise that died off in the 1800s.

Dive deeper into the quagga debate here.

• ☝️ A glowing undersea creature previously dubbed the “mystery mollusk” has finally been identified 25 years after it was first discovered; the newly named Bathydevius caudactylus was found to be a type of sea slug, per a new study describing it as “the most comprehensive description of a deep-sea animal ever made.”

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with MANSCAPED®

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board (S&P: -0.3%; Dow: -0.9%; Nasdaq: -0.1%). | 💰 Activist fund ValueAct has amassed a ~$1 billion stake in Meta, per multiple reports; Meta is the largest company to ever be targeted by a major activist.
• 🪙⚖️ FTX sued rival crypto exchange Binance for ~$1.8 billion in a suit that also names former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao; Binance denies the allegations.
• ✈️ Boeing delivered 14 planes in October, its lowest monthly total since 2020; the company’s previously striking machinists are all back to work as of Tuesday, but production is expected to take weeks to ramp back up.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 📺 Netflix said its ad-supported tier has surpassed 70 million subscribers two years after launch; over half of all new Netflix sign-ups are for ad-supported plans.
• 🏟️ The Tampa Bay Rays’ domed stadium, which suffered severe damage from Hurricane Milton, can be repaired in time for the 2026 MLB season, per a new assessment; the Rays now have to find a temporary home for 2025. | 🏈 Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott will undergo season-ending surgery on his injured hamstring.
• 🎤 My Chemical Romance announced a 10-date “The Black Parade” tour across North America from July-September 2025.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Cornbread Hemp

• 🌎 Denisovans, a newly discovered hominin group that lived 25,000-250,000 years ago, passed on some of their genes to modern humans via at least three distinct interbreeding events, per a new study.
• 👓📦 Amazon is reportedly developing smart glasses for delivery drivers in an effort to increase efficiency in the last 100 yards of delivery.
• 📡👽 A 2023 project from the SETI Institute that simulated an alien-like signal from outer space has finally been decoded by a father-daughter team.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌍 COP29, the UN’s 29th annual summit on climate change, takes place in Azerbaijan over the next two weeks. | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⛪ Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England, resigned yesterday; the move followed an investigation that found Welby in 2013 failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse at a Christian summer camp as soon as he became aware of it.
• ⚖️ A federal judge temporarily blocked a new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms. | ⚖️ A Delphi, Indiana, man was found guilty on all charges in the 2017 murders of two teen girls, a crime which drew national attention.
• 🏥📉 The number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the US fell 2% last year, indicating America’s ongoing STI epidemic may be slowing, per new CDC data.

CLICKBAIT

• 💰 The most valuable Lego sets in the world.

🤖🎨 Stat of the Day: A painting of computer scientist and early AI pioneer Alan Turing, called “AI God,” sold for $1+ million at auction last week, in what Sotheby’s says is the first time a humanoid robot has sold a piece of art. The artwork was painted by Ai-Da, an “ultra-realistic robot artist” created by UK artist Aiden Meller. According to her website, Ai-Da uses a combination of cameras, algorithms, and a robotic arm to both draw and paint. In response to the recent sale, Ai-Da was quoted by Barron’s as saying: “The key value of my work is its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies.”

🤔 Did You Know? Movies that Will Smith or Adam Sandler starred in or produced grossed $3.7 billion from 2000-2015. These films accounted for 20% of Sony Pictures’ domestic gross, 23% of its profits, and over a third of its top 50 best-performing movies, per Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz.

📰 Worth a Read: How to tell a better story → (Psyche)

The National Toy Hall of Fame recently announced its 2024 inductees: My Little Pony, Transformers, and Phase 10.

• The trio beat out a host of other competitors, incuding Apples to Apples, Choose Your Own Adventure books, Hess Toy Trucks, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

💬 What they're saying: “These are three very deserving toys that showcase the wide range of how people play,” said Christopher Bensch, chief curator at The Strong National Museum of Play (which houses the National Toy Hall of Fame). “But for My Little Pony, in particular, this year is extra validating. The beloved toy was a finalist seven times before finally crossing the finish line!”

🤖 Trying to understand AI better? Stanford recently uploaded its new Building LLMs lecture.

😳 Must watch: How it feels scrolling through Netflix’s Top 10.

🤔 For those lacking motivation: Here’s an idea to get your spark going.

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