Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ☄️ The origins of life are becoming clearer
• 📺 AI is taking the Oscars by storm
• 🏎️ Gluing sand + F1

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.11-minute read (1,092 words).

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Breaking news: Last night, an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members reportedly collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. No survivors have been found from either aircraft as of this writing. This is a developing story; see updates here.

“Anyone who wants to achieve a dream must stay strong, focused and steady.”

–Estée Lauder (1908-2004)

Samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, which were recently collected and analyzed by NASA, contain a wide assortment of organic molecules – including many of the crucial building blocks of life.

And if your first thought was “aliens!” a) you’re not alone and b) yes, aliens – but probably not the ones you’re thinking of. The analysis, revealed yesterday in two papers published in Nature, provides the strongest evidence yet that asteroids from outer space first planted the seeds of life on Earth.

A deeper dive: In 2023, NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft returned four ounces of dust and pebbles from Bennu, representing the biggest-ever haul from the cosmos outside of the Moon. After analyzing the samples, research teams discovered ~16,000 different kinds of organic molecules are present on Bennu.

• Most remarkably, researchers found all five nucleobases that make up the DNA and RNA used by all known living things, as well as the presence of 14 amino acids used by cells to make proteins.

Bennu is just the start

The studies’ findings imply that the conditions required for making the building blocks of life likely could have been replicated across much of the early Solar System.

• And while the researchers don’t anticipate finding any evidence of full-blown life on Bennu, since it wasn’t subject to the right conditions for long enough, they say there are several targets even better-suited to develop life.
• These include the dwarf planet Ceres, Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and Jupiter’s moon Europa – the latter of which will receive a recently launched NASA probe in 2030.

🪐 Mars also represents a main research target. NASA’s Perseverance rover has core samples awaiting pickup on the Red Planet, but their delivery is on hold while the space agency studies the quickest and cheapest way to retrieve them.

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Fox is charging a record $8+ million for nearly a dozen of its 30-second slots for the upcoming Super Bowl LIX👅, per multiple reports, up from last year’s $7 million record price.

Any themes? While previous Super Bowls earned nicknames like the “Crypto Bowl” for their abundance of ads from one particular industry, Mark Evans, executive VP of sales at Fox Sports, says that doesn’t appear to be the case this year – though viewers will “see a little bit more AI-specific advertising.”

Another thing to expect – more advertisers using celebrities and humor in spots, in a continuation of an ongoing trend, Bloomberg reports. In 2010, just 31% of Super Bowl ads featured celebrities. But in 2024, 65% did, according to data from iSpot.

Super Bowls = the heaviest hitters on TV. Traditionally among the most-watched broadcasts in the world, the games allow for a type of scale advertisers drool over – and have a hard time finding anywhere else. The only event in history with more US viewers than the most-watched Super Bowl is the Apollo Moon Landing.

• Last year’s Super Bowl drew a record 120.3 million average viewers.

👀 Looking ahead…The matchup between the Eagles and Chiefs kicks off on Sunday at 6:30 pm ET in New Orleans. The Chiefs are 1.5-point favorites, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

It’s awards season in Hollywood – and instead of debating over which A-lister was snubbed, one of this year’s biggest controversies centers around how the Academy should consider AI usage.

Let’s rewind: AI has been a major buzzword for several years in the film industry, with the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes in large part revolving around ethical AI use. While all parties involved agreed on conditions for productions that use generative AI and digital replicas of performers, questions over how freely studios can utilize AI with already-shot content was left unresolved.

Which brings us to the 2025 Oscars: Several of the top nominated films – The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, and Maria – all openly utilized AI to alter and perfect the accents and voices of their actors. The Brutalist also used AI to supplement some visuals in the film's ending sequence.

• Those in favor of AI touchups claim it speeds up the post-production process and provides filmmakers with effective editing tools.
• Opponents have called the films’ AI usage a “disgrace” that avoids paying visual artists for their work, and changes a fundamental aspect of acting.

👀 Looking ahead…The Academy Awards are scheduled for March 2.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -0.3%; Nasdaq: -0.5%). | 🏦 The Fed left interest rates unchanged following its latest meeting.
• ✈️ Frontier Airlines proposed merging with Spirit…again; Spirit rejected the proposal but said they would consider a revised offer.
• 🚗 ​​Tesla reported weak Q4 results; automotive revenue was down 8% from a year earlier. | 📱 Meta reported strong Q4 results after the bell; sales increased 21% year over year, while net income grew 49%. | 💻 Microsoft reported quarterly results that beat on top and bottom lines; gave weak revenue guidance for the current quarter.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with TheFutureParty

• 🏒 Utah Hockey Club will not be moving forward with the nickname “Yeti”; instead, it’ll hold an in-arena fan vote to pick one of three names: Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, or Utah Wasatch. | 📱 Kevin Durant isn’t the only one with a burner account: Billionaire Rocco Commisso, former chairman of the North American Soccer League, also has a secret social media account he’s used to compare MLS commissioner Don Garber and USSF president Sunil Gulati to Harvey Weinstein and Bernie Madoff. | 🏓 Major League Table Tennis signed a media rights deal with CBS Sports.
• 📖❓ A best-selling book purporting to be a collection of letters from John D. Rockefeller to his son has been called into question by CNBC, who found numerous factual errors and a listed publisher who denies any involvement in the book.
• 🍿 A Little House on the Prairie reboot has received the green light from Netflix.

*From our partners: 🔭 Get insights on entertainment, media, and culture… TheFutureParty serves you up the latest news and trends daily that shape the future of business. Always free. Subscribe to TheFutureParty here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 Microsoft is investigating whether upstart Chinese AI firm DeepSeek improperly used OpenAI’s models to train its models. | 🤖🖼️ DeepSeek released Janus-Pro, a new open-source AI image generator the company says is better than competitors like OpenAI's DALL-E 3 and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion.
• 🌿🧠 The largest-ever study on cannabis and its impact on brain function suggests usage has a statistically significant negative effect on working memory.
• 🐟🤢 A piece of fossilized fish vomit dating back ~66 million years to the age of dinosaurs was recently discovered in Denmark.

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with Tuft & Needle

• 🏛️💰 The White House formally rescinded a controversial memo that ordered a freeze on all federal grants and loans – but also said a “federal funding freeze” remains in “full force and effect.”
• ⚖️ Former Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes and acting as an agent of Egypt while in office.
• 🗣️ Karoline Leavitt, 27, made her briefing room debut as the youngest White House press secretary in history. | 🏛️🏥 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on Capitol Hill for the first of two Senate confirmation hearings for his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; RFK’s testimony will continue today. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

*From our partners: 🦅🥳 Tuft & Needle’s Presidents’ Day Sale is live!... Save a special 20% off the best-selling Mint Hybrid, Mint, Original, and Original Hybrid mattresses for a limited time. Bundles also available for 15% off. Visit T&N Presidents’ Day Sale here.

It may be time to revisit your high school side-bangs-and-eyeliner phase, because Tumblr is back in the spotlight. TumblrTV, a new video interface on the social platform, officially launched last week after ten years as an experimental project – and it’s hoping to emerge as a rival/replacement to TikTok.

The launch came days after TikTok was removed from US app stores due to government restrictions, a situation that’s already boosted Tumblr’s user numbers.

• App installs for Tumblr on iOS devices rose ~35% the day after the TikTok ban went into effect on January 19, while new user sign-ups in Tumblr’s Communities feature jumped 70%.

✋ But…Not everyone is convinced. While TumblrTV’s new features allow for vertical scrolling similar to TikTok, some analysts say the content largely isn’t designed for vertical viewing, and also lacks TikTok’s high-quality, engaging visuals, and polished user interface.

☝️ The Close Up Photographer of the Year contest announced the winners of its 2024 awards, which drew 11,000 entries from 61 countries.

🤔 Did You Know? The sand around the Bahrain International Circuit is glued down to stop it from blowing onto the track during Formula 1 races.

📰 Worth a Read: Is seaweed the next kale?

🖱 Clickbait: Warren Buffett’s 6 Best Pieces of Money Advice for the Middle Class

Yesterday, we covered how the Trump admin ordered a temporary pause in nearly all federal aid programs while it conducts an across-the-board review of potentially trillions of dollars in US government spending – with the pause later blocked temporarily by a federal judge.

❓ Our question to you: Do you agree with the Trump administration’s order to temporarily pause federal aid programs pending an across-the-board review?

• 👍 Yes: 31%
• 👎 No: 59%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 10%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,847 votes and 279 longform responses.

👗 UK-based charity ALICAS is helping our planet and domestic abuse survivors one piece of clothing at a time, repurposing perfectly good textile items and donating them to women in need.

🐾 Paul Guilbeault lost his beloved dog, Damien, eight years ago during a cross-country road trip. Despite a desperate search through Oklahoma for his missing pup, he never saw him again – until last weekend, when he received a text nearly a decade later stating that Damien had been found 🥹.

👵🏻 A new study by Columbia University found older adults today are functioning at higher physical and mental levels than previous generations at the same age. Maybe 70 really is the new 60.

Which two European countries share Lake Geneva?

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Switzerland and France