Good morning. In this edition:

• 📝 Illegal border crossings reach their lowest level in decades
• 🦋 Disappearing butterflies
• 👃 The woman who can smell Parkinson’s

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.69-minute read (1,248 words).

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“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

–Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

The number of migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border plummeted in President Trump’s first full month in office, per multiple reports citing preliminary government data.

By the numbers: Border Patrol apprehended around 8,300-8,450 migrants who crossed the southern border unlawfully in February, per data obtained by Axios and CBS News along with a post from Trump.

• That’s down from ~29,100 apprehensions the previous month, and ~140,600 in February 2024.
• It also marks the lowest number of unauthorized crossings since at least October 1999, the earliest month with publicly accessible data.

The decline has two main factors

Analysts say the data can be attributed to both Trump's sweeping changes in immigration policy and rhetoric, along with trends that began months before his second term.

After spiking at the end of 2023, illegal border crossings fell in 2024 following new Biden admin restrictions and Mexico ramping up enforcement. Trump has escalated some of these restrictions, with recent moves including empowering US officials to deport migrants without hearing asylum claims, and deploying active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border.

Will the data affect US tariffs? Short answer: it’s currently unclear. Stopping illegal immigration is one of the main rationales behind Trump’s tariffs on US border nations Canada and Mexico. But while both countries received a temporary tariff reprieve after enhancing border security last month, analysts are uncertain whether this new US-Mexico border data will influence negotiations.

Zoom out: The Trump admin’s southern border strategy has yielded quick results, but its efforts within America are still ramping up. Trump has pledged to deport all ~14 million immigrants living in the country illegally during his second term, and signed several executive orders to that effect.

• Over Trump’s first three weeks in office, ICE has arrested ~14,000 unauthorized migrants in the US (pacing at ~250,000/year) – twice last year’s average, but still shy of Trump’s goal (~3.5 million/year).

📊 Flash poll: Do you personally consider unauthorized immigration to be: a crisis, fairly significant problem, minor problem, or not a problem for the US?

• Crisis
• Fairly significant problem
• Minor problem
• Not a problem

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Out with the old, in with the…old.

Google will have to break up its business, the US Department of Justice said in a filing on Friday, upholding the position of the Biden-era DOJ, who, following an August ruling that Google Search is an illegal monopoly and acted like one to maintain its dominance, proposed a series of remedies:

• Google should be forced to sell Chrome.
• Google would be blocked from entering into paid agreements with Apple, Mozilla, etc. to be the default search engine on smartphones and browsers (in 2021, Google paid Apple $26.3 billion to be Safari’s default web browser).
• Google should be forced to divest any stakes in AI products that could compete with Search.

The Trump DOJ’s filing on Friday reiterated the above steps, but with one change – Google can still invest in AI, but it would have to notify federal and state officials before doing so. This reportedly came about after the Google-backed AI startup Anthropic told the government that it needs the company's money to continue operating.

The breakup is one-sided: Google, on the other hand, is petitioning for the judge to take a more narrow approach that would allow the company to enter into non-exclusive agreements for default search-engine placement, with browser manufacturers like Apple and Mozilla being able to change their default search engines at least every 12 months.

👀 Looking ahead…Arguments in the case are scheduled for April.

AI deepfakes are spreading faster than a hot piece of gossip – and Congress is taking notice. A bipartisan group of senators behind 2024’s “No Fakes Act” will soon present an updated version of the legislation to Congress, CNN reports.

The legislation penalizes the creation of unsanctioned AI deepfakes, and requires social media sites to take down flagged content. It also comes alongside the “Take It Down Act,” a recently introduced bill aiming to specifically criminalize deepfake and revenge porn (that earned support from First Lady Melania Trump).

AI-ay-ay

AI deepfakes of celebrities and public figures have been increasingly used by online scammers in recent years:

• Steve Harvey has been the subject of thousands of AI memes and videos, with his likeness recently seen in posts trying to trick people into believing a $6,400 government scam.
• Scarlett Johansson spoke out in February about AI being used to create a fake video of herself condemning Ye (formerly Kanye West).
• A woman in France lost ~$850,000 after scammers used AI images of Brad Pitt to con her into thinking she was helping the actor.

Both the No Fakes and Take It Down Acts, if passed, propose steep fines for violations, potentially leading to millions of dollars in penalties for viral AI content.

📸 Big picture: In 2018, there were ~19,000 pieces of deepfake content, according to AI-tracking company Vermillo. Today, there are roughly a million created every minute.

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Butterflies are dropping like the latter half of their name. Butterfly populations declined 22% between 2000 and 2020, according to a new study published in the Journal of Science. Of the 500+ species analyzed, 13x as many declined in population size as increased.

Not just butterflies: Insect populations have declined by ~45% in the last 40 years, posing threats to the ecosystems they inhabit and much of our agriculture, according to a 2023 meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies. A variety of factors, including habitat loss, insecticides, rising temperatures, and drying landscapes have contributed to the decline.

Dive deeper: See how butterflies are surviving, or not, near you.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US markets fell last week (S&P: -3.1%; Dow: -2.4%; Nasdaq: -3.5%) | 💼 The US economy added 151,000 jobs in February, better than the downwardly revised 125,000 in January but below analysts' expectations of 170,000; the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%.
• 🇨🇳 China's consumer inflation fell into negative territory last month for the first time since January 2024, per new data.
• 🥚 The DOJ has reportedly opened an investigation into whether the nation’s largest egg producers are conspiring to keep prices high.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Autio

• 🏈 NFL DE Myles Garrett signed a four-year contract extension with the Cleveland Browns averaging $40 million/year; the deal makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
• 😢 Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s deaths were concluded to both have occurred from natural causes: Hackman from heart disease/advanced Alzheimer's, and Arakawa a week before from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease spread by rodent droppings.
• 🎧 Lady Gaga dropped her newest album, Mayhem; it’s her first since 2020. | 🖼️ Christie’s controversial AI art auction brought in $700,000+. (Behind the controversy)

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚫🌕 Intuitive Machines announced its Athena Moon mission is officially dead after the craft fell on its side while landing on the lunar surface Thursday.
• 🧠 Postpartum depression (PPD) is linked to size changes in certain brain regions, specifically those associated with processing and regulating emotions, per a new study; it’s some of the first neurological evidence associated with PPD, which affects ~1 in 7 women.
• 🌏☄️ Earth’s oldest known impact crater – from a meteorite ~3.5 billion years ago – was discovered in the Western Australian outback.

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with Slumber

• 🚨 The Secret Service shot an armed man near the White House early Sunday following a confrontation with law enforcement; President Trump was in Florida at the time.
• 🏛️ House Republicans released a stopgap spending bill that would fund the US government through September at levels slightly below last year; Congress currently faces a government shutdown deadline of Friday night. | 🚫🎓 The Trump admin canceled ~$400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University, citing last year's student protests over the war in Gaza; similar cuts to other schools will soon follow, per the Education Department.
• 🇨🇦🗳️ Mark Carney, the former central bank chief of both Canada and England, won the leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party; it puts him in line to replace PM Justin Trudeau and call new national elections.

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👆 Women across the world participated in rallies marking International Women’s Day on Saturday; large celebrations and/or protests were seen in Istanbul, Warsaw, Madrid, Athens, Munich, New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

🤔 Did You Know? A Scottish woman named Joy Milne can smell Parkinson's disease. Her identification of the unique odor has helped scientists find what caused it – an oily, waxy substance created on the skin of people with Parkinson's – and create new tests for diagnosing the disease.

📰 Worth a Read: The Ancient Horsemen Who Created the Modern World

🖱️ Clickbait: Meet the 21-year-old helping coders use AI to cheat in Google and other tech job interviews

Monday: Harriet Tubman Day

Tuesday: The five-year anniversary of Covid-19’s declaration as a global pandemic

Wednesday: Consumer Price Index for February released

Thursday: Total lunar eclipse

Friday: Men’s basketball conference championships are in full swing ahead of Selection Sunday

On Friday, we covered how a growing number of US adults are moving away from organized religion while simultaneously embracing spirituality, according to new Pew Research Center findings.

❓ Our question to you: Do you personally identify with an organized religion?

• 👍 Yes: 56%
• 👎 No: 44%

❓ Follow-up question for all respondents: To what extent do you consider yourself a spiritual person?

• Religious folks: Very spiritual: 72% | Somewhat spiritual: 27% | Not too/not at all spiritual: 1%
• Non-religious folks: Very spiritual: 19% | Somewhat spiritual: 46% | Not too/not at all spiritual: 35%
• Overall: Very spiritual: 48% | Somewhat spiritual: 35% | Not too/not at all spiritual: 17%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses to recent trends in US religion and spirituality.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,491 votes and 254 longform responses.

🏀 Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel recently made history as the first NCAA Division III women’s basketball player with one arm to score a field goal.  

📖 Tharun Sekar resurrected an instrument from the history books; the 28-year-old built a Yazh – a harp-like instrument carved from the neck of a wooden peacock – based solely on his research of ancient texts.  

👯‍♀️ Barbie is releasing a line of dolls dedicated to four famous female friendship duos in honor of International Women's Month. 

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Aqu
2. Cine
3. Corn
4. Fil
5. Homin

Okay, not exactly – but you probably will feel a little closer to sparkly-unicorn-in-a-summer-meadow status after subscribing to Positive DONUT, our 1x/week good-news only newsletter. Also included: wellness tips, weekly puzzles, and more.

1. Aqu = Water (e.g., aquatic)
2. Cine = Motion (cinema)
3. Corn = Horn (unicorn)
4. Fil = Thread (filament)
5. Homin = Human (hominid)