Happy April Fools' Day! In this edition:

• 🇰🇷 Young South Koreans aren’t stoked about marriage
• 💰 OpenAI’s record-breaking funding round
• 🍿 America's favorite films, per survey data

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.71-minute read (1,253 words).

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“All those who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.”

–Dr. Orison Swett Marden (1848–1924)

The first quarter of 2025 is officially in the books, ending a period highlighted by the transition of power in Washington and an aggressive tariff agenda from the incoming Trump administration.

First things first: Many sectors of the US economy were affected by President Trump’s tariff plans, which have repeatedly changed since he took office in late January.

• As it stands today, new tariffs are in effect for all steel and aluminum imports (25%), all goods from Canada and Mexico that aren’t USMCA-compliant (25%), and all goods from China (20%).
• But Trump’s biggest tariff-related moves are scheduled for later this week, when wider reciprocal tariffs on all global trading partners kick in and the tariff exemption for USMCA-compliant goods expires.

An overall update

Here's a rundown of America’s current economic situation heading into Q2:

• Inflation: The CPI rose 2.8% year-over-year in February, down from 3.0% in January. Core inflation stood at 3.1% in February, down from 3.3% the previous month and its lowest reading since April 2021.
• Stocks: All three major US indexes fell in Q1, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq delivering their worst quarters since 2022 (S&P: -4.6%; Dow: -1.3%; Nasdaq: -10.4%).
• Consumer spending: This sector, which accounts for 65+% of all economic activity, rose an inflation-adjusted 0.1% in February following a 0.6% decline in January (the largest monthly drop since 2021).
• Jobs: America’s unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in February, down slightly from 4.2% the previous month prior. Overall, the US jobless rate has risen slightly since hitting a modern low of 3.4% in April 2023.
• GDP: America’s economy grew by ~0.3% in Q1 2025, per economists polled by CNBC, down sharply from 2.3% growth in Q4 2024. Analysts say Q1 GDP appears to be influenced by a one-time surge of imports ahead of new Trump admin tariffs.

Looking ahead…Tomorrow is “Liberation Day,” when Trump’s global reciprocal tariffs and expanded 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect.

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The secrets of mind reading could soon become available to the world—no more gatekeeping from psychics and Professor X.

A groundbreaking new brain-computer interface (BCI) granted a 47-year-old quadriplegic woman the ability to translate her thoughts into words in near-real time, according to a study published yesterday in Nature Neuroscience.

At issue: In recent years, several BCI speech-translation projects have reported breakthroughs in generating speech from thoughts.

But most existing methods require users to generate a complete chunk of text before software can decipher its meaning—similar to a back-and-forth iMessage convo, per scientists—which can significantly drag out the seconds between patients thinking the words and the program vocalizing them.

Becoming a smooth talker

The latest breakthrough research involved using a pre-trained AI model to analyze the patient’s brain activity in 80-millisecond increments, then translate it into a synthesized version of their voice.

• This new approach enables audible speech to be generated in near-real time as the subject is attempting to speak, with the AI’s predictive capabilities allowing for the patient’s speech to flow in a far more natural manner compared to other methods.
• The patient in the study was able to speak and respond at speeds up to 90 words/minute (for reference, normal conversation flows at ~150 words/minute).

Looking ahead…The study’s authors say their next goal is to improve the BCI system’s overall speed, as well as its performance over longer conversations.

South Korea’s birth rate has fallen to an average of 0.75 births/woman, about a third of the figure needed to keep the population level stable. And its government’s efforts to boost dating and marriage are resembling Madonna’s attempts at a stand-up comedy career, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

• Saha-gu, a district in South Korea’s second largest city of Busan, offers singles who match at its events around $340 to spend on dates. Those who get married receive ~$14,000, housing subsidies, and more cash to cover pregnancy-related expenses and international travel. No participant has claimed the prize for marriage.
• 40+ South Korean districts launched matchmaking events between 2022 and last August. Among the ~4,000 singles who participated, just 24 couples got married.

Marriage is a tough sell. A recent survey shows roughly three-fifths of working South Koreans think it’s ok not to marry. Many say they don’t feel the need, and also that rising living costs are big disincentives to having children, as are the punishingly long work hours in South Korea’s office culture, per the WSJ.

Not just South Korea: By 2050, 155 countries won’t have high enough fertility rates to sustain population size over time, with this number increasing to 198 by 2100, according to a study published in The Lancet.

The result: The global population is expected to virtually stop growing by the end of this century for the first time in modern history.

For us visual learners👇.

Featured in Oprah’s Favorite Things x2, Asutra’s Silk Eye Pillow has one quality that sets it apart – it’s weighted so it doesn’t let one sliver of light in.

☁️ It’s made from 100% silk that’s soft on your skin, and filled with flax and lavender seeds for a mild, relaxing scent. Need extra pampering? It includes a cooling gel mask, which also helps with headaches and eye puffiness.

Here’s a little bit of pre-history: sales of soft drinks labeled as “prebiotic” rose from $33 million in January 2022 to $777 million in January 2025, according to NielsenIQ data shared with Axios. This represents an overall increase of ~2,255%, or an annual growth rate of ~187%.

Correlation or causation? The sales boom has also corresponded with skyrocketing valuations for major industry players.

• Olipop, a prebiotic soda sales leader, was valued at $1.85 billion in its latest funding round this year, up from ~$200 million in 2022.
• Poppi, its main rival, was acquired by Pepsi last month for a net purchase price of $1.65 billion.

Potentially not all great: Most prebiotic sodas contain the fiber inulin, which experts say can be hard to digest and—according to early animal studies and a case study—potentially carcinogenic, per Axios.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏡 Rocket Mortgage is acquiring Mr. Cooper Group, the country's largest mortgage servicer, for ~$9.4 billion; the combined entity will handle 1 out of every 6 mortgages in the US.
• 📺 Newsmax, the conservative cable channel, went public yesterday; shares rose 700+% in their first day of trading; company closed with a market cap of $10+ billion.
• 💰 OpenAI raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation; it marks the largest private funding round on record.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Niphtio

• 🇬🇧 Prince Harry resigned from Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in memory of his mother, amid a dispute between the org’s chair and five of its trustees.
• 🐲 HBO’s House of the Dragon began production on Season 3; also announced new cast members. | 🌴 The White Lotus set a new viewership record with Season 3’s second-to-last episode, drawing 4.2 million cross-platform US viewers.
• 🏀 The Women’s Final Four is set: #1 seed Texas and #2 seed UConn will join #1 seeds South Carolina and UCLA in Tampa this weekend. | ⚾ Braves OF Jurickson Profar, who joined the team this offseason in a three-year, $42 million deal, was suspended 80 games for using performance-enhancing drugs.

*From our partners: 🙃 Bookmarks: The digital equivalent of shoving papers in a drawer… Break the cycle with Niphtio, the browser extension helps you easily save, retrieve, and organize all that golden content that was important enough to save. Now compatible with Bluesky. Get Niphtio FREE here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ❄️ An iceberg the size of Chicago recently broke away from a floating glacier in Antarctica; it revealed a never-before-seen underwater ecosystem.
• 🧑‍🚀 NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams gave their first public interviews since returning to Earth; pair experienced a surprise nine-month ISS residence due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
• 🦠 How eating “family style” may have set the stage for life as we know it.

POLITICS & WORLD

in partnership with Commons

• 🎓 The Trump admin is opening a review of ~$9 billion in federal grants and contracts received by Harvard University as part of the admin’s investigation into allegations of antisemitism on campus.
• 🇫🇷 Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s right-wing National Rally party, was convicted of embezzling EU funds; the ruling carries a four-year prison sentence and bans Le Pen from seeking public office for five years.
• 🏛️ President Trump floated the idea of seeking a third presidential term in a telephone interview with NBC News, saying he’s “not joking” about the prospect but doesn’t want to focus on it now; Presidents are limited to two terms under the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

*From our partners: 🌎 Join Commons for the 2025 Earth Summit on Apr. 21-22…. Hosted in Oakland (in-person & FREE virtual tickets available), this event will be an Earth Day celebration and contemplation of collective power, company accountability, and community resilience. Learn more and get tickets here.

Yesterday we covered how Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in drinking water, in a decision that has many supporters and detractors.

❓ Our question to you: How do you feel about the practice of fluoridation, or local governments adding small amounts of fluoride to public drinking water?

• 👍 It should be allowed: 61%
• 👎 It should be banned: 24%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 15%

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

+Note on sample size: We received 2,216 votes and 237 longform responses.

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

• 🎰 Just 4% of online gamblers end up earning money—aka withdrawing more than they deposited—per a first-of-its-kind study of 700,000 gamblers.
• 🍿 More Americans say Forrest Gump is their favorite movie (17%) than any other film, with The Wizard of Oz and Titanic tied for second at 15% apiece.
• 📆 The average American says they have 12 “perfect” days each year.
• 👕 Mark Zuckerberg paid $4,000+ for a shirt Jesse Eisenberg wore in The Social Network when he played…Mark Zuckerberg.
• 💼 The portion of job-seeking Harvard MBA students who remained unemployed three months after graduation rose from 10% in 2022 to 23% in 2024.

🐠🇺🇸 Nonprofit organization Force Blue recruits, trains, and redeploys highly skilled volunteer special operations forces veterans on marine conservation missions. These missions benefit the environment and serve as “mission therapy” for the vets during their transition to civilian life.

🤿💍 Carlos Luna and his girlfriend were diving in the Galapagos Islands when Carlos popped the ultimate underwater question. 

🌏 The New York Times recently launched 50 States, 50 Fixes, where the news org highlights a positive environmental solution happening in each of the 50 states.

❓ Trivia: What's another name for April Fools’ Day?

🎓 True or False? There are records of April Fools’-like celebrations dating back 2,000+ years.

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❓ Trivia: All Fools’ Day

🎓 True or False? False, but it does go back to at least the 1600s. No kidding.