Good morning. In this edition:

• 🇷🇺 Russia’s nuclear secrets are on the web
• 🏢 Shrinking US office space
• 🚨 How to detect a fake smile

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.55-minute read (1,209 words).

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“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

–John Wooden (1910-2010)

…and viewing them didn’t even require Chris Hemsworth-level hacking knowledge.

Journalists from the Danish Danwatch and the German Der Spiegel recently discovered Russian nuclear secrets on a publicly available procurement database, where companies bid on military projects.

The 2+ million uncovered documents provide an unprecedented level of detail into Russia’s nuclear weapons facilities and the country’s nearly two-decade-long push to modernize them, including:

• How large quantities of steel, sand, cement, bricks, and insulation were sourced (much of it indirectly from numerous European companies), as well as intel surrounding more sensitive things like IT systems, electrical installations, and routing of water, heating, and ventilation.
• Information about security systems, such as alarms, explosion-proof doors, and infrared sensors. In some cases, the locations and types of internal surveillance cameras are specified, as are the location of the control rooms, and which buildings are connected to each other via underground tunnels.
• Other details of the internal layout are also available, including where the soldiers eat, relax, sleep, and use the toilet—in great detail. Those reading the docs can glean what exercise equipment they use (primarily treadmills and hand weights), what games they play to pass the time (chess and checkers), and even what signs hang on the walls (“Stop! Turn around! Forbidden zone!” or “The Military Oath” or “Rules for shoe care”).

As you may expect, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is big mad over the leak. Many analysts speculate it will force Russia to rebuild some of its nuclear infrastructure from scratch, potentially costing billions.

The lapse also comes alongside a major victory for Ukraine. On Sunday, in an operation dubbed "Spider Web," 100+ Ukrainian drones—reportedly launched from vehicles being driven by unsuspecting Russian truckers—struck air bases in several time zones across Russia. The attack targeted Moscow’s nuclear-capable long-range bombers, successfully hitting about a third of Russia’s supply of these aircraft (41), which are used for missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.

In other nuclear news…The Trump administration confirmed on Saturday that it had sent Iran a nuclear deal proposal. The news follows a recently leaked UN watchdog report that found Iran had conducted secret uranium enrichment activities in three previously undisclosed facilities, and has the capability to construct a nuclear bomb in months.

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It appears Novo Nordisk could take some advice from Scarface’s eventual wife and Biggie, aka never get high on your own supply.

The pharma giant, which briefly became Europe’s most valuable company in 2023 due to blockbuster weight-loss/diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, now finds itself with a rapidly slimming market share and stock price (-46% over the past year).

How we got here

Analysts say Novo Nordisk’s initial mistake was underestimating demand for Wegovy, the weight-loss version of diabetes drug Ozempic, ahead of its 2021 launch.

• The pharma giant thought Wegovy would face the same modest sales as an earlier weight-loss drug called Saxenda, but its calculations were juuuuuuuust a bit outside.
• After just five weeks, Wegovy’s prescription rate exceeded a level Saxenda hit after five years, leading Novo Nordisk to limit demand by rationing doses for new patients.

These shortages opened the door for competition. Novo Nordisk’s lack of supply made it legal for special pharmacies in the US to make compounded, copycat versions of semaglutide with list prices up to 15x lower than Ozempic and Wegovy. It also gave rival Eli Lilly time to catch up, with diabetes drug Mounjaro introduced in 2022 and Zepbound—which outperforms Wegovy in weight-loss studies—coming a year later.

Big picture: Zepbound has surpassed Wegovy in weekly US prescriptions, while Lilly’s Mounjaro is also gaining on Ozempic—putting Novo Nordisk at risk of joining BlackBerry (iPhone), MySpace (Facebook), and Hydrox (Oreo) on the list of companies that blew their first-mover advantage.

Sarah McLachlan just found her next gig—performing background vocals over a heartstring-tugging commercial about abandoned water coolers.

More office space is being removed than added this year, shrinking America’s overall office footprint for the first time in 25+ years, according to new data from CBRE Group, the world's largest commercial real-estate services firm.

• Across the largest 58 US markets, 23.3 million square feet of office space is slated for demolition or conversion to other uses by the end of this year….
• …while developers are projected to construct just 12.7 million square feet of office space.

There’s a remote rationale: The trend stems from an ongoing shift in office attendance driven by the pandemic. Office vacancies soared to a record high ~20% in 2020 as companies and employees embraced remote-work culture, and remain around that level today despite recent corporate pushes to return to the office.

From WFH, to home at work: Old office spaces were converted to a record-high 55,300 new apartments last year, up from 12,100 such conversions in 2021 (+357%). The idea behind the increasingly popular concept is simple: knocking out two birds—record-high office vacancies and America’s current residential housing shortage—with one building-sized stone.

Looking ahead…Developers have another 85 million square feet of office space being readied for conversion to apartments and other uses in the next few years, CNBC reports.

While visiting Costa Rica between MBA semesters, Jeremy Levine fell in love with the country. He partnered with a struggling hotel to host classes in Spanish, surfing, yoga, and fire dancing, achieving success but not fulfillment.

• Jeremy then focused on rescuing endangered monkeys. Deforestation has destroyed their habitat, leaving them vulnerable to electrocution from telephone wires, vehicle strikes, fatal falls, and poaching.
• He founded Wild Sun Rescue to rehabilitate injured animals and release them back into the wild. Using his background, Jeremy now funds the organization through revenue streams, becoming a true Everyday Hero.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🐔 Roark Capital, owner of Subway and Dunkin', purchased a majority stake in Dave's Hot Chicken in a deal valuing the chicken chain at "pretty close" to $1 billion.
• 📝 Mary Meeker, internet trends legend, released a 340-slide report on AI; it marks her first major public report in five years.
• 🏬 Costco reported quarterly results that topped analysts' estimates; turned in an 8% YoY sales gain.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with InVite Health

• 🎙️ WTF with Marc Maron, one of the most popular podcasts in the world since 2009, is ending its run after more than 15 seasons. | ​​SNL 50 was the most-watched season of the sketch show in three years, averaging 8.1 million viewers/week.
• 🚫 Disney started laying off hundreds of employees across its TV & Film Entertainment, and Corporate Finance departments.
• 🦅 Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley will appear on the cover of Madden 26; see behind the scenes of how the cover art was created. | John Brenkus, creator and host of Sport Science on ESPN, passed away at 54.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🪰 Researchers created genetically modified fruit flies that can become addicted to cocaine, in a first-of-its-kind experiment aimed at improving addiction therapies.
• 🏛️ The FDA launched a generative AI tool aimed at improving efficiency across its operations, including scientific reviews. | 🌐 Firefox unveiled an experimental browser tool that provides AI summaries when users hover over links on webpages.
• 🤖 Meta reportedly aims to enable brands to fully create and target ads using AI by the end of next year, per the Wall Street Journal. | The Big Three music labels—Universal, Warner, and Sony—are reportedly negotiating precedent-setting licensing deals regarding how AI-generated music is used and how artists are compensated, also per the Wall Street Journal.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with Dunhill Travel Deals

• 🙏 A 45-year-old man in Boulder, CO, was charged with a federal hate crime and murder on Sunday after using a homemade flamethrower to attack a Jewish group gathering to bring attention to Israeli hostages taken by Hamas; the State Dept. said the man was in the US from Egypt on an expired visa.
• 🇵🇱 Poland presidential election: Karol Nawrocki, a conservative backed by US President Donald Trump, narrowly defeated the liberal candidate allied with Polish PM Donald Tusk.
• 🧑‍⚖️ The Supreme Court added four cases to their docket for next term, including a challenge to Illinois’ mail-in voting law allowing ballots to be counted after Election Day. | SCOTUS also declined to hear challenges to separate state laws banning semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity ammo magazines.

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☝️ Tourists fled from Italy's Mt. Etna—one of the world’s most active volcanoes—as it suddenly began erupting yesterday, creating a mushroom cloud of ash that stretched ~4 miles high.

🤔 Did You Know? Jon Brower Minnoch, a taxi driver from Washington who weighed a record ~1,400 lbs at his peak and later died in 1983, is the largest known primate in the history of the world—covering dozens of species, both living and extinct.

📰 Worth a Read: How millennials learned to sit at their desks and love the lunch bowl

🖱️ Clickbait: How to detect a fake smile, according to science

Yesterday we covered how Elon Musk officially said goodbye to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last week, when his 130-day legal tenure as a special government employee expired.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support Elon Musk’s efforts as the leader of DOGE?

• Yes: 34%
• No: 47%
• Unsure/other: 19%

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

+Note on sample size: We received 2,729 votes and 258 longform responses.

🚗 Trivia: In which country was the first automobile invented?

🦁 True or false? A lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles away

🤡 Riddle me this: Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?

🌮 Taco Bell is celebrating "10 years of impact" for college students. The chain has provided $64+ million in scholarships over that time.

🦽 The team at MakeGood NOLA, a New Orleans-based adaptive design lab, developed the world’s first 3D-printed pediatric wheelchair.

💪 A new study suggests exercise can extend life for people with colon cancer, with the benefits rivaling some drugs.

🚗 Trivia: Germany

🦁 T/F: True

🤡 Riddle: Corn on the cob