Good morning. In this edition:

• 📝 The Trump admin has a new tariff plan
• 📈 Pistachios are having a moment
• 📸 Some of the best science images from June

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.17-minute read (1,110 words).

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"The greatest deception [humans] suffer is from their own opinions."

–Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

At least 14 countries are set to face upgraded US tariffs starting next month, President Trump announced yesterday. He also signed an executive order delaying so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries from tomorrow to August 1.

The current state of play

Under Trump’s previous executive orders on trade, the 90-day pause for his reciprocal tariffs on nearly all US trading partners was set to expire at 12:01 AM tomorrow.

• The Trump admin says nations that strike a trade deal with the US could be exempted from that hike, or receive more time to negotiate.
• But countries that don’t strike a deal will receive letters outlining the new tariff levels they'll have to pay, which could take effect as early as August 1.

For most of the 14 countries who received letters yesterday—including Japan, South Korea, South Africa, and Thailand—their new tariff rates are essentially the same as what Trump announced in April, give or take a few percentage points.

How many trade deals have materialized? So far, Trump admin officials say three countries have negotiated agreements to avert higher American tariffs: the UK, China, and Vietnam. However, details of Trump’s deals with China and Vietnam haven’t been released, while key aspects of the UK agreement have yet to be finalized.

US markets reacted poorly. All three major indexes turned in their worst daily performance since mid-June, with dips that coincide with Trump’s initial tariff announcement (S&P: -0.8%; Dow: -0.9%; Nasdaq: -0.9%).

Looking ahead…In comments yesterday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said more tariff letters will be sent to world leaders in the coming days.

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Once upon a time, humanity cooked up a hair-brained scheme to reach the top of the food chain, scientists say. A recent study published in the British Journal of Dermatology outlines how humans’ ability to grow long hair on our scalps—which is unique among mammals—has helped us become the dominant species on Planet Earth.

Hair comes the sun

The research, led by US and Taiwanese scientists, suggests that the ability to grow long scalp hair wasn’t some evolutionary accident. Instead, it developed around the time the first humans emerged some ~2 million years ago, and helped keep our ancestors alive in equatorial Africa.

• As early humans moved out of the forests and shifted to walking upright on two feet, the transition exposed their heads—and the developing brains within—to intense heat and solar radiation.
• Those human ancestors, much like ourselves, were able to protect their heads thanks to a unique genetic mechanism allowing human scalp hair to grow for up to seven years.
• They also benefitted from tightly curled locks of hair that created air gaps on their head to minimize heat absorption, while maximizing heat loss.

The timing works out. Prior to growing longer scalp hair, the brains of early humans had mysteriously lagged behind the development of other modern traits like longer limbs and upright backs, according to the study’s authors.

Like the product it shills, the pistachio industry is coming out of its shell. New data from Yelp shows demand for the nut is going, well, nuts:

• Searches for the term “pistachio” more than doubled from June 2024 to May 2025 compared to the same period a year prior.
• “Pistachio latte” was up 128%, while “pistachio chocolate” increased 8,942%, in large part due to the social media-driven Dubai Chocolate craze (Dubai Chocolate = chocolate + pistachios, for the unfamiliar).
• This increase in demand has driven prices higher, with pistachio halves and pieces now selling for $10.50/lb, a 17% jump compared to last year, Bloomberg reports.

But: Prices could soon fall, as more of deez nuts surge into the market:

• Pistachio production follows a boom-and-bust cycle. Last year’s US harvest, a bust year that coincided with the increased demand, produced a relatively small ~1.1 billion pounds…
• …while the 2025-2026 growing season, which starts in September, is expected to surpass 2023-2024’s production record of ~1.5 billion pounds.

Prepare to see more commercials aimed at keeping demand (and prices) high. Wonderful Pistachios in May unveiled a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign dubbing the nuts “The Don’t Hold Back Snack,” while American Pistachio Growers, a nonprofit trade association that represents more than 800 pistachio farmers, has also been upping its marketing spend.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 The US dollar fell 10.7% against its global peers through June; it marks the worst first half since 1973. | Tesla shares drop 6.8% after Elon Musk announces plans to form a new political party.
• 💬 Jack Dorsey announces Bitchat, a new WhatsApp peer-to-peer messaging rival that works entirely over Bluetooth.
• 💻 Oracle offers the US gov't a 75% discount on its license-based software through the end of November; joins other companies like Salesforce, Google, and Adobe to also offer discounted rates to the gov't.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with MorningSave

• 🎸 Legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne plays farewell show with his band Black Sabbath; 45,000+ attend the concert, held in Birmingham, England.
• 🤝 CBS owner Paramount reaches $16 million settlement with President Trump over his claim that 60 Minutes deceptively manipulated a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris; deal comes as Paramount’s proposed $8.4 billion merger with Skydance still awaits regulatory approval.
• 🍿 F1: The Movie nears $300 million at the global box office; is now Apple’s highest-grossing theatrical film in history.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🔭 Astronomers detect third known interstellar object to enter our solar system; it could help scientists unlock clues about how other star systems form.
• 🤖 CoreWeave, an AI infrastructure company, to buy bitcoin mining infrastructure company Core Scientific for $9 billion in stock.
• 🍓 Dyson doesn't just make vacuums and Airwraps; it's also developing robot-operated strawberry farms.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with Kanguro

• 🙏 The death toll from central Texas flash floods over the July 4 weekend reached 104, with an unknown number still missing. | A 27-year-old male suspect who fired on a Border Patrol building in South Texas was killed by law enforcement yesterday.
• 🏛️ DOJ and FBI find no evidence Jeffrey Epstein kept a "client list" or was murdered, per a memo published yesterday.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Federal trial kicks off in Boston over accusations that the Trump admin is restricting free speech by targeting prominent noncitizen academics who criticize Israel.

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☝️ You’re looking at some of the best science images from June, according to Nature’s photo team.

🤔 Did You Know? Deaf Americans and deaf Britons have distinctly different sign languages—ASL vs. BSL—and can’t understand one another in conversation.

📰 Worth a Read: How emojis became the most confusing kind of online language

🖱️ Clickbait: The six factors that determine what makes someone cool, according to science

Yesterday we covered how Elon Musk declared his intent to create a new major US political party—called the “America Party”—to compete with Democrats and Republicans in elections starting next year.

❓ Our question to you: Do you think America needs a third major political party?

• Yes: 62%
• No: 23%
• Unsure/other: 15%

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

+Note on sample size: We received 2,451 votes and 285 longform responses.

❓ Trivia: Which land animal has the most powerful bite?

🎓 True or false? Clinophobia is the fear of medical clinics

🤡 Riddle me this: What has ears but cannot hear?

👨🏽‍🍼 When Kalvin Bridgewater experienced post-partum depression following the birth of his baby, he reached out to a few other dad friends who were struggling and set up meetings at the park with their kids to chat. The Daddy Stroller Social Club has since gained nearly 100 members.

💸 Kristen Bell and social media influencer Quentin Quarantino teamed up to raise money to pay off $100,000+ of medical debt for people in need via GoFundMe, with Bell closing out each goal once it hit the halfway mark.

🐾 Bear the German Shepherd is a retired police dog. But the 12-year-old pup received the Thin Blue Paw Foundation’s Lifesaver Award after springing back into action unprompted and rescuing a missing person while on a hike with his parents.

+Note: These stories previously appeared in a Jan. 2025 edition of Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter surfacing all the good things you don't hear about in the news.

❓ Trivia: Hippopotamus

🎓 T/F: False, it’s the fear of going to bed

🤡 Riddle: A cornfield