Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇺🇸 Trump’s Greenland push
• 🐶 Dogs who eavesdrop
• ⌚ Why time speeds as we age

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.06-minute read (1,081 words).

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“The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.”

–Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

In recent days, President Trump ramped up a pressure campaign against America’s military allies in Europe as part of his renewed push for the US to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

Trump on Saturday announced plans to impose a series of escalating tariffs on eight NATO allies that have opposed his bid to acquire Greenland.

• Rates will start at 10% across all goods on February 1, and increase to 25% on June 1 unless a deal is reached for the US to acquire Greenland.
• In a text message to Norway’s PM, Trump also said he “no longer feel[s] an obligation to think purely of Peace” when trying to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

Some quick background: Trump first proposed acquiring Greenland—a country that’s 3x larger than Texas, but contains fewer people than an NFL stadium—in his first term, and has revisited the topic with renewed interest in recent weeks.

• Greenland is home to rare earth minerals, energy reserves, and potential new shipping lanes, with access to all three projected to grow in the coming years as polar ice continues to melt.
• The island also sits in a prime location directly in-between the US and Russia, across the North Pole.

Analysts across the political spectrum agree that Greenland is strategically important for America on the global stage, though some have pushed back against the notion of a US acquisition.

The arguments

Trump and other top Republicans have framed a US takeover of Greenland as essential to ensuring that America maintains dominance in the Arctic, and to prevent rivals like China and Russia from gaining a foothold in the region.

The proposed takeover is linked to a part of Trump’s new national security strategy dubbed the “Donroe Doctrine,” which asserts that the US is justified to intervene across the Western Hemisphere when necessary to protect American interests.

On the flip side: Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the autonomous territory isn’t for sale, and doesn’t want to join the US. Other leaders across Europe have also condemned Trump’s latest tariff threats, with several warning that America’s push to acquire Greenland could spell the end of NATO entirely.

• In the US, Democratic lawmakers and other critics of Trump’s push to acquire Greenland argue that it risks isolating the US on the world stage and turning allies into trade adversaries.
• They also note that the US already has a high degree of military and economic access to Greenland under Danish control.

Looking ahead…Trump has agreed to an in-person meeting to discuss the Greenland situation this week in Davos, Switzerland, where political and business leaders are currently gathered for the annual World Economic Forum.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support Trump’s push to acquire Greenland by using economic pressure on America’s NATO allies?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US stocks fell across the board yesterday, with the S&P turning in its worst single-day performance since October. (S&P: -2.1% | Dow: -1.8% | Nasdaq: -2.4%)
• 🎥 Netflix's merger offer for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming business is now all cash instead of cash and stock; Netflix shares have dropped by ~15% since its Warner deal was announced.
• 🏦 Supreme Court will hear arguments later today over whether President Trump has the legal authority to fire Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾ MLB Hall of Fame: Outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have officially been elected to Cooperstown, the league announced last night; they’ll be inducted this summer alongside contemporary honoree Jeff Kent.
• 🙏 Valentino Garavani, designer and founder of Valentino Brand, died at 93.
• 🤣Netflix announced this year’s Netflix is a Joke comedy festival lineup, which features 240+ artists including Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, and Ali Wong.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🪐🌊 Geological features on Mars indicate the planet once contained rivers and broad coastlines around a vast ocean, according to a new study.
• ⚛️ Researchers announce new engineering breakthrough in an area of study known as “quantum alchemy,” which aims to change a material’s behavior simply by shining light on it.
• 🐶 Certain gifted dogs—who can retain the names of hundreds of toys—are able to understand new names by eavesdropping on their owners, new research reveals.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🌨️ An "expansive” major winter storm is projected to hit the US South and East starting Friday, and continuing through this weekend; forecasters expect to see heavy snow, freezing rain, and power outages.
• 🏛️ Federal prosecutors reportedly issue subpoenas to at least five Democratic officials in Minnesota—including Gov. Tim Walz—over allegations of obstructing the Trump admin’s immigration crackdown in the state.
• 🇨🇳 China’s birth rate in 2025 ranks as the lowest since official records began in 1949; the country’s total population stood at 1.404 billion at the end of last year, down ~3 million from 2024.

☝️The Prague Municipal Library takes “disappearing into a good book” literally. Idiom, an art installation by Slovak artist Matej Krén, stacks ~8,000 books into a mirrored tower that creates the illusion of infinite shelves. Though it’s been around for decades, a recent social media revival has brought an influx of tourists to peer down Prague’s literary rabbit hole.

🤔 Did you know? While two snowflakes technically could be identical, it’s astronomically unlikely. A single snowflake contains roughly a quintillion (10¹⁸) water molecules arranged in a unique structure, making the odds of a perfect match so low that scientists consider each flake effectively one of a kind.

📰 Worth a read: Why time seems to speed up as we get older—and how we can slow it down

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• How widespread is the flu right now?
• 4 ways to beat the anxiety of insomnia and get back to sleep
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms creator on premiere’s shocking poop scene

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🐻‍❄️ Trivia: What substance gives emeralds their green color?

🎓 True or false?…The Oxford English Dictionary is updated only once every decade.

🤔 Riddle me this: The more you remove from me, the bigger I get. What am I?

🐱 Owner Maggie DeGreenia recently reunited with her beloved cat Tinsel four years after the feline went missing, thanks to her cousin spotting a photo of the cat on a shelter's website. The giveaway sign? Tinsel's distinctive "mustache." 

🐻‍❄️ Trivia: Chromium

🎓 T/F: False, it’s updated quarterly

🤔 Riddle: A hole

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