Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ⚡ US embraces nuclear power
• 🏅 Winter Olympic update
• 👟 Nike’s bionic sneakers

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.21-minute read (1,121 words).

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"Thinking will not overcome fear but action will."

–W. Clement Stone (1902-2002)

“Mr. President, the nuclear option is on the table”... is what US military officials probably on Sunday after airlifting a miniature nuclear reactor for the first time, as part of the Trump admin’s pledge to deploy additional nuclear power across the US.

How we got here: In May, President Trump signed four executive orders aimed at expanding domestic nuclear energy development as part of a broader push to boost production by leaning into both nuclear and fossil fuel-based sources.

• The executive orders seek to add 300 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, part of which will be used to power AI capabilities as well as military bases.
• They also include a pledge to have at least three advanced nuclear reactors “critical”—or running all of its nuclear systems—on US soil by July 4 of this year.

Why use nuclear energy?

Proponents of fission reactors—not to be confused with fusion reactors, which are still years or decades from commercial viability—say the technology can deliver megawatts of power both safely and cheaply, providing reliable and scalable energy and reducing America’s reliance on foreign adversaries.

Nuclear reactors, which don’t emit any greenhouse gases, are also able to produce maximum power nearly 93% of the time during the year, making them roughly twice as reliable as fossil-fuel plants, and ~3x more reliable than solar or wind plants.

But…Some critics say the Trump admin’s fast-tracking of untested reactor designs from private companies could pose safety issues and, in a worst-case scenario, create the potential for nuclear meltdowns like those that occurred at Fukushima, Three Mile Island, or Chernobyl.

They also cite several downsides associated with nuclear reactors, including extremely high building and operating costs—sometimes over 15x original forecasts—and challenges with disposing radioactive waste.

Zoom out: Advanced nuclear reactors are also seen as the primary solution for the energy-hungry AI data centers operated by tech giants, with Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all planning to spend billions of dollars collectively to develop new nuclear energy sites (including Three Mile Island).

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If you thought Bridgerton was just a TV show, Netflix would like a word—and possibly to sell you a themed teacup, lipstick, and scented body wash.

Ahead of Bridgerton S4’s two-part release (Jan. 29 and Feb. 26), Netflix rolled out brand partnerships with dozens of companies, including Dove, Pandora, Williams Sonoma, NYX, Mattel (Polly Pocket), and more.

Netflix is also hosting a series of in-person Bridgerton-themed events like concerts, balls, and high tea service in the run up to Part 2.

The strategy appears to be working. Search interest for Bridgerton reportedly surged by 300% on Google ahead of S4 Part 1’s premiere, which debuted as the #1 show on Netflix in 91 countries.

Bridgerton’s successful marketing campaign mirrors other recent blockbusters:

• Stranger Things ran its largest consumer products program yet as in a global campaign ahead of the show’s series finale in December.
• Universal’s Wicked: For Good partnered with 400+ brands in the months before its successful theatrical debut in November.
• 2023’s Barbie partnered with more than 100 brands ahead of its $1.4 billion box office run.

Bottom line: With hundreds of new titles for consumers to choose from every year—and an ever-growing catalog of past content—more movies and TV shows are embracing mass brand partnerships to stay at the forefront of Americans’ minds.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% year-over-year in January, down 0.3% from December and the lowest figure since May; core prices were up 2.5% last month, the most gradual increase since April 2021.
• 🏨 Hotel magnate Thomas Pritzker is retiring as executive chair of Hyatt Hotels in response to newly released documents detailing the extent of his association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
• 🤖⚖️ ByteDance promises to improve safeguards on new Seedance 2.0 AI video-making tool following cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount alleging copyright theft.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏅 Winter Olympics: Team USA men’s hockey secures bye into the quarterfinals following perfect 3-0 pools record; US women’s hockey advances to a gold medal match against Canada on Thursday; Canadian curlers of both genders caught in an alleged cheating controversy; US men’s figure skater Ilia “Quad God” Malinin fails to medal following mistake-laden final round.
• 🍿 Wuthering Heights tops extended holiday weekend domestic box office with $38 million ($83 million globally), marking the biggest opening of 2026 so far. | 🙏 Actor Robert Duvall, best known for roles in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, passed away at 95.
• 🏟️ NBA All-Star Game: Team Stars defeats Team Stripes in the finals of the new the new USA vs. World format, with T-Wolves G Anthony Edwards named MVP. | Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team wins the Daytona 500 behind driver Tyler Reddick.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🛰️ New crew arrives at the ISS for an eight-month mission, replacing astronauts who left in a first-of-its-kind medical evacuation last month.
• 🌒 “Ring of fire” solar eclipse set to occur today in parts of Antarctica, with the phenomenon visible for just two inhabited locations.
• 🏛️🤖 Pentagon is considering severing its relationship with Anthropic over the AI company’s insistence on maintaining some limitations on military usage; news comes amid reports that Anthropic’s Claude AI was used during last month’s raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🏛️🚫 Partial US gov’t shutdown over DHS funding, which began early Saturday, currently has no path to ending after Democrats and President Trump’s team fail to reach a deal; most ICE and CBP operations remain unaffected due to funding from Trump’s 2025 tax and spending law, while the other ~90% of DHS employees remain on the job without pay.
• 💧 Seven Western US states miss second federal deadline to agree on sharing Colorado River water, amid ongoing drought and shrinking water supplies.
• 🇷🇺 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian penal colony in the Arctic in Feb. 2024, was likely killed with a neurotoxin found in poison dart frogs, according to five European governments; joint statement says “only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity" to poison Navalny in prison.

👆 You’re looking at some of the winners from the Society of Photographers’ prestigious 2025 Photographer of the Year awards, with Swedish professional Therese Asplund named the “Photographer of the Year” for her image of birds (top left).

🤔 Did you know? Detroit was once America's fifth-largest city at ~1.85 million residents in 1957, but then saw 66 straight years of population loss to reach a low of ~630,000 residents in 2022 (a trend that reversed the following year). It’s the only US city where the population has climbed significantly above one million, but also fallen significantly below one million.

📰 Worth a read: Confessing exes, cursing curlers and a condom shortage: When the Olympics get weird

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• How bionic sneakers could change human mobility
• People in the happiest relationships embrace 5 ‘powerful’ habits
• Ancient Greek shipwreck contains the world’s oldest computer (short video)

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On Friday, we covered the Trump admin’s move to repeal the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding” that classified six greenhouse gases—including CO2 and methane—as threats to public health, which had given the EPA authority to regulate emissions from cars and other vehicles.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you agree with the Trump admin’s decision to reverse the EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding?

• Yes: 26%
• No: 64%
• Unsure/other: 10%

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

+Note on sample size: We received 847 votes and 147 longform responses.

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

1. Acr
2. Capr
3. Gram
4. Juven
5. Magn

🐵 Art student Emilia Evans-Munton just earned a Guinness World Record for her brainchild: a 49.5-foot-high sock monkey made from 200+ feet of corduroy and stuffed with 40 straw bales.

1. Acr = Height (e.g., acrobat)
2. Capr = Goat (Capricorn)
3. Gram = Writing (grammar)
4. Juven = Young (juvenile)
5. Magn = Great (magnitude)

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