News Sidequest

A new survey finds nearly half of Gen X workers are pushing back their retirement dates — and more than half expect to raid their retirement accounts early just to cover near-term costs. Also: rage workouts are having a moment, and the psychology behind using anger as athletic fuel is more interesting than it sounds — and more effective than punching a pillow. And a new study published in PNAS finds that 2024 was the first year in human history that female global fertility levels exceeded male fertility — and the trend is projected to continue through 2100. Plus a painted donkey that escaped a zoo, a dog that shot its owner, a couple that torched a neighbor's drone, and an atmosphere beyond Pluto.

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A new survey of 2,000 Americans finds one in three is currently having an existential crisis — and for Gen Z it's more than half. The top word people used to describe 2026 so far is "stressful." Also: a Paris Brain Institute study of 92 adults finds that dream-like mental experiences can and do happen during confirmed wakefulness — the boundary between dreaming and being awake is far more porous than anyone realized. And Spirit Airlines, 34 years old and bright yellow, shut down Saturday morning after jet fuel prices tied to the Iran war doubled and a government bailout fell apart. Seventeen thousand people are out of work. The Spirit Halloween conversion is already underway. Plus a robot that delayed a Southwest flight, a kid who watched 13,000 YouTube videos during school hours, and an $80,000 mac and cheese scheme.

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A new Gallup poll finds 55% of Americans say their financial situation is getting worse — the highest number since 2001, higher even than during the pandemic or the 2008 financial crisis. This is the fifth consecutive year of declining financial confidence, and the only comparable stretch was the Great Recession. Also: a new study finds two-thirds of babies under two watch screens, some for up to eight hours a day — and the research on what that does to developing brains is more nuanced and more concerning than most parents realize. And archaeologists at Pompeii just used AI to reconstruct the face of a man who died fleeing Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 — carrying an oil lamp, a ring, and ten bronze coins. Plus weaponized bees, a skeleton at the bank, GPS-collared possums, and a bird with a grudge.

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A new study finds dreams function as a complex social simulation space — your brain running rehearsals for the challenges it thinks you'll face. Also: Pam Cronrath promised her husband of nearly 60 years a "super wake," and she delivered — a life-size hologram of Bill appeared at his own memorial service, took questions from 200 mourners, and told his wife he loved her one last time. And college students are switching majors in search of AI-proof careers — but here's the problem: nobody actually knows what an AI-proof major is. Plus infrasound and ghost sightings, a pastor with a publishing problem, an orangutan who crossed the road, and someone who used a hair dryer to win a $34,000 weather bet.

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A new NBC News poll finds nearly half of Gen Z would choose to live in the past if they could — and the reasons are more specific and interesting than simple nostalgia. Also: a new wave of surveys confirms what a lot of people already feel — dating has become expensive enough that millions of Americans are going on fewer dates or stopping altogether, and the apps aren't helping. And summer travel costs are up 26% since 2019, jet fuel prices are spiking due to the Iran conflict, and 65% of Americans have already changed their summer plans because of price. Plus kindergarteners naming themselves, a game hunter and some elephants, Americans who might now be Canadian, and a very generous lottery winner.

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A Wall Street Journal survey finds nearly a third of Americans are pregaming before going out to avoid paying $20 for a drink at a bar — and liquor brands are packaging miniature bottles specifically to enable this. Also: a group of 20- and 30-somethings in Washington swapped their smartphones for flip phones for a full month, and the things they rediscovered are more interesting than the detox itself. And MIT just published the first direct evidence that plant seeds can sense sound — specifically, that rice seeds exposed to the sound of rain germinate 30 to 40 percent faster than seeds in identical conditions without it. Plus a US sailor sidelined by a monkey, the Senate's hot rotisserie chicken legislation, a bored arsonist, and a man who gave police the wrong name.

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A new survey finds 38% of Americans went no contact with a friend or family member in the last year — and the generational gap is stark. Also: South Korean Air Force investigators just published their findings on how two F-15K fighter jets collided mid-air, and the reason is both absurd and surprisingly human. And a family in China hired an AI company to create a digital clone of their deceased son so his 80-year-old mother — who has heart disease — would never learn he'd died. The ethical questions are real and they're coming for all of us. Plus the Yellowstone wolf, Pope Leo on Bozo's Circus, Germany's military timeline, and a DUI excuse that was never going to work.

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A New York Fed survey finds American workers are more dissatisfied with their pay and chances of advancement than at any point in the survey's 12-year history — and job mobility is simultaneously at a multi-year low. That's a trap, and the question worth asking is what you actually do when you're in it. Also: 65% of Americans are picky about their water, a third of them bring their own water wherever they go, and the survey was commissioned by a bottled water company, which tells you everything you need to know. Plus: NASA's Curiosity rover just detected more than 20 organic molecules on Mars — including a nitrogen-bearing compound that resembles a DNA precursor — and the researchers are careful to say it's not proof of life, but it's the most compelling chemistry yet. And Finnish Air Force cadets, an arson suspect with a very telling forehead, and a parrot who knows your name.

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New research confirms what trial-and-error learners have always suspected: getting something wrong first — and then learning the right answer — produces significantly better retention than memorizing correctly from the start. Also: a study from Norway finds that solo time in nature has a measurable protective effect against loneliness, and the mechanism is more interesting than just "fresh air." And a case study from the BMJ that went viral this week: a woman in 1980s England heard voices telling her she had a brain tumor, her doctors initially dismissed it, and the scan proved the voices right. Plus the Lego pasta swap, a Florida driver who thought a Supra was a license, and a paraglider with very poor aim.

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A major new study finds that Americans in midlife are lonelier, more depressed, physically weaker, and showing worse memory than earlier generations — and the gap between the US and most of the rest of the wealthy world is significant and growing. Also: a Simon Fraser University study finds that life satisfaction isn't just about feeling good — autonomy, the sense that your choices are genuinely your own, turns out to be a stronger predictor than positive emotions. And demographers are increasingly clear: the world is running out of people, and it's not because of war or disease — it's because prosperity itself is changing the math. Plus humanoid robots beating humans in a half-marathon, a skydiver hitting a scoreboard, and a bear costume that did not hold up to scrutiny.

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