News Sidequest

Researchers have a new model for treating chronic nightmares in kids — and the key insight is that it's not the nightmare itself that keeps them coming back, it's the child's response to waking up. Also: a double-level airplane seat concept called the Chaise Longue is back with its "final statement" design, and honestly the economics of it make more sense than you might expect. And Dan the Pizza Man, a 68-year-old Domino's driver in Idaho who stopped at a convenience store to buy a customer's Diet Coke out of his own pocket, is heading into retirement with over $150,000 raised by strangers on the internet. Plus a Florida surgeon who removed the wrong organ, a Louisiana fugitive tracking his own escape stats, and a Japanese fire official whose idea of workplace fun went very badly.

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Bloomberg reports that anxious parents are spending $50,000 or more to hire career coaches for their college-age kids — starting as early as freshman year. It raises a real question: is this a generational shift, a symptom of a brutal job market, or both? Also: a Vanderbilt study of 633,000 people finds loneliness is a critical step on the road to suicidal ideation — and the finding has direct implications for how we think about mental health treatment. Plus, a tool called Delphi-2M can now predict more than 1,000 diseases up to 20 years before symptoms appear, using nothing but your medical history. And a man declared dead who wasn't, a deputy on a dating app during a SWAT operation, a Disney stroller scheme, and an Ohio man who won the lottery twice in one day.

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After ten days, 695,000 miles, and one crater named Carroll, the Artemis II crew splashed down safely in the Pacific on Friday — and the reaction was everything NASA needed it to be. Also: veterinary costs are up 43% since 2021, the average dog will cost you $50,000 over its lifetime, and the pet debt crisis is quietly becoming a breaking point for a lot of families. Plus, a new Gallup survey finds Gen Z's excitement about AI has collapsed while anger has surged — and the worry underneath it is actually pretty legitimate. And three men, a million dollars worth of Lego, a chimpanzee civil war, and a cow that apparently had an appointment.

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A survey finds 61% of Gen Z have a diagnosed anxiety condition and 43% have a panic attack at least once a month — and they're building curated "anxiety bags" to manage it on the go. Also: a new study finds that blocking internet on your phone for just two weeks reversed the cognitive equivalent of ten years of aging. And nearly half of Gen Z workers admit to actively sabotaging their company's AI rollout — and the fear driving it is more understandable than it sounds. Plus the world chess champion's perfectly executed selfie trap, two men and 96 stolen bananas, and a funeral brawl nobody planned for.

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A new study finds depression hits personal finances harder than cancer or stroke — and the income gap doesn't close for a decade. Also: marriage is linked to dramatically lower cancer rates, and the study raises a question worth sitting with: is it the ring, or the connection? Plus, there's actually a name for why people buy $22 smoothies when they can't afford a house — and it's more psychologically interesting than it sounds. And a Nutella jar in space, a whole Australian town for sale, automatic military draft registration, and a dead alligator strapped to a car roof.

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A new study finds it's not just how much time you spend sitting — it's what you're doing while you sit. Passive screen time is linked to significantly higher dementia risk, and swapping one hour of TV for something that actually uses your brain could make a real difference. Also: the housing market is stuck in a slow grind that's locking out first-time buyers and trapping everyone else in place, and there's no quick fix in sight. Plus, nine in ten Americans say giving is a priority — but the share who actually donate has been falling for 25 years. And a banana emergency, a Tennessee Congressman hinting at aliens, and an April Fools' Day 911 call that did not land well.

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Four astronauts flew farther from Earth than any person in history — broke a 56-year-old record, named a crater after a commander's late wife, and heard a wake-up message from Jim Lovell recorded just before he died. Also: experts say banning kids from social media is politically popular but scientifically weak, and the evidence points toward something harder than a ban. Plus, the question I've been wanting to ask for a while: what is your actual system for deciding whether a news story is real? And a samurai sword stolen by a guy on a bike, a cat stuck in a recliner, and a cruise ship that ran aground next to where Cast Away was filmed.

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Gig workers in 50 countries are strapping phones to their foreheads and filming their chores to train humanoid robots — while openly acknowledging they're probably building their own replacements. Also: the number of seniors seeking roommates has tripled as housing costs crush retirement budgets, and a growing number of young couples say they want kids but simply can't make the math work. Plus, the Artemis II crew already had to call Houston about Microsoft Outlook, Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz while cutting NASA's budget, and a man stopped for gas and left with $100,000.

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A teenager in France can mentally revisit any moment of her life in vivid detail — and scientists say it's as much burden as gift. Also: a new study finds people are speaking 338 fewer words every day than they were 15 years ago, and researchers say those missing words are the small moments of human contact quietly disappearing from daily life. Plus, ancient bone dice confirm humans have been gambling since the Ice Age — 6,000 years before anyone thought. And Paul McCartney got banned from his own subreddit, Jonathan the tortoise survived a crypto scam, and a company wants to block the sun.

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A new survey finds most Americans are just three months away from financial collapse — and it only takes about $6,000 in extra debt to push a household toward bankruptcy. Also: gas just crossed four dollars a gallon for the first time since 2022, driven by the war in Iran, and experts say relief isn't coming anytime soon. Plus, a new study says the most popular graduate degrees aren't worth the money. And NASA just launched four astronauts to the Moon for the first time in 54 years

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