News Sidequest

A new PNAS study from Tufts University finds that Americans born between 1970 and 1985 are dying at higher rates than any previous generation did at the same age — with rising deaths from cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, and external causes including overdoses and suicide. The lead researcher called it "genuinely alarming." Also: Art Ulene is a physician, television personality, and author who survived a suspected stroke in Paris, watched his wife battle illness, and is now training six days a week at 89 years old to become the oldest person ever to summit Mount Kilimanjaro — in July, on his 90th birthday. And a Myrtle Beach detective named Michael DeBiase was arrested, charged with a felony, and fired from the police department after allegedly pulling his department-issued handgun on a fellow officer who microwaved fish in the breakroom. Plus sourdough from a mummy, the world's largest blanket fort, a casino self-ban that went awry, and a Frontier flight situation.

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A Travel Guard survey of 1,022 Americans finds 97% have taken at least one trip they regret — and the most regretted destination in the US is Las Vegas. Also: The Atlantic profiles the solitude influencer, a growing genre of creator documenting life alone — and one woman's formula ("you live alone in NYC and have no friends") has 195,000 followers and sparked a real cultural conversation. And a new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer finds that during just the first nine months of the pandemic, 55,000 cancer cases went undiagnosed across seven countries — with prostate cancer down 24% and breast cancer down 18% from expected levels. Plus a bed bug infestation at the USDA, a 19-year red light ticket fight, an AI laser mosquito system, and the Uber lost and found.

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The New York Federal Reserve just published the most direct answer yet to why young college graduates can't find jobs — and it's not AI. Remote work accounts for 64% of the surge in youth unemployment since the pandemic, because companies won't hire inexperienced workers onto distributed teams they can't train. Also: a University of Illinois study finds gratitude journaling and optimism training can reduce blood pressure by more than 7 points within weeks — and the mechanism is more interesting than "think positive thoughts." And gateway hotels near Crater Lake National Park are devastated this summer — not because the park is closed, but because misinformation spread that it was, and people cancelled anyway. Plus a chicken police recruit, a yellow submarine mystery, kitchen sponge microplastics, and a $200,000 Lego lawsuit.

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A new Michigan State University study finds people consistently underestimate how cynical their friends are — and the blind spot appears to be deliberate, a kind of social glue that keeps friendships intact. Also: an aerospace engineering professor at Georgia Tech just did the math on interstellar travel, and the numbers are not encouraging for anyone hoping an alien civilization is on its way here. And new research presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology finds that insomniacs under 50 are up to three times more likely to develop certain cancers — and the timing of the surge maps almost exactly onto the arrival of smartphones. Plus a Bluetooth device named "bomb," men emerging from a Brooklyn manhole, Gen Z tanning, and a humanoid robot with a mop.

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The Brookings Institution just released the most precise picture yet of American household financial fragility — and the number that should stop everyone is this: a single $1,000 increase in annual living costs would push 3 million more households over the edge. Also: prediction markets and sports betting apps are using memes, leaderboards, and social media to recruit users as young as 18 — and a UCLA gambling researcher says a young brain exposed to this "is going to want it again." And flight attendants are formally asking passengers to stop poking, tapping, prodding, and otherwise physically touching them to get their attention. One veteran of 20 years says it's a rare flight when it doesn't happen. Plus an excavator divorce, a kindergarten graduation brawl, a monkey in a Florida backyard, and an influencer banned from Cedar Point.

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Bloomberg reports that younger consumers are redirecting their entertainment budgets from bars to boutique gyms, and some are spending $300 or more a month to do it — because the gym has become the social infrastructure that everything else used to provide. Also: physicists at the University of Toronto just published a peer-reviewed study in Physical Review Letters confirming that photons can spend a negative amount of time inside a cloud of atoms — exiting before they enter. No, it's not time travel. Yes, it's still deeply unsettling. And a meta-analysis of 54 studies covering 2.5 million people across nearly 50 years confirms the happiness gap for single parents — and the specific reasons why it's worse in the US than anywhere else on Earth. Plus a Kit Kat truck, a murder investigation that wasn't, a dismissed phone charge, and a Florida man in a thong.

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A new survey finds 48% of Americans say their lives are currently lacking fun — and the survey was commissioned by Dave and Busters, which tells you everything about the source and nothing about whether the finding is wrong. Also: a Harris Poll/Indeed survey finds 52% of professionals with degrees say their degree wasn't relevant to their current job, and among Gen Z that number rises to 51% who call it a waste of money outright. And a Chinese startup called Meng Xiaoyi has launched a $118 AI pet translator collar claiming 95% accuracy — with zero published data to back it up and 10,000 units already pre-ordered. Plus a robin nest that's holding a Ford truck hostage, a driver stuck in fresh concrete, a paraglider and a plane, and a toothpick world record.

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A new NYT/CNN poll finds 61% of Americans changed what they buy at the grocery store to stay within budget — a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents all said the same thing. Also: a rural North Carolina school district stopped students from using screens on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a public health professor who studied the results shares what happened — including the kid whose eye strain went away. And a new PNAS study of 215,000 professional chess moves finds that faster decisions are consistently linked to better moves — and the reason why is more interesting than "trust your gut." Plus a mayor who tasered his own adviser, an AI girlfriend breakup, an airport hair removal evacuation, and some screws on a Florida highway.

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Space Camp registrations doubled after Artemis II splashed down — and the NASA administrator who attended Space Camp as a kid is now running the agency. Also: Luis Salazar walked into a Wawa bathroom in Riviera Beach, Florida, found a fanny pack with $30,000 in cash, spent days trying to find the owner, and returned every dollar. The owner was carrying it for a family emergency. He cried. He hugged Luis. And a new report from the Oxford Longevity Project presented at the Smart Ageing Summit finds that at least 80% of the health problems people experience in old age are driven by lifestyle and environment — not genetics. Plus Harvard capping A grades, a Google Translate robbery, mutant super pigs, and a 14-year-old with incredible dedication to avoiding school.

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A new Adelaide University study of more than 20,000 students found that well-being declines across every single measured category after the move to high school — and the damage can persist for more than two years. Also: Burning Glass Institute data shows master's degree unemployment for workers under 35 is at the 77th percentile over the past two decades — near a 20-year high — while PhD, law, and medical degree unemployment is near a 20-year low. The lines used to move together. They don't anymore. And on the banks of the Darling River in Australia, archaeologists have uncovered a 950-year-old dingo burial that is the first documented case in world history of humans ritually feeding a grave — for 500 years after the animal died. Plus a frog in a salad bag, a heat gun and a dealer decal, a courtroom birth, and a sailor whose rescue flare started a wildfire.

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