Russia agrees to a ceasefire in the Black Sea following talks in Saudi Arabia, then almost immediately demands new terms. / Semafor

Unrelated: President Donald Trump is gifted a new portrait from Vladimir Putin. / BBC News

Consumer confidence in the United States falls to a four-year low. / Al Jazeer

The US put tariffs on goods from Canada in the late 1800s, thinking the country might join the Union—instead, nationalist sentiment surged. / TIME

Security officials say “heads are exploding” after a journalist was added to an administration group chat on Signal. / NPR 

The White House insists nothing clasified was shared—so the Atlantic decides to publish the entire chat. / The Atlantic

There are few things more dangerous than firing a spy—and a researcher says Chinese intelligence networks are already recruiting ex-USG officials. / The Associated Press, Reuters

Unrelated: Everything you need to know about Elon Musk’s new restaurant in Los Angeles. / Eater

Business jets operating at Mach 5 are becoming closer to “a workable reality.” / Robb Report

Malcolm Harris reviews a new book by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein, who can “brook no structural conflict between social classes” and believe abundance requires no tradeoffs. / The Baffler

The average non-elderly American household only has 46 days of cash savings. / People’s Policy Project

A paralysed man can stand on his own after receiving an injection of stem cells to treat a spinal cord injury. / Nature

From last year, a round-up of the 10 hardest dayhikes in the US. / Backpacker 

The winners of this year’s British Wildlife Photography Awards are said to “celebrate the diversity of animal life across Great Britain.” / Colossal

Photographs capture Mexico City’s water crisis. / Long Lead

A trendy new way to microdose alcohol? A shot-and-fake-beer setup. / Punch

Gay men recall the kindly waitresses at Hooters who made their restaurants “a secret sanctuary.” / The New York Times [+]

A Palestinian director of this year’s Oscar-winningn documentary is arrested by the Israeli army after masked settlers attack his house. / The Guardian

In the fallout of a journalist being added to a Signal group discussing White House war plans: a lot of loathing for Europe is made public. / The Atlantic [+], Politico

Republicans coalesce around a defiant message despite the news. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Signal is typically not allowed on government phones, which means officials were likely using their personal devices—which are much easier to hack. / Today in Politics

Is President Trump a natavist or a neocon? He’s basically being both at the same time. / Forever Wars

Unrelated: Heartwarming thoughts from an indie bookseller in the South. / Kottke

In China, income taxes collected from individuals were 7.5 percent below expectations last year. / Marginal Revolution

The DNA of 15 million people is up for sale after the bankruptcy of 23andMe. / 404 Media

A science journalist says the US needs a “reckoning” over its handling of Covid. / Vox

See also: A round-up of interesting things learned by researchers during Covid that don’t have much to do with Covid. / The New York Times [+]

A brief history of “accelerationism”—i.e., the theory that human history is a small mechanism within techno-capital’s history. / The Latecomer

Colorado begins overseeing legal use of psychedelic mushrooms in mental health treatment. / Undark Magazine

Architects explain how they restored the skylight in Houston’s Rothko Chapel. / Architect

The amount of hair-loss content on TikTok is said to cause many to “think about their scalps too much.” / The Cut

Turkey takes a step toward full autocracy after President Erdoğan jails his main political rival. / Politico

The Turkish government says 1,133 people have been arrested in five days of protests across the country. / BBC News

High-profile US officials are planning to visit Greenland this week, reviving concerns. / Semafor

Hamilton Nolan: There isn’t a secret reason driving behind that’s happening right now. “This is the outcome of the class war... This is what happens when it is lost.” / How Things Work

What does it say about these times that “we’ve replaced Christ figures with fictional serial killers?” / The Trend Report

See also: A teenager subscribed to at least 49 extremist Telegram chats and channels before he killed two people at an LGBTQ+ bar. / ProPublica

Ethiopia’s fastest-growing EV maker is producing electric motorcycles. / rest of world

The science behind longevity is said to be “fiercely” debated by those in the field. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Millennials are reported missing 2010s media, wishing for a period prior to everything being owned by private equity and tech billionaires. / Get a Shelf

From Mariam Mahmoud earlier this month: Where have the amateur researchers gone, and how do we bring them back? / Kasurian

A Dublin-based company has designed upwards of 2,000 Irish pubs in more than 100 countries. / Smithsonian Magazine

A self-described autistic nerd writes a guide on how to date after 15 years of celibacy. / Fantastic Achronism

Find out what the Hubble telescope saw on your last birthday. / NASA

The latest edition drops of experimental web writing journal The HTML Review. / thehtml.review

The Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, basically has one week left—which means there’s still time to dive into the action! / Field Notes, Tournament of Books

The Sudanese army says it has recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum after nearly two years of fighting. / BBC News

An explainer for how Germany’s “fiscal flip” this week stunned Europe’s diplomats. / Politico

Unrelated: Photographs from Berlin’s feminist noise-punk scene. / VICE

London’s Heathrow Airport will restore some flights after being completely shut down. / CNN

Yaroslav Trofimov: Lessons from the 20th century offer a range of possible outcomes for Ukraine. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Sally Rooney explains the pleasures of watching—but not playing—billiards. / The New York Review 

The owner of Carrie Bradshaw’s house in Sex and the City implores fans to leave him alone. / The Cut

American women between 19 and 30 now consume more cannabis than men. / The Face

See also: A round-up of odd Canadian liquors. / Nuvo

A 115-year-old Belgian religion called Antoinism is said to be dying out, partly from refusing to explain itself. / The Dial

Before the discovery of gravity or magnetism, “angels were one way of accounting for the movement of physical entities.” / Aeon

“There have been times I have dug for complete strangers, and other times for close family.” What it’s like to dig graves. / The Spinoff 

European leaders gather to find the money and rules needed to turn the bloc into a military superpower. / Politico

Hungary passes a law banning pride marches held by the LGBTQ+ community. / BBC News

President Trump removes all democrats from the board of the Federal Trade Commission. / Vox

Tesla protesters are planning their “biggest day of action” yet at the end of the month. / The Verge

See also: A list of things to be done that “probably won’t magically catalyze a mass movement against Trump but are still wildly important.” / The White Pages

A jury in North Dakota says Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a pipeline company. / The Guardian

Expedition companies are testing out drones to airlift heavy loads normally carried by Nepali Sherpas. / The New York Times [+]

A climber reports on efforts to protect Chile’s Cochamó Valley from overtourism. / Patagonia

Friends of the world’s leading thinker on decisions explain what it was like to learn he intended to end his life. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Young women describe acquiring “facial dysmorphia” from spending too much time on social media. / The Cut

Young people in Lithuania are said to be the world’s happiest. / Dazed

Eighty-four percent of employed Gen Z TV viewers say they watch shows and movies at work. / The Wrap

Unrelated: Lessons learned from apologies issued on reality television. / The Pudding

Also unrelated: “Actually, Living in Carrie Bradshaw’s House Is Hell.” / The Cut

A seven-minute visit to painter Amy Sherald’s studio. / YouTube

Four new fairs demonstrate Mexico City’s “meteoric” rise as an art world capital. / Artsy

An explanation of how sculptures are made to burn during Las Fallas, Valencia’s largest festival. / Atlas Obscura

Hundreds of Palestinians are killed after Israel resumes its war on Gaza. / Al Jazeera

Peru declares another state of emergency in Lima over a crime wave. / Reuters

Investors are slashing holdings of American equities by the most on record. / yahoo! Finance

Military websites are scrubbing the renowned Native American Code Talkers. Meanwhile, segregated facilities are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts. / axios, NPR

Without foreign-aid programs, the United States is making survival less likely for people with tuberculosis and risking the disease becoming more treatment-resistant. / The Atlantic [+]

See also: Amid President Trump’s layoffs, the future of more than 26,000 government-owned art objects is unclear. / The Art Newspaper

Sweden’s low rates of lung cancer, known as “the Swedish experience,” help explain the new nicotine gold rush, aka, the Zyn market. / The New Yorker

An early smoking-cessation tool was an all-lettuce cigarette. / Atlas Obscura

As late as the 1980s, it was believed that babies do not feel pain. / Marginal Revolution

Who came up with the idea of side-release clamps? A man named Dick Tracy who was inspired after nearly drowning. / Tedium

Most of humanity’s ancestors avoided conflict, “but this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.” / Works in Progress

Unrelated: “Airport theory,” yet another TikTok trend, means going to the airport with only 15 minutes to spare. / The Points Guy

A “sculptural” California mansion with a shark tank can be yours for $59 million. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

A former fashion editor explains what it’s like to spend a year only buying secondhand. / GQ

Some details about the golden age of Japanese pencils. / Studio Notes 

A reminder: This year’s Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, is still playing out! / Field Notes, The Tournament of Books

A reporter in Canada explains how furious people are with the United States. / Vox

“If you are not a citizen of the US, and you are going through an immigration process, your first thought needs to be: How can this process be weaponized against me?” / USA Today

The head of an NGO in Kenya details the suffering caused by the end of USAID funding. / STAT

What it’s like to be declared dead by DOGE when you’re still alive. / The Seattle Times

Spencer Ackerman on how to secure Red Sea shipping: “Just stop the fucking genocide.” / Forever Wars

Some details regarding fears felt within CISA, within universities, within the National Park Service. / WIRED, The Harvard Crimson, ProPublic

Thoughts on how many of our media and intellectual leaders have failed to update their priors. / How Things Work

Utah may lose the Sundance Film Festival over a bill to ban pride flags. / Deadline

Unrelated: A Texas bill wants to prevent students “from behaving like anything other than a human.” / KVUE

Snapchat’s “half-swipe” gesture is reportedly making teenage lives miserable. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

A poem for the moment: “For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper.” / poets.org

Gen Z faces more rejection—in a multitude of forms—than any previous generation. / Business Insider

See also: Gen Z-ers explain how they steal time and money from employers. / The Standard

If you know how music contracts work, Spotify’s claim that it paid out $10 billion in royalties last year suddenly makes a lot more sense. / Dada Drummer Almanach

If you missed the Eno streaming event, new livestreams ware announced. / Anamorph

A props master explains how books are selected for White Lotus. A recording mixer explains why people’s dogs are freaking out during Severance. / Lit Hub, The Washington Post [+]

Stephan Kunze: Your life is not a movie, so stop soundtracking it 24/7. / zensounds

Some oral history for the time 250,000 bouncy balls were launched down San Francisco’s hills. “You could hear them coming.” / SFGate

Greenlanders vote to rebuff President Trump’s bid to control their island. / BBC News

Chinese automaker BYD delivers more fully electric vehicles than Tesla for the first time in the fourth quarter. / rest of world

Related: An observation of Chinese small vehicles. / Medium

Unrelated: “Tesla Cybertruck sinks in Ventura Harbor after botched Jet Ski launch.” / The Los Angeles Times

Meta restricts a journalist’s coverage of Elon Musk’s government takeover. / User Mag

NBA players use consultants to create and run their Chinese social media accounts. (Are the nicknames any better there?) / The New York Times [+], GQ

A “hodgepodge” of local news outlets spring up in London. / The New Yorker

A list of 200+ websites and services that an ICE contractor is monitoring. / 404 Media

The EPA announces plans to target more than two dozen rules and policies. / NPR

See also: The Supreme Court says it won’t hear a case seeking to stop climate lawsuits in five states. / Grist

The cost of child care now exceeds the price of college tuition in 38 states and the District of Columbia. / Stateline

Something new we learned this week: Men are 2.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with an HPV-associated malignancy and face mortality rates that are 2.8 times that of affected women. / NPR

A total lunar eclipse will be visible tonight across all of North and South America. / Sky & Telescope

Paintings by Keita Morimoto of corner stores, vending machines, and lampposts. / Colossal

“If it makes sense, it’s not French.” Photos from a day in the life of Chamonix ski patrollers. / Field Magazine

Secretary of State Rubio says there’s “no military solution” to resolving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. / The Guardian

A Ukranian newspaper uncovers how Russian defense manufacturers buy American microchips. / The Kyiv Independent

Stephen Kotkin: Trump may be wrong in his analysis of the world, “but you can’t say that American power is sufficient to meet its current commitments on the trajectory that we’re on.” / The New Yorker

The White House derails regulation to prevent carbon dioxide pipeline leaks. / Verite News

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim: The not-so-powerful who demand the truth about the powerful “are often averse to the truth about their own complicity in the failings of the nation.” / The Dial

Washington DC’s iconic Black Lives Matter mural is being removed. / Hyperallergic

People with Botox are banned (reportedly) from a London club after comedians complain their faces don’t react to jokes. / The Independent

Americans spend three days a year playing Wordle, contributing to the “de-intensification of work.” / The Conversation

See also: What it’s like to be a professional python hunter, or a professional slap fighter. / Garden & Gun, Esquire

Generation “Beta” arrived in January, and parents already don’t love the name’s connotations. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Gen Z members say they feel “bombarded” by products and trends. / The New York Times [+]

Related: “If you buy what you don’t need, you steal from yourself.” Some proverbs from around the world. / Futility Closet

A cute new tiny electric truck debuts in California. Some details on Japan’s new high-speed trains. / dezeen, uncrate

A round-up of 100 significant moments in sports in the 21st century. / The Ringer

Related: A video depicts a wild, urban mountain bike descent in Chile. / YouTube

Ukraine says it is ready to accept a US-led proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. / BBC News

A separatist militant group in Pakistan says it has taken 214 hostages after hijacking a train. / The Guardian

The West is said to have bet on the wrong technologies in the energy transition, “catering to oil company tastes that proved fickle.” / Energy Intelligence

See also: Asia is now home to 19 of the 20 most polluted cities. / Semafor

A poll finds nearly nine in 10 Americans admitting to a fear of flying. / The Points Guy

Many American adults are withdrawing from romance, “but the trend seems to be especially pronounced for Gen Z.” / The Atlantic

Unrelated: Mr. Beast, YouTube’s biggest star, now earns more money from selling chocolate bars than making videos. / Bloomberg

Are men in a spermpocalypse? A wild ride through testicular microplastics, the (overblown) fertility crisis, and mind-bending reproduction technology. / GQ

Speaking of mind-bending: Surgeons use a “tooth-in-eye” procedure to testore vision to blind patients. / Smithsonian Magazine

Imagining what the next 5 years of Covid-19 may look like. / C&EN

Seven of Michelangelo’s few surviving sketches are shown in the United States for the first time. / Hyperallergic

Alice Gribbin: To love divinity, to love vigor and abundance, harmony and one’s ancestry, was to love the body. / Cluny Journal

Calls for entries to “a crowdsourced panning for art-writing gold.” Also, winners of the $10,000 “ISBN visualization bounty,” and a website you can change with a phone call. / Greg.org, Anna’s Blog, 715-999-7483.com

Why do different cultures hear the same animal sounds yet translate them into language so differently? / The Pudding

Some details on what it takes to become the 2025 US barista champion. / Sprudge

Since Trump’s inauguration, records show multiple incidents of violence have erupted at Tesla facilities in the US, including one person who tossed molotov cocktails at vehicles. / The Washington Post [+]

See also: At a dealership in France, more than a dozen Teslas were ignited in an apparent act of arson. / France 24

“It’s cool that the president knows my first name. I dig that.” It doesn’t take much flattery or threatening for Trump to win over reluctant Republican lawmakers. / The New York Times [+]

See also: How much is too much for Republicans in Congress? “The possibility that there literally is no line is, at this point, the most likely answer.” / Splinter

Green cards can only be revoked by an immigration judge, no matter what Rubio or Trump may say in their aim of deporting a Palestinian activist. / The Guardian

The company that owns the world’s largest call center has deployed AI to “neutralize” agents’ Indian accents. / Futurism

On “vibe coding” with AI, and apparently deciding to no longer give a shit about what you get, as long as you got something. / Internal exile

How the largest fraud in Canadian history was busted, but not before its perpetrators “contacted—by phone, email and other means—every single adult Canadian.” / Maclean’s

When all your memories are digital, you yearn for something to hold onto. / Bloomberg

Everyone loves the wooly mouse; rather than proof that it’s possible to bring back a mammoth, it may instead show your company’s value can hit $10 billion because of a cute photo. / Defector

See also: A game where you must pretend to look at your phone. / It is as if you were on your phone

Probably related to all of the above: In Ted Gioia’s annual state of the culture, how dopamine addiction is flattening everything. / The Honest Broker

Why may Trump’s $880 billion in spending cuts come from Medicaid? Because otherwise the math doesn’t add up. / The 19th

A now-deleted list of government properties for sale includes a secretive CIA facility. / WIRED

Related: How Trump’s efforts to cut environmental red tape may backfire. / Grist

Unrelated: Beware the man whose handwriting sways like a reed in the wind (from TMN favorite Anne Carson). / The London Review of Books

Thanks to Elon Musk’s leap into politics, Tesla suffers brand erosion, employee dissatisfaction, and a falling stock price. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Adi Robertson: If Congress decides to become a real branch of government again, then we can talk about things like an anti-deepfakes law. / The Verge

A paralyzed man in San Francisco is able to move a robotic arm using only his thoughts. / Interesting Engineering

Vietnam’s offers free 4G phones to help low-income consumers adapt to the country’s 2G network shutting down. / rest of world

Forest managers and ecological designers are trying to build thousand-year-old trees. / Noema Magazine

Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal apartment at The Plaza Hotel is up for sale. / Compass

The contest for literature’s worst opening sentences is sadly over. / The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

In case you missed it yesterday, this year’s Tournament of Books, presented by TMN favorite Field Notes, is in full swing! / The Tournament of Books, Field Notes

The 2025 Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, is now live. / Field Notes, The Tournament of Books

Denmark’s state-run postal service plans to end all letter deliveries at the end of 2025. / BBC News

Russia is working hard to hold on to its military bases in Syria. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Israel’s internal security agency says Netanyahu’s policies were among the underlying causes of the October 7 attack. / NPR

The White House has been holding direct talks with Hamas. / axios

The US Supreme Court blocks President Trump’s freeze on foreign aid. / Semafor

A new study suggests more than half of the world’s adults will be obese by 2050. / The Lancet

Abraham Santiago: I was an incarcerated nursing assistant during Covid. This is what I saw. / STAT

Retinol, the wrinkle-erasing, acne-fighting cream, is said to be the result “of decades of horrifying medical abuse.” / Teen Vogue

Low-flying satellites—100 miles above the Earth—appear to be coming soon. / Ars Technica

See also: A self-driving Maserati reaches 197.7mph. / The Verge

A visit to a four-story communal treehouse in southwest Arkansas. / Colossal 

An ASMR-style look through Carl Jung’s “red book” of dreams and visions. / Open Culture

In 1995, bands occupied 41% of the music charts. By 2023, that number had fallen to just 4%. / Voronoi

President Trump delivers the longest presidential address to a joint session in history. Some factchecking for his main statements. / Slate, The Guardian

An ongoing tragedy in the United States? The “billionaire paradox” wherein “a small elite sacrifice both democratic principles and economic growth on the altar of their tax privileges.” / On Data and Democracy

A round-up of price hikes to anticipate in coming weeks. / The Wall Street Journal [+]

Unrelated: Some thoughts from top economists on Social Security’s “Ponzi-like aspects.” / Marginal Revolution

The Art Museum of the Americas cancels upcoming shows about queer identity and the African diaspora. / The Art Newspaper

“Dark woke” is said to be the new “dirtbag left”—young progressives who aren’t afraid to tease their political opponents. / GQ

Related: “Facebook cybertruck owners group copes with relentless mockery.” / 404 Media

A study finds China is now producing most of the basic research that may underpin future computing hardware. / Nature

ABC shuts down the news website FiveThirtyEight. / Reliable Sources

The Los Angeles Times launches an AI tool to summarize articles—and it only needs a day to sympathize with the KKK. / Nieman Lab, SFGate

See also: This sort of feckless truth aversion “is what’s destroying consumer trust in journalism.” / Techdirt

A tiny sunflower relative is the first new species identified in a US national park in nearly 50 years. / Atlas Obscura

The Texas measels outbreak shows no signs of slowing. / The New York Times [+]

Details on cuttlefish and their many disguises. / The New York Times [+]

“Magent fishing” refers to “a love of lobbing high-powered magnets on ropes into waterways to retrieve discarded metal objects.” / The Bell

LeBron James becomes the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points. / BBC Sport

Unrelated: Teddy Roosevelt used to watch Duke Ellington play baseball. / Futility Closet

Stock markets around the world fall after President Trump imposes tariffs on goods from China, Canada, and Mexico. / BBC News

Some reactions in Ukraine after Trump halts all aid. / The Kyiv Independent

A study finds nearly half of US voters dissuaded from buying a Tesla by recent events. / The San Francisco Standard

See also: A Tesla showroom has become a protest site in San Francisco. / SFGate

Arab leaders meet in Egypt for a summit focused on Gaza’s reconstruction. Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas prepare for war to resume. / Al Jazeera, Semafor

In India, Whatsapp is found to be a thriving market for illegal firearms. / rest of world

A paper finds a new AI can “weaken the grip of conspiracy theories and cult ideology.” / The Washington Post [+]

Related: People’s gullibility is said to be a significant threat to democracy and national security. / Lawfare

Parents are throwing “bed parties” to celebrate their kids’ college acceptances. / The New York Times [+]

Interactive results from three years of surveying 40 million young people about what it’s like to be them. / Pudding

Lenovo debuts a solar-powered laptop. / dezeen

Balding treatments are reportedly “the new Botox.” / The Cut

Cases of cervical cancer were 25% higher and deaths were 42% higher in rural counties compared to urban counties through 2019. / STAT

A round-up of art galleries promoting overlooked female artists. / Artsy

Some more stunning black and white photography, this week by Barbara Ramos. / Black & White

Germany’s incoming chancellor says Donald Trump’s Oval Office clash with Zelenskiy was an obvious trap. / Reuters

Secretary of State Rubio is believed to have canceled aid programs without review, knowing it would cause immediate deaths. / ProPublica

A source says FAA officials ordered staff to find tens of millions of dollars for a deal with Starlink, Elon Musk’s company. / Rolling Stone

The US Army is deleting online content related to keywords like “justice,” “dignity,” and “respect.” / Military.com

Josephine Riesman: The genius of The Wall is the message that fascism never really died. / Flaming Hydra

A DOGE staffer appears to be posting his work on his public GitHub. / X

An interview with an expert on the Federal Reseve’s computer systems. “The most dangerous thing is just how little we know.” / Paul Krugman 

When AI companies say their computers are beating humans in creativity competitions, it’s because the tests ask the humans to behave in machine-like ways. / The Guardian

What if our notion of privacy could protect something like quiet? / The Nation

Instructions for how to remove your personal information from Google’s “results about you.” / Ars Technica

From January, should people who blast their music in public receive fines, “or be slowly tortured to death?” / I Might Be Wrong

Ten observations from a new resident of Tokyo, “the world’s most successful failing society.” / Persuasion

Unrelated: “I left private equity to work on shrimp welfare. When I tell anyone this, they usually think I’ve lost my mind.” / Asterisk Magazine

And just a reminder, our annual event, The Tournament of Books—presented by the very great Field Notes— begins on Thursday! / The Tournament of Books

In Washington, the Democratic Party is historically unpopular—and on track to retake the House of Representatives in 2026. / Vox

Why the DOGE takeover is worse than we realize: Agencies are being dismantled, but we haven’t felt the ripples of that—at least not yet. / WIRED

Most of the Social Security Administration’s regional commissioners are retiring this week. / Government Executive

Unrelated: Ranking the fastest and easiest second passports obtainable by Americans. / International Living

Writer Elif Batuman wishes the US would do couples therapy on a national level. / Who We Are to Each Other

The USAID initiative focused on Ebola prevention that Elon Musk said he “accidentally canceled” and then “restored…immediately” was not, in fact, restored. / The Washington Post [+]

As Musk is proving, “working 120 hours a week is not the same thing as doing a good job.” / The New York Times [+]

See also: “If you’d like less DOGE and more DOG, here are eight minutes of corgi puppies.” / Metafilter

An “error” in Instagram Reels causes its algorithm to repeatedly show violence. / 404 Media

The trend forecaster who predicted “normcore” and “vibe shift” explains the “boom boom” aesthetic. / The Cut

Headline of the week? “Park rangers battle Australians seeking rare earth minerals in old Mojave gold mine.” / The Los Angeles Times

Hundreds of Severance fans have been visiting the Saarinen-designed Bell Labs research center in New Jersey. / Curbed

Analysis of 1,884 speeches given by winners at the Oscars finds that no, Harvey Weinstein was not thanked more often than God. / Stephen Follows

Diana Taurasi, the all-time leading scorer in WNBA history, retires. / TIME

The typeface Gorton is said to be “the hardest working font in Manhattan.” / Aresluna

“Most of our life now is just: work, clean, sleep, repeat.” Young people explain what would make them happy. / Dazed

Reportedly, the “icing” prank is back. “Everybody remembers that this is just a dumb, fun thing to do.” / Punch

Just a reminder: The Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes, begins next week! / The Tournament of Books

European Commission leaders go to India in a bid to strengthen trade ties. / Semafor

Around a billion people in India lack enough money to spend on discretionary goods or services. / BBC News

Natalia Antelava says Vladimir Putin has scripted a new ending to the Cold War. / coda

Some reasons why American democracy will likely withstand President Trump’s term—e.g., a firm expiration date, and the United States’ multiculturalism. / Vox

A letter to congressional staffers. “Make no mistake: They are coming for you next.” / We the Builders

Unrelated: A Land Rover likely driven by King Charles goes to auction. / Iconic Auctioneers

In Los Angeles, immigrants turn to the public library for help. / The Los Angeles Times

An FDA meeting to choose flu vaccine composition for next fall is canceled without explanation. / CNN

A new study published analyzes nearly 1,000 Instagram and TikTok posts about five popular medical tests—and finds the overwhelming majority “utterly misleading.” / The Conversation

Pennsylvania’s governor says more than $2 billion in federal funding for his state has been unfrozen. / Democracy Docket

Nearly $700 billion in funding went to infrastructure- and climate-related projects under President Biden—you can use ZIP codes to find out where. / Grist

A well known paper that reported high levels of microplastics in human brain tissue is found to contain duplicated images. / The Transmitter

A former National Geographic Expeditions guide explains how to photograph Antarctica. / Field Mag

Stunning black and white pictures from Jinyong Lian. / Booooooom

See also: A 19th-century photo of a bundle of hay descending along a wire over a lake in Western Norway. / Futility Closet

South Korea’s fertility rate rises for the first time in nine years, supported by an increase in marriages. / Reuters

Denmark’s economy is one of Europe’s fastest-growing thanks to Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic drugs. / BBC News

Brooke Harrington: Trust in government to do what is right, at least most of the time, is a form of wealth that breeds prosperity. / The New York Times [+]

A federal judge gives the Trump administration less than two days to release billions of dollars in US foreign aid. / The Associated Press

A sampling of a dozen trans people finds all of them educating themselves about guns. / The Washington Post [+]

Trump wants to offer a “gold card” visa to wealthy foreigners—something often found attractive by criminals and corrupt officials. / NPR, FATF

On a lighter note, “the Natalie situation” in the White House refers to an aide who doesn’t “do well with boundaries.” / The Cut

Federal courts in Maryland, New York, and DC are hearing lawsuits challenging DOGE as a “threat to democracy.” / The New York Times [+]

Unrelated: Apple is working on a glitch where iPhones replace the word “racist” with “Trump.” / The Wall Street Journal [+]

A new smartphone app will prevent you from accessing other apps until it knows you’ve “touched grass.” / Touchgrass.now

John Oliver offers advice on how to make yourself less valuable to Meta. / Last Week Tonight

The publishing industry says goodbye to mass-market paperbacks in airports. / Publisher’s Weekly

A remembrance of when William Faulkner set the record for the longest sentence in literature—with one consisting of 1,288 words. / Open Culture

A contemporary art museum in Norway offers a private tour for $26,300. / The Art Newspaper

The Waldorf Astoria is selling apartments in New York City for up to $18.75 million. / The New York Times [+]

Descriptions of winners from the 2025 World Whiskies Awards. / Gear Patrol

See also: Some recipes involving tinned fish. / The Tinned Fish Market

Ukrainian and US negotiators are said to be in the final stages of a minerals deal. / The New York Times [+]

The White House’s mixed signals on Russia and Ukraine may reflect an internal strategic clash. / Just Security

Facilities in Mississippi and Texas are holding the most detained immigrants. / axios

A list of things restaurant owners and workers can do to protect themselves from immigration raids. / Eater

See also: Video of people standing up to President Trump. / Bluesky

Nearly one in 10 adults in the United States identifies as LGBTQ, almost triple the number since Gallup started counting in 2012. / USA Today

Three incarcerated queer people explain their tattoos. / Them

The uproar around last week’s “small” paper about Covid vaccines is “a parable for the ways in which the internet is being used to weaponize basic vaccine research.” / STAT

See also: Lessons from a science journalist who lived underground for 10 days. / Vox

Archaeologists use laser mapping technology to find an ancient Zapotec city in Mexico. / The Art Newspaper

From last year, a short video (best muted) about the largest cruise ship ever built in Germany. / YouTube

A Norwegian humanoid robot, designed for home chores, comes wrapped in beige knitwear. / dezeen

An interview with a woman who makes people’s decisions for them. “The answer to, ‘Should I break up with this person?’ 98% of the time, is ‘yes.’” / Café Anne

Unrelated: Profiles of young women who are becoming nuns. / Cosmopolitan

A longtime food critic retires and leaves behind morsels (sorry) of succinct advice. “Some of the best foods carry with them the faint whiff of death.” / The Guardian