Saturdays are the day we catch up with all the non-finance related stuff we didn’t get to during the week. You can check out last week’s edition here.
Autos
- Americans are driving A LOT less than before. (axios.com)
- Nuro has gotten approval in California to test its driverless delivery robots on the road. (theverge.com)
- The coronavirus is exacerbating the woes at many public transit systems. (axios.com)
- Flagship sedans, like the Audi A8, are a dying breed. (arstechnica.com)
Energy
- Despite disruptions, the coronavirus slowdown is only to go put more distance between renewables and fossil fuels. (nytimes.com)
- Texas is an energy powerhouse, solar that is. (ft.com)
- The coronavirus is slowing the installation of solar panel systems. (bloomberg.com)
- How do you swap out nuclear fuel rods in the midst of a pandemic? (wired.com)
Air quality
- Air quality is improving around the globe. (washingtonpost.com)
- Why are methane emissions at a record high? (bloomberg.com)
- We've seen with our own eyes, what happens to air quality when cars get off the road. How can we go back to normal? (wsj.com)
Nature
- The Mexican Gray Wolf is making a comeback. (wsj.com)
- Feral pigs are spreading across Canada. (nationalgeographic.com)
- How do owls fly with nearly no sound? (knowablemagazine.org)
- Rhino poaching is on the rise. (nytimes.com)
- Spring is here, coronavirus or not. (nautil.us)
Travel
- Airports are using this time to formulate new strategies and procedures for a post-coronavirus world. (ft.com)
- Cancellations have in some cases wiped out flights to secondary markets. (nytimes.com)
- What good is a travel rewards credit card if you can't travel? (msn.com)
Technology
- Imagine all of this happening without the Internet. (inputmag.com)
- Robots are a path forward to clean and disinfects spaces. (wsj.com)
- The pandemic is going to push automation forward where there are risk to human workers. (nytimes.com)
- Coronavirus scams are on the rise. (wsj.com)
Lockdown
- What is the 'Zeigarnik effect' and why is torturing you? (ft.com)
- Why during a crisis we are primed to believe rumor and innuendo. (behavioralscientist.org)
- Four steps to take to improve your mental health in lockdown. (markmanson.net)
Behavior
- Why some people with anxiety and depression actually feel better right now. (thedailybeast.com)
- Some evidence that non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation can help alleviate severe, treatment-resistant depression. (newatlas.com)
- How the conjunctive events bias blinds us to potential disruptions. (fs.blog)
- Not every mindfulness technique will work for everyone. (bigthink.com)
- "The effects of the mid-life dip are comparable to major life events like losing a spouse, losing a job or getting cancer. They are clearly not inconsequential." (papers.ssrn.com)
The brain
- How intermittent fasting changes the brain. (bigthink.com)
- Five ways in which being a musician is good for your brain. (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
Medicine
- Telemedicine is here to stay, post-coronavirus. (bnnbloomberg.ca)
- Doctors are dismayed at the government's response, or lack thereof, to the coronavirus. (statnews.com)
- Doctors may be overusing ventilators for Covid-19 patients. (statnews.com)
- Covid-19 has instilled fear of face-to-face medical care. (nytimes.com)
Covid-19
- We don't really know what Covid-19 immunity looks like. (scientificamerican.com)
- Youth is not absolute protection from Covid-19. (washingtonpost.com)
- Are people in high rise buildings uniquely at-risk of Covid-19? (fastcompany.com)
- How density plays a role in the spread of Covid-19. (bloomberg.com)
- Our knowledge about viruses is inadequate. (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
Sleep
- Don't let being on lockdown mess with your circadian rhythm. (theconversation.com)
- Seven steps to getting a better night of sleep. (heleo.com)
- Why you should sleep with some fresh air. (artofmanliness.com)
Drink
- How do you keep making wine in the midst of a pandemic? (winespectator.com)
- Americans are apparently drinking more in quarantine - that can't be good. (theconversation.com)
- More evidence that Americans stocked up on booze in the face of the pandemic. (wsj.com)
Restaurants
- Can fine dining come back from Covid-19? (fastcompany.com)
- Food trucks are having to pivot during this crisis. (restaurant-hospitality.com)
- The decline in the restaurant industry, visualized. (eater.com)
- The CARES Act is not going to save many independent restaurants. (washingtonpost.com)
Delivery
- Horrible people are luring Instacart shoppers with big tips and then withdrawing them. (cnn.com)
- Grocery delivery services are having.a hard time keeping up with demand. (ny.eater.com)
- It's heartbreaking to see milk dumped and crops left in the field. (wsj.com)
Baseball
- Minor league baseball is uniquely at-risk of a missed season. (wsj.com)
- A look at MLB valuations, pre-coronavirus. (forbes.com)
- Minor league baseball players are receiving some financial support with no season on the horizon. (npr.org)
Sports
- Pro athletes are playing video games, because what else are we going to watch? (washingtonpost.com)
- Sports gambling sites are having to get creative. (wsj.com)
- The Bundesliga is set to be one of the first leagues back playing. (nytimes.com)
College
- The coronavirus is going to accelerate the move towards online college education. (profgalloway.com)
- A lot of smaller colleges were in financial trouble even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Now they are getting pushed over the edge. (bloomberg.com)
- What some colleges are doing about grades this semester. (npr.org)
Children
- School closures are a huge, global social experiment. (newatlas.com)
- Online learning is not a substitute for the real thing. (nytimes.com)
- How the coronavirus and recession will affect youth sports. (wsj.com)
- How will kids remember the coronavirus pandemic. (fatherly.com)
Parenting
- Parents really only have one job right now. (fatherly.com)
- Coronavirus answered the screen time debate. (nytimes.com)
- Perfectionism doesn't fly in today's environment. (hbr.org)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Longform links: changed minds. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: the science of fear. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Compounding doesn't always work for in a positive direction. We are now seeing the downside of compounding in the populace and in Americans' retirement accounts. (abnormalreturns.com)