On Saturdays we catch up with the non-finance related items that we didn’t get to earlier in the week. You can check out last week’s edition here. Have a great weekend!
Quote of the Day
"Parents in the early 1950s lived with a terror few could later imagine: the substantial prospect that their child could touch the wrong toy and end up in a wheelchair, an iron lung or a grave."
(Emily Baumgaertner)
Cruise
- GM's ($GM) Cruise unit is exiting the robo-taxi business. (cnbc.com)
- Why GM ($GM) is pulling the plug on Cruise. (axios.com)
Autos
- Chinese automakers are making inroads in Mexico. (nytimes.com)
- The risk to pedestrians from giant SUVs and pickups is growing. (vox.com)
EVs
- The Lucid ($LCID) Motors Gravity SUV has a 450 mile range. (techcrunch.com)
- New Rivian ($RIVN) owners really like their cars. (insidehook.com)
- EV batteries are lasting longer than everyone expected. (wired.com)
- EVs and PHEVs are improving, quality-wise. (news.dealershipguy.com)
Energy
- ExxonMobil ($XOM) wants to power new AI data centers with natural gas plants. (techcrunch.com)
- How wind and solar power could work together. (sciencedaily.com)
- Uranium mining has come to Texas. (wired.com)
- Why not repurpose old wells for geothermal? (fastcompany.com)
Heat
- 2024 will be the hottest year on record. Scientists are still catching up. (newyorker.com)
- How high heat affects young and old. (sciencedaily.com)
Environment
- We can likely use geoengineering to reduce global sunlight. Should we? (undark.org)
- When will the sun rise (and set) if daylight savings time is eliminated? (wapo.st)
- How carpets affect indoor air quality. (wired.com)
- How to re-seal your ductwork. (thecooldown.com)
Animals
- Animals can be pollinators as well. (npr.org)
- There is a shortage of food animal veterinarians. (modernfarmer.com)
Space
- Researchers got something wrong at Uranus. (bbc.com)
- Stars like the Sun produce superflares about once a century. (sciencedaily.com)
- The 25 coolest things we learned about space since 2000, including the James Webb Space Telescope. (arstechnica.com)
Science
- The 10 best science books of 2024 including "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space" by Adam Higginbotham. (smithsonianmag.com)
- Scientists are moving to Bluesky. (science.org)
Travel
- 2025 looks like another big year for air travel. (semafor.com)
- How increased tourism is helping drive carbon emissions. (sciencedaily.com)
Sora
Behavior
- More adults are being diagnosed with ADHD. (nytimes.com)
- All behavior makes sense with sufficient information. (hottakes.space)
- Five insights from "Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More" by Israa Nasir. (nextbigideaclub.com)
- Anxiety is expensive. (ryanholiday.net)
GLP-1s
- Have we really hit 'peak obesity'? (freethink.com)
- Why GLP-1 makers haven't leaned into the potential benefits for addiction. (sherwood.news)
- West Virginia provided coverage for GLP-1s. Now it doesn't. (theatlantic.com)
Public health
- Six childhood diseases that vaccines have effectively eliminated including polio. (nytimes.com)
- The expansion of Medicaid meaningfully reduced all-cause mortality. (thelancet.com)
Cancer
- A potentially huge cancer treatment development. (sciencedaily.com)
- AI detects more cases of breast cancer. (gizmodo.com)
Health
- Five big medical breakthroughs in 2024 including 'Xanomeline-trospium: a new era in schizophrenia treatment.' (scientificdiscovery.dev)
- Researchers have identified two distinct types of neurons in the guts of mice. (npr.org)
- IBS makes maintaining a career a lot harder. (sherwood.news)
- Weird stuff can happen after a heart transplant. (iflscience.com)
Fitness
- Can AI close the 'personal care' gap? (wired.com)
- How to exercise for better sleep. (nytimes.com)
- Want to live longer? Move more. (outsideonline.com)
Restaurants
Food
- Fish farming could soon come to the Gulf of Mexico. (grist.org)
- Cattle herds in the U.S. are in secular decline. (uk.news.yahoo.com)
- Why the amount of milk per cow keeps going up. (flowingdata.com)
- Human urine as fertilizer. (modernfarmer.com)
Sports
- The sports gambling industry exists by exploiting a vulnerable population. (moontower.substack.com)
- Athlete health takes a back seat in the NIL era. (bloomberg.com)
- The six intrinsic benefit of sports. (honest-broker.com)
- Poker has a cheating problem. (wired.com)
Music
- The best albums of 2024 including ‘Cowboy Carter’ by Beyoncé. (variety.com)
- The 12 best albums of 2024 including 'The Past is Still Alive' by Hurray for the Riff Raff. (slate.com)
TV
- The 10 best TV shows of 2024 including 'Industry.' (newyorker.com)
- The 13 best TV shows of 2024 including 'Slow Horses.' (theatlantic.com)
Movies
- The 10 best movies of 2024 including 'The Brutalist.' (theatlantic.com)
- AFI's best movies of 2024 including 'Sing Sing.' (variety.com)
- The best movies of 2024 including 'Nickel Boys.' (hollywoodreporter.com)
- The best movies of 2024 including 'Anora.' (nytimes.com)
- The 10 best movies of 2024 including 'Challengers.' (slate.com)
- The best movies of 2024 including 'A Real Pain.' (variety.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: expensive elevators. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Stuff is stuff: on the challenges of cleaning out a late parent's home. (abnormalreturns.com)
- You can now follow us on Bluesky. (bsky.app)
- Are you a financial adviser looking for some out-of-the-box thinking? Then check out our weekly e-mail newsletter. (newsletter.abnormalreturns.com)
