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
"The moment sleep becomes an afterthought in your life, you know you’re sleeping well."
(Darius Foroux)
EVs
- The NTSB is warning about the weight of new EVs. (engadget.com)
- EVs change a number of things not just the powertrain including vehicle weight. (vox.com)
- Why EVs don't perform well in cold weather. (washingtonpost.com)
E-bikes
- E-bikes provide a bigger bang for the buck than EVs. (axios.com)
- E-bikes are faster, therefore put riders at more risk. (cnbc.com)
Transport
- Why did road deaths increase during the early stages of the pandemic? (usa.streetsblog.org)
- Urban transit systems are seemingly facing a permanent decline in ridership. (wsj.com)
Energy
- Gregor Macdonald, "Unlike fossil fuels, wind and solar are not energy dense. Rather than being energy sources themselves, they are instead energy capturing devices." (gregor.substack.com)
- How pumped storage can be used to provide on-demand power. (nytimes.com)
- The U.S. has a shortage of skilled construction workers to build out new energy projects. (reasonstobecheerful.world)
Temperatures
- 2022 was the second warmest on record in Europe. (ft.com)
- Global ocean temperatures reached a record high in 2022. (washingtonpost.com)
- Half of all mountain glaciers could disappear by 2100. (scientificamerican.com)
- Extreme temperatures see increased deaths from heart disease. (thecooldown.com)
Environment
- Volcanic eruptions emit up to three times more climate-cooling gases than previously thought (newscientist.com)
- Newly filled California reservoirs don't mean the drought is over. (grist.org)
- Why a lot of California's flood waters are pushed out to the sea. (nytimes.com)
- What happens to methane in the atmosphere? (grist.org)
- Insect populations are on decline. (openmindmag.org)
Gas stoves
- What the research about gas stoves actually shows. (slate.com)
- What to do if you have a gas stove in your house. (parentdata.org)
Homes
- How far into the future are solar windows? (thecooldown.com)
- An ideal building is both green and well-ventilated. (hbr.org)
- Don't forget to clean your dishwasher filter. (thecooldown.com)
Space
- Evidence is building that the first galaxies formed earlier than expected. (skyandtelescope.org)
- The case against sending humans to Mars. (idlewords.com)
- NASA's Webb telescope has discovered an exoplanet. (npr.org)
Science
- The more we learn, the less we know about the introduction of humans to the American continent. (aeon.co)
- Climate change is turning out to be a boon for archaeologists. (axios.com)
- Ten breakthrough technologies for 2023 including 'organs on demand.' (technologyreview.com)
- Rogue waves are real. (kottke.org)
Behavior
- The 988 mental health helpline has been flooded with calls. (statnews.com)
- Can you change your personality? Maybe, kinda, in small ways. (wsj.com)
- Five insights from "Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety" by Dr. Chris Palmer. (nextbigideaclub.com)
Covid
- Dr. Eric Topol, "If XBB.1.5 is telling us one thing, it’s that we can’t be oblivious." (washingtonpost.com)
- The bivalent Covid boosters are effective at preventing severe outcomes. (papers.ssrn.com)
- What we know, so far, about the XBB.1.5 variant. (newscientist.com)
- Why following all the variant talk is so confusing. (statnews.com)
Child health
- The percentage of U.S. kindergartners who’ve received standard childhood vaccines took a small but notable dip in 2021-2022. (statnews.com)
- The U.S. birth rate is falling despite an unchanged desire for children. (theconversation.com)
- Children struggling with obesity should be evaluated and treated early and aggressively (statnews.com)
Health
- A new U.S. law has eliminated the requirement that drugs in development must undergo testing in animals before being given to participants in human trials. (npr.org)
- Drug shortages are nothing new, we're all just noticing now. (wired.com)
- Scientist are finding more links between air pollution and neurodegenerative diseases. (statnews.com)
- What you need to know about sudden cardiac death in athletes. (davidepstein.substack.com)
- Why humans walk so weird. (wired.com)
Fitness
- Why your 'why' matters more than your 'how.' (primecuts.substack.com)
- More evidence that sitting is bad for you and what you can do about it. (theconversation.com)
- Gardening is good for your health. (sciencedaily.com)
- The best warmup is a dynamic one. (nytimes.com)
Restaurants
- The Subway chain is for sale. (bloomberg.com)
- Why hasn't the pizza box changed in the past fifty years? (theatlantic.com)
- Alchemist may be the most creative restaurant in the world. (bbc.com)
Caffeine
- Can genetic engineering build a better decaf coffee? (slate.com)
- How the British became tea drinkers. (klementoninvesting.substack.com)
Utensils
- Single-use items like plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene trays will be banned in England. (thecooldown.com)
- How specialized utensils could be used to enhance flavor. (scientificamerican.com)
Food
- Big meat producers are still using a lot of antibiotics. (vox.com)
- Supplant is real sugar with half the calories. (thecooldown.com)
- In praise of (good) cottage cheese. (eater.com)
- How diet affects aging and health. (cnn.com)
Drink
- Beer prices are up around the world. (semafor.com)
- Fireball has expanded its brand footprint. (vinepair.com)
- Bicycling and drinking have a long history together. (bicycling.com)
Movies
- Seth Godin, "Netflix, in its best moments, succeeds because they break the platform paradigm and shift into curation." (seths.blog)
- Old white guys are dominating TV these days. (vox.com)
- Here is David Erhlich’s annual 25 best films of the year video for 2022. (kottke.org)
Sports
- The NFL dominates live television viewing. (variety.com)
- String pinsetters are shaking up the bowling world. (wsj.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: the science of happiness. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Are you a financial adviser looking for some out-of-the-box thinking? Then check out our weekly e-mail newsletter. (newsletter.abnormalreturns.com)
Mixed media
- Om Malik, "So perhaps when you find something you love, which happens to be your work, embrace your good fortune." (om.co)
- Some books to read in 2023 including "Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be" by Steven Pressfield. (ryanholiday.net)
- Meaning and happiness are associated. (flowingdata.com)