Saturday links: the loneliness crisis
Tadas Viskanta
Abnormal Returns
22 hours ago
6 MIN READ
AVs
- How Mercedes Benz’s new Drive Assist Pro works. (arstechnica.com)
- Parents are using Waymos to shuttle their kids around town. (nytimes.com)
- The many winners from self-driving cars including cyclists and the elderly. (thezvi.substack.com)
Autos
- Elon really wants you to focus on robots, not cars. (wsj.com)
- VW is adding back some physical buttons. (semafor.com)
- This (tiny) auto innovation makes everyone’s life a little easier. (wsj.com)
Energy
- 2025 was a big year for clean energy, outside the U.S. (e360.yale.edu)
- The hype around small nuclear reactors is deafening, but there is still no guarantee they will succeed. (nytimes.com)
- Copper demand is headed higher. (semafor.com)
Environment
- It’s easy to forget just how dirty the U.S. was before the enactment of environmental laws. (theconversation.com)
- Even without a hurricane, the U.S. experienced more than $100 billion of property damage. (time.com)
- A growing number of U.S. dams are sinking, putting surrounding areas at risk. (msn.com)
- Some states, like Indiana, will be more affected than others by the rollback in environmental regulations. (yahoo.com)
- Just how long LA wildfire smoke lingered. (theconversation.com)
Animals
- Jellyfish sleep like humans do. (sciencealert.com)
- Sea lions like eating salmon a little too much. (theatlantic.com)
- Sick ants signal to others what’s going on. (npr.org)
- How hummingbird feeders are is affecting their evolution. (science.org)
Archaeology
- Neanderthals are getting some well deserved respect. (nytimes.com)
- Ancient humans used poisoned arrows. (semafor.com)
Space
- Why Starlink is lowering the altitude of its satellites orbits. (engadget.com)
- A look inside the slashed projects at NASA. (theatlantic.com)
Science
- Ten scientific truths that became unpopular in 2025 including ‘The germ theory of disease is real, and vaccination is the safest, most effective strategy to combat these deadly pathogens.’ (startswithabang.substack.com)
- An attack on science is an attack on freedom and thought. (statnews.com)
Technology
- Why Craigslist still works. (wired.com)
- What does it even mean to work in technology these days? (anildash.com)
- Why don’t more people care about Grok and its deepfakes? (spitfirenews.com)
- Home technology often makes things worse, rather than better. (world.hey.com)
- How AI can be used to sort through recycling streams. (wsj.com)
- Web rot is on the rise. (axios.com)
Televisions
Behavior
- On the power of decluttering. (theatlantic.com)
- The loneliness crisis is real. (theargumentmag.com)
- Five insights from Kati Morton’s new book, “Why Do I Keep Doing This?: Unlearn the Habits Keeping You Stuck and Unhappy.” (nextbigideaclub.com)
- Five insights from “How To Know Your Self: The Art & Science of Discovering Who You Really Are” by J. Eric Oliver. (nextbigideaclub.com)
Influenza
- Influenza cases are still on the rise. (npr.org)
- Subclade K is driving the early surge in influenza cases. (statnews.com)
- NFL teams are struggling to stay ahead of the virus. (sportico.com)
- mRNA vaccines for influenza can better target the relevant strains. (biopharmadive.com)
Vaccines
- The CDC has pared its recommended list of vaccines for children. (wsj.com)
- CDC staff was shut out of these decisions. (msn.com)
- Why this will make navigating day care harder. (slate.com)
- Don’t discount the dangers of rotovirus. (theatlantic.com)
- Evidence shows Covid-19 vaccines had positive knock-on effects. (marginalrevolution.com)
- Research continues to show that vaccines seem to have ‘bonus effects.’ (yahoo.com)
- Anti-vaxxers are getting what they always wanted. (theatlantic.com)
AI medicine
- How AI is getting rolled out in hospitals. (wsj.com)
- Americans are increasingly turning to chatbots for medical info. (axios.com)
- OpenAI wants you to upload your medical records. (theverge.com)
- Utah will allow patients to renew prescriptions via AI. (politico.com)
Weight loss
- Novo Nordisk’s ($NVO) Wegovy pill is now for sale in the U.S. (semafor.com)
- Weight loss is a ‘chronic, relapsing condition.’ (theguardian.com)
- Evidence that intermittent fasting has limited benefits. (sciencedaily.com)
Public health
- What’s behind the decline in opioid deaths in the U.S.? (washingtonpost.com)
- Why America continues to underinvest in primary care. (sensible-med.com)
- Why it matters who fills out a death certificate. (wapo.st)
Health
- Why does cancer come back? (nature.com)
- Why hospitals are phasing out the use of desflurane, a common anesthetic. (arstechnica.com)
- You have to work hard to get sufficient sunlight in winter. (artofmanliness.com)
- Autofocus glasses are coming. (cnn.com)
- New food guidelines are contradictory. (statnews.com)
Drink
- What the new food guidelines say about alcohol. (abcnews.go.com)
- On the challenges facing the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, brewers of Belgian Westvleteren beers. (bloomberg.com)
- Vintners have a wildfire smoke problem. (newyorker.com)
- What you lose when you stop drinking. (gq.com)
Food
- Why America is turning its back on Sweetgreen ($SG). (theatlantic.com)
- Why we so want to believe there is something like a ‘superberry.’ (ft.com)
- Contrary to common wisdom, we don’t make 200 food choices a day. (sciencedaily.com)
- South Korea is running a kimchi trade deficit. (theguardian.com)
- Jollibee is a big, and growing, player in the coffee business. (sherwood.news)
Sports
- Luck plays a big role in sports success. (theatlantic.com)
- Why some people simply don’t like sports. (youtube.com)
Children
- Evidence in favor of letting your teenager sleep in on weekends. (sciencedaily.com)
- The cost of youth sports is only going higher. (msn.com)
- The case against giving goody bags for children. (theatlantic.com)
College
- On the economics of Duke University. (dontaylor13.substack.com)
- Corporate campus recruiting is undergoing a big a shift. (wsj.com)
- Demand for academic economists has fallen off a cliff. (ft.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: our gamified lives. (abnormalreturns.com)
- A Q&A with Cullen Roche, author of “Your Perfect Portfolio: The Ultimate Guide to Using the World’s Most Powerful Investing Strategies.” (abnormalreturns.com)
- Don’t miss a thing! Sign up for our daily e-mail newsletter. (abnormalreturns.com)
Mixed media
- Chris Miller, “The Russia-Ukraine War has exposed a “drone gap” in American defence production.” (ft.com)
- Danny Crichton talks American reindustrialization with Charles Yang of the Center for Industrial Strategy. (riskgaming.com)
- The U.S. has fallen behind in the ‘Electric Tech Stack.’ (noahpinion.blog)
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