Free for ALL Friday!
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Quick housekeeping: I’m wrapping up interviews from the holiday round of Life Story Magic. If you purchased one as a gift, just a reminder—they never expire, and I’m always happy to get it scheduled. I’ll also be kicking off a full Mother’s Day promotion soon.
The Tension That Defines Modern Life
Most people have a smartphone. But many want to use it less
Sierra Campbell told me that she does “like 50 things a day” to try to curb her screen time. She has a widget on her home screen that shows a tally of the hours and minutes she’s been on her phone that day. She has Brick, a small, square device that blocks distracting apps unless you physically touch your phone to it. She carries around a tote bag filled with crossword puzzles and watercolors. Sometimes she leaves her phone in “phone jail”—a special box that she purchased at Goodwill. And she spends one day a week completely phone-free. She has not, however, attempted to get rid of her phone altogether.
Many people do seem to want help standing in that gap between letting your phone totally take over your life and not having a smartphone at all. Although sales of so-called dumbphones have been on the rise in recent years, 91 percent of Americans still have a smartphone. The devices are so baked into everyday life that completely opting out isn’t practical or desirable for most people. At the same time, more than half of American adults said in a survey last year that they wanted to use screens less.
The solution to the distraction and anxiety that smartphones can cause has to be some kind of self-discipline. That can take many forms: limiting what apps you have on your phone, accessing social media only on a desktop computer, setting screen-time limits and sticking to them, replacing some of your screen-based leisure time with analog hobbies. The problem with self-discipline as a solution, however, is that its effectiveness rests on a person’s willpower.
Link: The Atlantic (Julie Beck)
Scientists Filmed a Whale Birth. The Surprise: Mom Had Many Helpers
The episode, involving a group of sperm whales, adds to evidence that humans aren’t the only species that gets some form of assistance during and after delivery
At first, the researchers on the boats didn’t understand what they were witnessing in the waves below. A group of 11 sperm whales huddled together at the surface, strangely still and taking occasional shallow dives. After about an hour, the animals seemed to start thrashing, and a plume of blood reddened the water. The researchers feared trouble, maybe a shark attack. But it was something else. Suddenly, a much smaller, 12th whale appeared, lifted to the surface by the others so it could breathe.
The event, analyzed in two studies published on Thursday, provides the latest evidence in a growing body of research indicating that humans are not the only species in which mothers receive some form of help during and after birth. Notably, half of the whales attending were not related to the mother. The participation of non-kin is significant to scientists because it suggests that social reciprocity, as opposed to a singular drive to continue a genetic line, may play a role.
The birth they documented took place in July 2023 off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean. Thanks to the technology on hand, it was captured by two drones in the air, acoustic recorders in the water and photographs from the boats. Shane Gero, a marine biologist with the group who has studied the whales in question since 2005, identified the individuals and provided their family trees. He has followed the mother, known as Rounder, since she was nursing from her own mother, Lady Oracle, who was present at the birth and particularly attentive to Rounder before the delivery.
Link: New York Times (Catrin Einhorn)
Europeans Are Angry at Trump, but Often Forgiving of Americans
A generation ago, foreign fury over the Iraq invasion often blurred into anti-Americanism. Now, some Europeans seem ready to distinguish between the president and the American people
A retired psychiatrist sipped his morning café con leche in a corner bar in Granada, Spain, as he followed a debate this week in the Spanish Parliament over the economic consequences of President Trump’s war in Iran. He shook his head. “Trump is beyond the pale,” said Jesús Tello, 75, a conservative voter who diagnosed the U.S. president as a “pathological narcissist.” But his dim view of the American president did not, Mr. Tello said, extend to all the Americans who had the “bad luck” of living with Mr. Trump. “Americans are always welcome,” he said.
In 2003, the buildup to the United States-led invasion of Iraq prompted a groundswell of anti-American sentiment among Europeans who resented President George W. Bush for trying to drag their nations into a quagmire. This time, there is a different, less hostile, mood on the Continent’s streets. Demonstrations have been few and small. While polls across Europe show deep disapproval for Mr. Trump and for a war that risks destabilizing Europe’s economy and security, Europeans, at least for now, are often distinguishing between the American leader and the American people.
Unlike Mr. Bush, Trump did not seek approval from Congress or the United Nations, or even consult in advance with U.S. lawmakers or European allies. He brazenly broke his “no new wars” promises, and upset much of his own base by joining Israel’s attack on Iran. As a result, people across the Continent said this week, Europeans don’t have the feeling that Mr. Trump has his country behind him.
Link: New York Times (Jason Horowitz)
America’s Fanciest Restaurant Enters the Fight Over Affordable Housing
In Napa Valley, the French Laundry and others say a planned apartment complex isn’t a good fit. Project supporters cite ‘a fear of riffraff’
Wearing his white chef’s jacket, Thomas Keller dressed down the Yountville town council over its plan to build worker housing just blocks away from his French Laundry, a Michelin three-star restaurant where dinner can top $400 a person and there is a wait list for reservations. One bone of contention: proposed studio units that he and some other local business owners say their workers neither want nor need. “No one ever came to me and said, ‘What do you think about this project?’” the silver-haired Keller said. “I really would expect and encourage you to talk with the business community here, which seems to not have happened.”
In Yountville, population 3,400, employers like Keller who oppose this project say they want more workforce housing—just not this version. But some project supporters call Keller and other critics elitist. “This is language that sounds like you don’t want people here,” said Ryan O’Connell, a local member of Yimby Action, referring to a letter signed by Keller and others that raised concerns about “community harmony.”
The council approved a zoning change and unveiled a plan to build 120 apartments for an estimated $91 million in the quaint town center. The initial phase, under one option, would entail 40 units, most of them studios at 300 square feet—roughly the size of a hotel room. Business owners were stunned. “The unit mix is obviously wrong. Nobody wants to live in a cage,” said Gary Jabara, who owns the Estate Yountville, a luxury resort where a villa rents for $10,000 a night.
Link: Wall Street Journal (Jim Carlton)
The Shocking Speed of China’s Scientific Rise
When will Chinese research pull ahead of the U.S.’s?
American science has been the envy of the planet since the Second World War at least, but it has recently gone into decline. After President Trump took office last year, his administration started vandalizing the country’s scientific institutions, suspending research grants in bulk and putting entire lines of cutting-edge research on ice. In August, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services canceled $500 million in mRNA-vaccine research, less than two years after Americans won a Nobel Prize for pioneering that technology. More than 10,000 science Ph.D.s have left the federal workforce, and the White House has been withholding money from frontline researchers in computer science, biomedicine, and hundreds of other fields.
While all of this has been unfolding, metascientists have been following a very different story overseas. They’ve watched in wonder as China has built out a gigantic research apparatus at world-record speed. In 1991, China spent $13 billion on research and development. Today, its annual spending is more than $800 billion, second only to the U.S. China’s public spending on research is likely to overtake the United States’ by 2029. China’s universities are already handing out twice as many STEM degrees as their U.S. counterparts do, and nearly double the number of Ph.D.s.
In the end, China’s scientific-superpower status will likely depend on the world-changing force of its discoveries. China’s fast rise in the applied sciences is already obvious. The country is in the midst of a solarpunk revolution. Thanks to its advances in chemistry and materials science, China has caught up with or surpassed the U.S. in the design and manufacture of advanced batteries, electric vehicles, and solar cells—key technologies for the 21st century.
Link: The Atlantic (Ross Andersen)
Bigotry Among Popular Young Conservatives Has Older Republicans on Edge
Many Republicans dismiss such party members even as white supremacists like Nick Fuentes gain popularity, but there’s growing unease at their presence in the rank and file
Twenty-three-year-old Alec Beaton has the résumé of a model GOP foot soldier. He’s a former precinct delegate and county Republican youth chair who ran a small Michigan field office for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. He’s also a self-described Holocaust “revisionist” who views praise for Adolf Hitler as a way to “mess with people.” “We don’t think Hitler is, like, the worst person ever,” Beaton explained as he roamed a national conference for young conservatives with his friends.
Many Republicans dismiss young people such as Beaton as fringe actors, unrepresentative of the GOP. But there’s a growing unease in the party at their presence among the rank and file. At a conference on antisemitism this month in Washington, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned that he has seen more prejudice against Jewish people “in the last 18 months on the right than at any point in my lifetime,” and that “it is gaining real purchase, especially with young people.”
Concern has flared with one scandal after another. In one group chat, Young Republican leaders from several states used racial slurs, casually referenced Hitler and described rape as “epic.” In another meant for GOP students in Miami, participants called for grisly violence against Black people and discussed “Nazi heaven”; a leak prompted the resignation of a Turning Point chapter president who wrote, “I would def not marry a Jew.” And online, Republicans have fretted about the rise of white-supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes, who has summed up his views as, “Jews are running society, women need to shut the f*** up, Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part, and we would live in paradise.”
Link: Washington Post (Hannah Knowles)
Apollo’s Pest: How Epstein Courted All Three Billionaire Founders
Justice Department files offer window into his interactions with firm’s top rungs
Jeffrey Epstein prompted the biggest leadership shakeup in Apollo Global Management Inc.’s history five years ago. Now the late sex offender has the private-markets giant back on the defensive. The Justice Department’s massive trove of files on Epstein is painting a vivid picture of his efforts to get close to Apollo’s three billionaire founders. Scattered in the millions of pages of files released in recent months are at least 17 email chains with Marc Rowan, who’s now chief executive officer, including references to phone calls and efforts to arrange five meetings.
The communications between Epstein and the founders, often in their own words over email, offer a window into how he traversed the top rungs of one of the world’s most influential investment firms, casually communicating with bosses and their assistants long after his 2008 conviction on charges including procuring a minor for prostitution. At times he tried to position himself as the founders’ confidant, problem solver, host and introducer. The records also make clear he was sometimes a pest.
The latest reputational test comes at a time when Apollo’s leaders see a shakeout looming in the private-credit industry they helped build. Perceived differences between Apollo’s portrayal of Epstein’s ties to the firm and the Justice Department’s records prompted a lawsuit this month seeking class-action status on behalf of shareholders, arguing the firm misled them.
Link: Bloomberg (Laura Benitez, Max Abelson)