Hi! Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US, an occasion to honor the civil rights activist that was first approved as a federal holiday in 1986 — in part thanks to Stevie Wonder wanting to celebrate MLK's birthday. Today we're exploring: |
- Newborn ultimatum: China's birth rate hit a record low in 2025.
- Rounding up: America's next Sphere is coming to Washington D.C.
- Love to connect: People are looking for romance on LinkedIn and jobs on Tinder.
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Despite the government's best efforts, China's birth rate just hit a new low |
China's birth rate last year hit the lowest point on record since the formation of the People's Republic in 1949, dropping to a concerning 5.63 births per 1,000 people, according to new figures from the country's National Bureau of Statistics. For context, that's less than half the rate recorded as recently as 9 years ago. |
In 2025, China recorded just 7.9 million new births, per the new data released today, as the country's overall population shrunk for the fourth year in a row. This builds on a worrying development that arrived sooner than experts had been expecting. In tandem with the record low number of newborns, deaths in the nation also hit a 21st-century high, intensifying concerns around the global powerhouse's future, as China's population pyramid only becomes more inverted as the trend continues. |
Officials in Beijing have, understandably, rolled back previously strict policies to stop the drop for years now: the government officially dropped its notorious one-child cap at the start of 2016 and then scrapped the two-child policy that replaced it in the summer of 2021, while also abolishing fines for parents who exceeded the new three-child limit, too. As the numbers coming out of the statistics office have become more extreme in both directions, so too have the measures that the state has been taking to reverse the falling birth rate. Last July, for example, the Chinese national government announced that it would give families 3,600 yuan (roughly $500 at the time) each year for every child they had that was three and under. This year, things have picked up again, with a new 13% VAT rate on condoms, birth control pills, and other contraceptive items. |
Washington D.C. looks set to get America's second Sphere |
Following the huge orb-like arena's successful start in the entertainment capital of America, the country's political capital is the next city pondering a Sphere. The operator of Las Vegas' Sphere announced on Sunday that it will be developing its second US location at National Harbor in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, aiming to build its first smaller-scale, 6,000-seat venue. The D.C. arena would add to Sphere Entertainment's "global network of Spheres," after the company signed a franchise agreement with the governing body of Abu Dhabi last July to build a Sphere venue in the Middle East. | Though Sphere Entertainment only currently has one namesake location in operation, the company has a lot of seasoned executives in the live entertainment world, having previously managed Madison Square Garden before it got spun off. Just like the iconic New York venue, the inside of the Sphere functions as a sport and entertainment space that can accommodate up to 20,000 people. Hosting acts including the Backstreet Boys and U2 helped the company rake in some $156 million in the third quarter, up 37% year-on-year. |
Tasked with growing its glowing ball business, the company now has an additional revenue stream: the arena's LED-lined exterior, known as the Exosphere, used for advertising and signage. That, combined with sponsorship and suite license revenue, brought in an additional $11 million last quarter... along with a flurry of light pollution worries. But even with that boost, the entertainment arena is far from profitable, with operating costs for the company's Sphere division coming in nearly 50% higher than its revenue last quarter. |
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Why people are flirting on LinkedIn — and job hunting on Tinder |
The internet has solved a lot of information problems, with a simple online search offering advice on everything from doing laundry or changing a tire, to filing taxes and using credit cards. But there are still two major problems the online world can't easily teach, only match: finding work and finding love. LinkedIn has grown into an agora for over a billion career-hungry professionals around the world, while dating apps are still raking in cash despite signs of stalled growth. What's interesting, however, is that the job site and dating platforms no longer seem to be staying neatly in their respective lanes. Over the past year, Google search interest for "linkedin for dating" has surged more than 8x, alongside rising search activity around using major dating apps like Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder "for work." |
While it's difficult to measure how many LinkedIn members are actually logging in to the platform for romantic purposes, recent studies suggest it might be more than just curiosity. In a 2024 survey of 505 adults aged 20 to 40, more than half (52%) said they had gone on a date through networking platforms like LinkedIn. That number feels absurdly high, but even taken with a large pinch of salt, studies and anecdotal reports point to a significant number of people using the site in ways it wasn't designed for. |
Part of that shift may stem from dating app fatigue. Per Forbes Health, 78% of dating app users have at least sometimes felt burnout, with the biggest reasons being the inability to find a genuine connection, followed by disappointment from being ghosted or lied to. The most common lies, the study found, involved age, income, and employment. LinkedIn, apparently, seems to be one way to fill that gap, while jaded dating app users are finding a new reason to swipe right. A November survey by Resume Builder found more than a third (34%) of dating app users had used the platforms to expand their network or find job opportunities — perhaps a "creative" workaround in an increasingly tough job market. |
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- After investing in rivals OpenAI and xAI, Sequoia Capital is also throwing its weight behind Anthropic, joining a funding round that aims to raise more than $25 billion in total.
- New research from the Kiel Institute, which analyzed $4 trillion of shipments between Jan. '24 and Nov. '25, found that American buyers absorbed 96% of the cost from last year's US tariff increases.
- $imulation: More young traders are now reportedly practicing with fake money, with the share of Gen Z users making paper trades on Webull more than doubling between 2022 and 2025.
- At age 45, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams became the oldest woman to play in an Australian Open singles main draw on Sunday — though she lost out on an eighth major win.
- According to a recent Google-Ipsos poll, Americans use AI less than the rest of the world, with only 29% of US respondents saying they used AI applications in the past year compared with a 48% average across 21 countries.
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- Rest of the World charts how "unicorns" — startups valued at $1 billion or more — have become much less rare.
- On the bright side? This heatmap shows how much light pollution affects your area.
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Off the charts: Which occupations do Americans consider the most and least trustworthy, respectively, per Gallup's latest Honesty and Ethics Ratings survey? [Answer below]. |
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