Today’s topics

• Denmark plans to plant 1 billion trees

• Instagram’s new ‘reset’ feature for your feed

• Amazon boosts Anthropic investment to $8 billion

• World’s most expensive shopping street, and it’s not 5th Ave

  and more…

Stocks climbed again Friday, giving the Dow its fifth straight gain and another record high. The S&P 500 inched up 0.3%, the Dow jumped 1%, and the Nasdaq added 0.2%. Retailers stole the spotlight, with Gap soaring after smashing analysts’ earnings expectations.

11 Reasons to skip that Roth conversion. Prepaying taxes to convert your IRA to a Roth might sound smart—but it’s not always the best move. With Trump-era tax cuts potentially sticking around past 2025, there’s less pressure to act fast. Roth conversions are permanent, so think twice. From tax-rate uncertainty to personal financial pitfalls, these 11 reasons might make you hit pause. Don’t rush into Rothifying without doing the math.

Alex Cooper’s $125M glow-up. In 2018, Alex Cooper was heartbroken, unemployed, and recording Call Her Daddy with her roommate, Sofia Franklyn, in their tiny NYC apartment. The podcast, a raw take on dating and life as single 20-somethings, struck a chord with young women who dubbed themselves the “Daddy Gang.” It didn’t take long for Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy to notice, turning the show into an instant hit with 2 million downloads in just two months. Fast forward to 2021, Cooper took the show to Spotify, expanding it beyond sex and dating. Now, with 13.5 million monthly listeners, she’s signed a massive $125 million deal with SiriusXM, leaving her $60 million Spotify contract in the dust. From humble beginnings to building a multimedia empire, Cooper is all grown up—and so is her audience.

24-year-old’s businesses to hit $1.7M this year. Steven Guo started young—at 12, he launched a Minecraft server and made $10,000 selling in-game perks. Though he blew the cash on a failed game company, it sparked his love for entrepreneurship. By 2022, Guo had sold a jewelry brand that raked in $2 million in revenue in just a year. Now 24, he runs several e-commerce ventures projected to bring in $1.7 million in 2024.

Amazon boosts Anthropic investment to $8 billion. Amazon is doubling down on AI, pumping an additional $4 billion into Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude chatbot. This brings Amazon's total investment to $8 billion, though it remains a minority stakeholder. Anthropic will now rely on Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud partner, using AWS’s Trainium and Inferentia chips to power its cutting-edge AI models. With Claude competing against ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, the generative AI race is heating up in a market projected to surpass $1 trillion in revenue within the next decade.

Vatican Goes High-Tech with St. Peter’s Digital Twin

The Vatican and Microsoft have created a stunning digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica, blending AI and 400,000 high-resolution images captured with drones, cameras, and lasers. This virtual masterpiece not only offers an immersive way to explore the iconic basilica but also helps the Vatican manage crowds and spot conservation needs. Microsoft President Brad Smith called it "one of the most sophisticated projects of its kind," and it’s launching just in time for the 2025 Jubilee, when over 30 million pilgrims are expected. Think of it as a holy marriage of history and cutting-edge tech.

Instagram’s new ‘reset’ feature cleans up your feed. Instagram is testing a "reset" tool that lets users wipe their feeds of algorithmic recommendations, offering a fresh start for content suggestions. While the feature will personalize recommendations again over time, it’s part of a broader push for user well-being, alongside safety updates and private teen accounts. The UK media regulator, Ofcom, welcomed the move but stressed the need for stronger efforts to make social media platforms safer. Instagram says the tool will roll out globally soon.

First Close-Up of a Star Beyond the Milky Way

Astronomers have snapped the first-ever close-up of a star outside our galaxy, the European Southern Observatory announced. The star, WOH G64, is located 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

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She ran the NYC Marathon drunk—and loved it. Justine Huang, 26, ran the NYC Marathon with seven drinks under her belt—and no regrets. Known for her competitive streak, Huang used this race to slow down and soak up the vibes “Usually, I’m all about speed,” she said. “But this time, taking it easy with friends and spectators made it way more fun.” Despite the boozy twist, she finished in 5 hours, 36 minutes—just over an hour slower than her Chicago time of 4:14.

Capturing the owl’s gaze. A wildlife photographer locks eyes with an owl mid-flight, its piercing stare meeting the lens. In a single, perfect click, the moment is frozen—a magical connection, suspended in the air.

World’s most expensive shopping street. Sorry, Fifth Avenue—Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone just bumped you to second place as the world’s priciest shopping street. It’s the first European street to top the list in 34 years. Rents on this 350-meter hotspot hit €20,000 per square meter a year, thanks to a 30% surge in the last two years. Fifth Avenue rents trail slightly at €19,537, while Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui ranks fourth with €15,697.

China’s high-speed rail: a $1 trillion ghost ride. China’s high-speed rail project is on track to hit 30,000 miles, costing over $500 billion in five years and piling up nearly $1 trillion in debt. However, many stations, like Sichuan’s Fushun, are ghost towns—built for 1,000 passengers, but only 20 show up. Critics say it’s a giant money pit draining resources from essential needs. Supporters talk urbanization and less pollution, but with a shrinking population, who’s actually riding these trains?

COVID shrinks cancer tumors in mice—but don’t catch it just yet. A new study in Journal of Clinical Investigation shows severe COVID may shrink cancer tumors in mice. The virus appears to reprogram monocytes—immune cells often hijacked by tumors—to fight back instead. This finding could inspire new cancer treatments, but it’s no reason to go chasing COVID. It’s a glimpse into how the immune system can be harnessed to combat cancer.

$300B COP29 climate deal called “not enough”. At COP29 in Baku, countries agreed to provide $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developing nations fight climate change. The deal updates a previous $100 billion pledge that was delayed until 2022. Critics from developing nations say it’s too little to tackle the growing climate crisis, especially in a year breaking heat records.

Denmark to plant 1 billion trees. Denmark plans to plant 1 billion trees and turn 10% of its farmland into forests and natural habitats over the next 20 years. With $6.1 billion set aside, it’s the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over a century.

MIT expands free tuition to U.S. families earning under $200,000. Starting next fall, undergraduates from families earning less than $200,000 will attend MIT tuition-free, covering 80% of U.S. households. For families earning under $100,000, all costs—tuition, housing, dining, fees, and books—will be fully covered. The $100,000 threshold has risen from $75,000 this year, while the $200,000 cap marks an increase from the current $140,000.

16 states fight back against ‘forever chemicals’. PFAS, the “forever chemicals” that hang around for 1,000 years, are everywhere—clothes, makeup, cookware, even water. But 16 states aren’t having it. This year, they passed laws to ban PFAS in everyday products like cleaning supplies and firefighting foam, with some holding companies accountable. The fight against these stubborn pollutants is on.

TikTok of the day: watch here