The Ocean Is Hotter than Ever

Monday, February 5th, 2024

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Today’s newsletter is: 871 words; 4 min.

KNEAD TO KNOW

U.S. employers added 353,000 jobs in January. The figure is roughly double what economists expected in different forecasts, as nearly every industry added jobs last month.

The U.S. launched a wave of airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The air assault is a response to the drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan last weekend.

Former President Donald Trump’s March trial date for plotting to overturn the 2020 election has been postponed. The March 4 start date was vacated while higher courts decide Trump’s broad claim of immunity from prosecution. If you’re confused about all of Trump’s trials, you’re not alone. Here’s a breakdown of where they stand.   

Meta’s market capitalization (the price of the stock multiplied by its total outstanding shares) surged $197 billion on Friday. The gain is the largest single-day gain in stock market history, according to Bloomberg.

QUICK BITES

Hate Crimes Reported at U.S. Schools Nearly Doubled Between 2018 and 2022

A new report by the FBI found there were 1,336 hate crimes reported at U.S. elementary, secondary, and college campuses in 2022, up from 700 in 2018. School-based offenses accounted for 10% of all hate crimes reported in 2022 (13,346).

• Why it matters: Anti-Black hate was the most common motivation for reported hate crimes over the five-year study period, followed by anti-LGBTQ hate (including anti-transgender and anti-gender non-conforming biases) and anti-Jewish hate. 

Nuclear Power Generation Is Projected to Reach a New Record High in 2025

A new report by the International Energy Agency found an additional 29 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear capacity is expected to come online between 2024 and 2026, projecting global output will reach a new record high sometime in 2025 (the previous record was set in 2021).

• Why it matters: At COP28, 22 countries, including the U.S., signed a pledge to triple their nuclear capacity by 2050. If the goal is met, an additional 740 GW of nuclear capacity would be added to the current global stock of 370 GW.

Astronomers Released the Most Detailed X-Ray Map of the Universe Ever Created

A new study by researchers at the Max Planck Society in Germany unveils the largest and most detailed X-ray map of the universe ever created (pictured above), revealing some 900,000 distinct space objects, including 710,000 supermassive black holes in distant galaxies and 180,000 X-ray emitting stars in our own Milky Way.

• Why it matters: The work is part of the eROSITA All-Sky Survey, a massive research project scanning the entire sky from December 2019 to June 2020. Watch a video exploring the map. (2 min)

RYE-POPPING CHART

The Ocean Is Hotter than Ever

Like the era of skin-tight jeans and girls obsessed with fake mustaches, experiencing the hottest year in recorded history is something none of us are proud to say we lived through.

• But, like I tell my nieces whenever I beat them at something competitive, “it sucks to suck,” and, when it comes to heat, 2023 indeed sucked, as it was by far the hottest on record.

Surface temperatures aside, 2023 birthed another disappointing temperature record: ocean heat content (OHC).

As you can see in the chart above, the amount of heat trapped in the world’s oceans has increased by around 473 zettajoules (a real number we didn’t make up) since the 1940s, increasing by around 15 zettajoules from 2021 to 2023 alone.

• For context, the entire world combined consumes around one-half of a zettajoule of energy each year, and the 15-zettajoule increase is around 25 times as much as the total amount of energy produced by all human activities in 2021.

Why it’s rye-popping:

According to a new analysis by Carbon Brief, in many ways, OHC is a better measure of climate change than surface temperatures, since the ocean is where most excess heat ends up and is much less variable on a year-to-year basis.

• The above chart shows the yearly OHC estimates for both the upper 700 meters (light blue), where around two-thirds of the heat accumulates, and the lower 700-2,000 meters (dark blue). 

• The chart also shows a distinct acceleration after 1991, matching the increased rate of emissions over the past few decades.

OVEN-FRESH STATS

• 2.5% - The growth in U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, outpacing all other G7 economies (Japan was second at 1.9%), according to a new update to the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

• $4,506 - How much more the U.S. spends per capita on healthcare than the next closest country (Switzerland), according to a new analysis by KFF. Despite the extra spending, the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy (77.5 years) among peer nations.

• $71.37 billion - The amount of ad spend projected to be wasted in 2024 on traffic generated by bot clicks and automated scripts, according to a new report by marketing efficiency platform Lunio.

• 57.7 billion - The number of total minutes U.S. viewers spent watching the legal drama Suits in 2023, topping the previous single-year record held by The Office (57.1 billion minutes in 2020), according to Nielsen’s 2023 streaming report. 

EXTRA SCHMEAR

Long Video. Are we witnessing the end of the Panama Canal? (10 min) 

Short Video. Learn why public transportation in Los Angeles sucks. (2 min)

Fun Video. Get a look at Universal Epic Universe, a new theme park opening in 2025 at Universal Resort Orlando. (7 min)

Good Read. Read a comic strip on the evolution of ancient cells into complex brains. (4 min)

Neat List. Check out the 2024 Grammy Awards winners.

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Written by Ryan Wittler