Ten years ago this week, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in modern aviation’s greatest mystery. A proposed search offers hope for the families of the passengers that the plane will eventually be located.

The backstory: The vanishing of the aircraft, a Boeing 777, sparked the largest search operation in history. But in all those attempts over the past decade, the plane has not been found, and authorities still do not agree on what led to its disappearance—though countless theories have been put forth.

• Some of the more outlandish conspiracies, like hijackers landing the plane on a remote island, were eliminated when several pieces of debris from the aircraft were found on the East African coast.
• Search efforts have focused on the vast expanse of the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed into the water.

The new search plan

Facing calls from passengers’ families for a renewed search effort, Malaysia’s government said this weekend it may conduct another search for MH370 with help from a Texas-based tech company, Ocean Infinity. The firm’s prior search for the plane in 2018, which would have netted it a $70 million reward, came up empty, but it’s proposing another “no find, no fee” contract with the Malaysian government for a second expedition to the depths of the Indian Ocean.

• In its next attempt to find MH370, Ocean Infinity would deploy swarms of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operated remotely from England.
• But the company’s CEO told The Daily Beast that he couldn’t “definitively” say when the search would happen, and it’s unclear whether Ocean Infinity is even looking in the right spot.

Big picture: Families of the passengers say finding the plane wouldn’t just mean closure for them—it’s also imperative to prevent a plane from going missing in the future. In the past 10 years, efforts by regulators to avoid another MH370 have been “painfully slow,” Bloomberg noted.

Dive deeper into the mystery: This YouTube video is a great explainer on what might’ve happened to MH370, as is this Atlantic article.—NF

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Extreme blizzard slams the Sierra Nevada mountains. You know a snowstorm is severe when it shuts down ski resorts. A debilitating blizzard dumped an estimated 5 to 12 feet in California by late Sunday, with the most accumulation occurring at elevations of about 5,000 feet. It closed down a 70-mile stretch of Interstate 80, and also left ~15,000 people in California and another 1,000 in Nevada without power. Video from Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada showed traffic at a standstill with some drivers parking their trucks on the side of the road. Another storm is expected to bring 1 to 2 feet of snow to the area between Monday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Kamala Harris calls for “an immediate cease-fire.” During a speech in Selma, Alabama, the vice president delivered the Biden administration’s most forceful call yet for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas due to the “immense scale of suffering” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Negotiators are scrambling ahead of the start of Ramadan on Sunday to complete a deal that would include the freeing of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a six-week cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Israel reportedly boycotted weekend negotiations in Cairo, saying Hamas didn’t agree to send a complete list of the hostages who are still alive.

🪱 Dune: Part 2 delivers the biggest opening weekend of 2024. With an $81.5 million haul domestically and $178 million worldwide, the sequel is well on its way to exceeding the financial success of the 2021 original, released in both theaters and on HBO Max. Much like for the first movie, enthusiasm for Dune: Part 2 was fueled by moviegoers wanting to see the film in IMAX, which accounted for $18.5 million, or 23%, of ticket sales. The desire to watch the movie in director Denis Villeneuve’s preferred 70mm format was so strong that some attended 3:15am showings in NYC. The second installment in the beloved space saga gave a much-needed boost to a slumping box office, posting the best opening weekend in the US since Taylor Swift’s concert film last October.

Scientists are rejoicing over an unprecedented discovery that’s a total gas. A high concentration of helium was found more than 2,000 feet beneath the surface of Minnesota’s Iron Range, easing concerns that the US has either depleted its helium reserves or sold them off to private equity.

Why is helium so important? It’s not just for balloons and making funny voices. For example, MRI machines need thousands of gallons of liquid helium to cool the magnets that generate the images that diagnose cancer, heart conditions, and ligament tears. When exactly the planet will run out of helium is up for debate—one scientist said in 2019 it would take 10 years; others estimated there were at least 100 years of helium left.

“12.4% is just a dream.”

While that’s a comment usually reserved for an IPA snob to say about alcohol content, that was Pulsar Helium CEO Thomas Abraham-James’s ebullient reaction to the helium concentration levels in the discovery, which is roughly 30x the industry standard for commercial helium, CBS noted.

What’s next? A third party will conduct a feasibility study to determine the size of the deposit and whether there’s enough helium to open a plant.—DL

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Joe Biden to sell America on Joe Biden in the SOTU: With the president trailing likely GOP candidate Donald Trump in most polls, Biden will attempt to win over voters in his annual address to the nation on Tuesday night. Biden is expected to discuss taxes on the wealthy and corporations, preserving democracy, and a “unity agenda” that focuses on topics like fentanyl and ending cancer. The 81-year-old will also aim to deliver a focused, energetic speech that assuages concerns about his age.

In a world first, abortion rights will be solidified in France: Lawmakers are expected to vote today in favor of adding an amendment to the country’s constitution that would guarantee abortion rights. If the amendment is passed, France will become the first country in the world to include the right to an abortion in its constitution, per the BBC.

The Academy Awards are on Sunday: Oppenheimer is the heavy favorite to win best picture and other top awards, including best director (Christopher Nolan), best lead actor (Cillian Murphy), and best supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.). As for the show itself, Ryan Gosling will perform “I Am Ken,” one of two tunes from Barbie nominated for best original song. Jimmy Kimmel will host for the fourth time, which will tie him with Jack Lemmon and Whoopi Goldberg for the fourth-most times hosting.

Everything else…

• Fifteen US states and one territory head to the polls on Super Tuesday. With Donald Trump romping through Republican primary season, the usually important day carries less meaning in the presidential election than usual.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell will testify on Capitol Hill this week, and his message isn’t expected to change: The Fed isn’t rushing to cut interest rates.
• Also in econland, the monthly jobs report will drop Friday, with little change expected to the super-low 3.7% unemployment rate.
• International Women’s Day is Friday.

Stat: No luxury brand rules over its category like Rolex does watches, and its dominance is only growing over time. The Swiss company sold 1.24 million watches and generated a record $11.5 billion in sales in 2023, up 11% from 2022 and more than the combined sales of the next three biggest brands. The watchmaker’s 30% market share was described as “unprecedented” in a report from Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult. To put that into perspective, leading luxury bag-maker Louis Vuitton had a 19% share of its market last year.

Quote: “We are probably past the era of peak ski seasons.”

That’s the conclusion of environmental scientist Daniel Scott after conducting a study on the devastating effects of climate change on the ski industry. The study estimates that US ski areas lost $5 billion between 2000 and 2019 due to warmer temperatures shortening the ski season by an average of five to seven days per year. The study says those losses could rise to $1 billion per year by the 2050s, depending on how much carbon emissions are reduced, with ski season trimmed by an estimated 14 to 33 days.

Read: How removing parking spaces helped a New Jersey town go seven years without a traffic death. (Associated Press)

• The Supreme Court could rule as soon as today on whether former President Trump can remain on the ballot in the upcoming election.
• Oregon lawmakers took steps to roll back its drug decriminalization law.
• The lawyers who worked to void Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package in Delaware want their $6 billion in legal fees to be paid in Tesla stock. That’s nearly $300,000 per hour.
• Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other oil producers in OPEC+ will extend their crude supply cuts until the end of Q2 to bolster the price of oil.
• Iris Apfel, the self-described “geriatric starlet” and beloved interior designer and fashion model, died at 102.
• Iowa’s Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I—men or women—when she passed Pete Maravich on Sunday. It was a big weekend for basketball greats: LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to reach 40,000 career points. This beautiful graphic shows how he scored them all.