The wackiest headlines from the week as they would appear in a Classifieds section.

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VERMONT SAMMIE SMUGGLER: Only two states in the US don’t have a single Chick-fil-A store. The chain has avoided Alaska due to its remoteness, but the chicken slinger’s absence from Vermont is due to a dramatic legal dispute with a kale farmer over a decade ago, per The Takeout. And the Green Mountain State holds grudges.

PET DETECTIVE: The real job takes a lot less dress up. Amateur and professional Ace Venturas are booked solid due to a rise in lost and stolen pets in Europe. One report found that dog thefts rose nearly 6% from 2022 to 2023.

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RUN 4 GUAC GROUP: Strava is partnering with Chipotle to challenge runners, bikers, and other fitness buffs to work much harder and win free burrito bowls. Just imagine how good a heap of dry, cubed chicken will taste if you beat 400 other local joggers for it.

PRIVACY DOOM: The iconic game Doom can run on tractors, fridges, and now, CAPTCHA. Let’s see a bot try to kill three monsters before getting frustrated and resetting its password.

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PRETTY PICKLES: Pickleback shots are out, and glickles (i.e., glitter pickles) are the new way to impress your brine-loving party guests. If they’re safe to eat, that’s just a bonus.

JELLO-Y JOYSTICK: Designers created a video game controller from a SCOBY, the gooey bacteria and yeast that hits your lips when you drink a tasteless homebrew kombucha. The device is technically a living organism, so it’s not only sustainable but will also tell you that you stink when you miss an easy kill shot.

OFFICIAL WHISKEY: American single malt whiskey will officially become its own designated category of spirit this month following years of deliberation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. You’ll learn what makes it so special on a random distillery tour with your parents before immediately forgetting 30 minutes into the tasting.—MM

When you hear about a 17-year-old phenom taking a sport by storm, it’s usually soccer or tennis. But now it's darts, where teenager Luke Littler captured the World Darts Championship on Friday to become the competition’s youngest winner and continue a dominant run in a game commonly played in pubs where Littler still can’t legally drink.

Littler burst onto the scene at the end of 2023 with a stunning run at the World Championship that ended with a loss in the final. Since turning pro last year, he has won 10 titles and amassed more than $1 million in prize money, which he can put toward a pint or two in a few weeks when he turns 18.—DL

Here are some illuminating scientific discoveries from the week to help you live better and maybe even reminisce about that time they did surgery on a grape.

Chicago city buildings are all clean-powered now. New year, new power grid: As of Jan. 1, all 400+ municipal buildings in the Windy City—including firehouses, airports, and two of the world’s biggest water treatment plants—run on renewable energy. About 70% of the energy Chicago needs will come from the new Double Black Diamond Solar project in Illinois, one of the biggest solar fields in the US. Chicago officials will offset the other 30% of the city’s power needs by buying renewable energy credits, Grist reported. The shift to greener pastures is expected to reduce Chicago’s annual carbon footprint by the equivalent of 62,000 cars’ worth of pollution.

Robots learned surgery by observing human doctors. A new legion of medical bots doesn’t need humans on a remote control, it just needs the power of observation. Autonomous robots trained at Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University learned how to stitch up wounds, tie knots, and automatically fix their own mistakes just by watching videos of heavily indebted people in scrubs surgeons at work. The bots are a long way away from a hospital near you: Once the researchers’ work is reviewed in an academic journal, the next step is clinical trials, followed by an application for the FDA’s stamp of approval. The researchers said they’re “not trying to replace the surgeon”—they’re trying to cushion a projected shortage of 10,000 to 20,000 surgeons by 2036.

New project aims to build synthetic life from scratch for the first time. A ~$13 million project funded by the European Research Council is working to create simple living systems capable of “Darwinian evolution” within the next six years. Instead of using nucleotides—DNA/RNA bits that are considered the “building blocks” of life—the “MiniLife” researchers plan to coax complex growth reactions out of simple chemicals that are not already a product of evolution. The goal: human-made, completely synthetic molecules that can adapt to at least two different types of environments. Scientists hope that cooking up a lab-controlled life-form could shed some light on how natural life began on Earth nearly 4 billion years ago.—ML

Groundbreaking drugs Wegovy and Zepbound could be coming for the lunch of food companies. People using GLP-1 prescription meds for weight loss tend to start spending less on food, according to a new working paper by Cornell University researchers.

The study found that households in which at least one person begins taking the appetite-suppressing drugs spend 6% less on grocery bills in the first six months. For higher-income families, the spending pullback was even greater, at 9%.

• The biggest decline in purchases associated with GLP-1 use was for calorie-dense processed foods led by chips and other savory snacks (11%), as well as baked sweets (9%). Families with someone who recently started using GLP-1s also spent less at fast-food restaurants and coffee shops.
• Meanwhile, GLP-1 adopters slightly increased their spending on foods that dieticians recommend, such as yogurt and fresh produce.

While the study found that belt-tightening at the supermarket diminishes somewhat over time, it’s the latest indication that the mega-popular medications are a disruptive force with the potential to upend vast swaths of the economy.

Snacking recession

Brands filling the inner aisles of supermarkets are starting to notice that reduced cravings have taken a bite out of their sales:

• Food giants like Kraft Heinz and Campbell’s have reported declining snack sales in recent quarters, which some analysts have attributed to the popularity of GLP1-s.
• Hershey recently said it’s seeing a “gradual” impact on sales from GLP-1s and is thinking of ways to adapt to the preferences of people taking weight loss drugs.

Some food companies are already responding to the GLP-1 disruption by healthifying their offerings, adjusting portion sizes, and marketing their products like a grandma trying to persuade her unhungry grandkids to at least take a nibble of her cooking. Confectionary giant Mars recently acquired Kevin’s Natural Foods in an apparent hedge against a world in which shoppers ditch its core candy products in favor of healthier sources of calories.

Meanwhile, Nestlé is targeting GLP-1 users with a newly launched frozen meal line, Vital Pursuit. The company is emphasizing the high protein and fiber content in the microwavable meals, which include cauliflower crust pizza and broccoli mac and cheese, hoping they’ll appeal to consumers with shrunken appetites who want nutrient-dense meals in smaller portions.

Other companies have decided to be explicit in marketing to the weight loss crowd: Conagra Brands will mark some of its Healthy Choice TV dinners as “GLP-1 Friendly.”

Who wins with GLP-1s?

While food companies are pivoting to avoid a major shock to their businesses, other industries stand to benefit from the weight loss revolution.

The first that comes to mind: The pharma sector, and in particular Eli Lilly and Denmark-based Novo Nordisk, which make the drugs that could generate $100+ billion in sales by 2030.

But consider the downstream effects of millions of Americans being a little lighter:

• Airlines might reduce fuel costs. United Airlines would save $80 million a year if each passenger loses 10 pounds on average, according to an analysis by Jeffries Financial.
• Some clothes sellers see customers rushing to update their wardrobes after shedding pounds. On top of juicing sales, a transition to smaller sizes allows apparel manufacturers to use less fabric per item.

Weight loss drugs could also grow the overall economic pie. Given that about 40% of American adults are obese, these meds might help large segments of the population avoid debilitating diseases associated with obesity that generate massive healthcare costs and keep potential workers out of the labor force. Goldman Sachs estimated that US economic growth could get a 1% yearly boost if 60 million Americans took GLP-1s by 2028.

Looking ahead…while 6% of US adults are currently on GLP-1s, it’s unclear how many people will stick with them. Two out of three people drop the medications within a year (often regaining some weight), discouraged by high costs, side effects, or other considerations. But experts say more people could give GLP-1s a try if prices come down or if health insurance companies start covering them for weight loss, a move many insurers have so far resisted due to exorbitant costs.—SK

It’s a big world out there. In this section, we’ll teleport you to an interesting location—and hopefully give you travel ideas in the process.

After a three-month restoration, the Trevi Fountain in Rome has fully reopened in time for the Roman Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, which began on Christmas Eve 2024 and runs until January 6, 2026. The city is expected to welcome 32 million visitors over the next year (10 million more than last year’s record), with ~10,000 tourists visiting the fountain each day.

Due to Trevi’s overwhelming popularity, the city is only allowing 400 people at a time into the sunken area near it and is considering charging a “nominal fee” for access in the future, according to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

If hydration is important to you, the fountain has a tap that allows visitors to pour themselves water infused with the flavor of coins from around the world.

Change will do you good: More than $1 million worth of coins are tossed into the world-famous fountain every year. While that sounds like a lucrative form of passive income for someone on the grindset, the money is collected by the city and donated to a charity that offers soup kitchens and care programs for people with Alzheimer’s disease, young people, and more.

It’s not just coins getting thrown in: Other objects routinely found in the fountain include umbrellas, drinking glasses, guitar picks, keys, marbles, shells, and subway tokens.—DL