Our goal for this section: Take the entirety of business news that happened over the last three months and distill it into the 5 stories that truly mattered. Here’s what we came up with.

5. Spaceflight takes off

It’s hard to say just yet, but this summer could be considered a Wright brothers moment for commercial space travel. Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson blasted off to space in homegrown rockets. And while he didn’t go to space himself, Elon Musk did something even more impressive—SpaceX sent the first all-civilian crew into orbit on the Inspiration4.

Something the industry still needs to figure out: literally astronomical costs. Tickets for Virgin Galactic space flights start at $450,000 a seat.

4. China’s crackdown

China’s government tightened the screws on numerous industries as it tries to center the country’s culture around an ideal of “common prosperity.”

In no particular order, Beijing has a) expanded its ban on crypto-related transactions b) limited the amount of time kids can play video games c) stopped ride-hailing giant Didi from signing up new customers d) banned “effeminate” men from appearing on TV e) blocked tutoring companies from taking profits, and much more.

The new regulations amount to one of China’s most dramatic attempts to reset the relationship between business and culture in recent memory.

3. Extreme weather

From record-shattering temps in Oregon to Hurricane Ida in the East, weather disasters affected nearly 1 in 3 Americans this summer. These weather events, plus a new UN report that deemed climate change a “code red for humanity,” sparked more conversation around climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Will it lead to action? Democrats cited failures of our current system (like the NYC subway flooding) as justification for the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill they’re hoping to pass this week.

2. Delta

Hot Vax Summer fizzled out as the highly contagious Delta variant sent Covid cases soaring once again. The wave also created more urgency from the government and businesses to get employees vaccinated.

While some large corporations mandated vaccinations early on, the Biden administration turned the volume up to 11 when it said that all companies with 100 or more employees need to ensure their workers are vaccinated, or otherwise present a weekly negative Covid test. Good news is, the Delta wave appears to have peaked in many pockets of the US.

1. Supply chain madness

Turns out, the Ever Given being stuck in the Suez Canal was the least of our supply chain worries this year. Factory closures in Asia due to Covid-19 have prolonged bottlenecks, driving inflation higher and delaying your new couch from arriving.

Some stats that illustrate the brokenness of the global supply chain:

• The chip shortage will cost $210 billion this year, according to a new estimate.
• Nike said 80% of its shoe factories in Vietnam are closed.
• This month, the line of container ships waiting to enter Los Angeles’s and Long Beach’s neighboring ports hit an all-time high of 65 vessels.

How will Q3 2021 be remembered decades from now? Here are some of the most iconic moments.

Matty Merritt

We read a lot of news stories over the past three months. Here are some of the craziest facts we learned.

1. At Starbucks, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew outsold the Pumpkin Spice Latte last year.

2. Uber has saved many lives that would’ve been lost to drunk driving, according to a new study based on internal Uber data. Ride-sharing has decreased alcohol-related US traffic fatalities by 6.1% and reduced overall US traffic deaths by 4%.

3. 45% of remote employees work from a couch regularly, according to a study from home improvement marketing firm CraftJack. It gets even crazier: 38% of remote workers work from their bed regularly, 20% work outdoors, and 19%...in a closet.

4. There will be more weddings in the US in 2022 than in any year since 1984, according to market research firm The Wedding Report. It estimates that 2.5 million weddings will take place next year, compared to an average of 2.1 million weddings/year pre-pandemic and 1.2 million weddings in 2020.

5. Average pay at US supermarkets and restaurants hit $15/hour for the first time ever, according to the Washington Post. Nearly 80% of US workers now earn a minimum of $15/hour, compared to 60% in 2014.

6. More than 45% of young people surveyed across 10 countries said climate change caused them anxiety and affected their daily lives. 56% said they thought humanity was doomed.

7. Women accounted for a record 59.5% of college students at the end of the 2020–2021 school year, while men made up just 40.5%.

Check out the 10 most popular pieces of content from around the Brewniverse from the past quarter.

1. Q&A with happiness expert Dr. Laurie Santos.
2. The new office politics is going to be more complicated than you think.
3. Seven charts that explain the current state of crypto.
4. A biotech startup has raised millions to resurrect wooly mammoths.
5. The great Havana syndrome mystery.
6. The expanded child tax credit, explained.
7. A TikTok of Tesla’s new humanoid robot.
8. WTF are NFTs?
9. James Clear explains the importance of habits.
10. How to write better online with David Perell.

Best of Brew's bets

The Brew’s Bets section of the newsletter features a smorgasbord of viral videos, lifestyle recs, and tips on leveling up your career. Here are the 5 most clicked-on links from the last quarter.

Beyond BCC: 40 one-sentence email tips.

Internet gold: A beautiful scroll through vintage cocktail recipe books.

Wanna go really, really far away? Find the farthest city on Earth from you.

Another list of 40: 40 concepts you should know.

How the US drains itself: Drop a raindrop anywhere in the US, then watch its path to the ocean.

In the last quarterly email, we asked readers to predict five outcomes by September 30. So, how’d you do?

1. Will Jeff Bezos successfully return from his mission to space?

92% correctly answered yes. The other 8% of you will definitely not be astronauts.

2. Which crypto asset will perform the best: dogecoin, bitcoin, or ethereum?

57% of readers predicted ethereum, which was correct. Ethereum gained nearly 50% last quarter.

3. Will the Olympics go off without disruption due to Covid-19?

Most of you were pessimistic about the Olympics: 61% incorrectly predicted Covid would disrupt the Games. The Olympics actually handled Covid really well.

4. Will another US company join Microsoft and Apple in the $2 trillion market cap club? (The two closest at the time were Amazon and Alphabet.)

Neither Amazon nor Alphabet reached a $2 trillion market cap, contrary to the predictions of Brew readers. 66% guessed at least one of those companies would hit the mark.

5. Will Aaron Rodgers still be a Green Bay Packer?

55% said no, but Rodgers is playing for the Packers this season and he is in fact still quite good.

That was fun, let’s do it again. Click here to cast your vote for next quarter’s predictions.

Getting a 10/10 on the Brew’s Quarterly News Quiz has been compared to getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz.

It’s that—if not more—satisfying. Ace the quiz.