The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish blend coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Can We Really Be Friends with an Octopus? When octopuses are social, are they reaching out or simply reacting? Biologists now recognize that at least some octopus species appear to be much more social than previously thought. Researchers have published reports of octopuses gathering in large groups on the seafloor, sharing dens, using color and gesture to communicate, and forming cooperative hunting parties with fish. In parallel, divers, professional aquarists, and cephalopod enthusiasts are increasingly sharing stories of intense mutual curiosity, surprising interactions, and even what some call friendship between humans and octopuses. (Hakai)
• The true cost of Amazon’s low prices Critics say the “everything store” does too much. Is 2022 the year antitrust hawks come for Amazon? (Vox)
• The Debt King Ron Perelman seemed to have everything. Until the bill arrived. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Ronald O. Perelman is he’s one billionaire who didn’t get richer during the pandemic. (New York Times)
• Microsoft’s Purchase of Activision Blizzard Encapsulates an Industry in a Single Deal The deal, announced Tuesday and expected to close in 2023, touches on every hot-button gaming-industry issue, from consolidation to workplace reform to Netflix-style libraries to speculation around the “metaverse” (The Ringer)
• What happens when the world’s most populous country starts to shrink? Chinese officials hoped for a baby boom, but China experienced only a baby blip. That could pose major challenges for the government. (Grid)
• The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’: For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why? And how did the habit disappear? (BBC)
• They’ve Driven Everything, but the Miata Keeps Them Smiling Auto industry people have a special affection for Mazda’s petite (and affordable) roadster. (New York Times)
• How to kill a god: The myth of Captain Cook shows how the heroes of empire will fall In the 18th century, the naval explorer was worshipped as a deity. Now his statues are being defaced across the lands he visited. (The Guardian)
• Bring in the clones: Instagrammers are genetically replicating their pets Cloning cats and dogs is expensive and controversial. But the humans behind petfluencer accounts say it’s worth it. (Input)
• How Shohei Ohtani Made Baseball Fun Again Not since the days of Babe Ruth has one of baseball’s greatest hitters also been one of its finest pitchers. Now, the reigning MVP is opening up for the first time about his singular place in modern baseball. (GQ)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Tina Vandersteel, head of GMO’s Emerging Country Debt team and serves as portfolio manager for GMO’s external and local currency debt portfolios. Prior to joining GMO in 2004, she worked at J.P. Morgan in fixed income research developing quantitative arbitrage strategies for emerging debt and high yield bonds.
Solar power will account for nearly half of new U.S. electric generating capacity in 2022
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
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