📌 Super Bowl, Legalize Cocaine, More

This year’s Super Bowl sees two offenses that hold on to the ball for a long time, prioritizing efficiency and ball security.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs are evenly matched for the NFL’s showpiece. Small margins are likely to decide the championship this Sunday at 6.30 pm ET.

Saquon Barkley has put together one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. He needs 30 yards to break Terrell Davis’ all-time combined rushing record for the regular season and playoffs. So far, no one has found a way to slow him down.

To limit Barkley’s impact, the Kansas City Chiefs will need to force negative plays on first down. But figuring out how is tricky. You can crowd the line of scrimmage. And the Chiefs do run five deep, with run-stuffing linemen who can cycle in and out. But Barkley has been effective this season against a crowded line.

As for the Eagles’ defense, it has been the most consistent unit in the league this season. It stonewalls the run. It limits explosive plays. It bludgeons quick screens, a core component of the Chiefs’ offense. But the Chiefs' offense is always full of surprises.

In a tight matchup, field goals will matter. The Chiefs have a clear advantage. Butker is the all-time leader in playoff field goal accuracy. Time will tell.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said “cocaine is no worse than whiskey“ and suggested it be reappraised.

Petro said the global cocaine industry could be “easily dismantled“ if the drug were legalized worldwide. Colombia is the world’s top producer and exporter of cocaine, mainly to the US and Europe, and the government has spent decades fighting drug trafficking.

“Cocaine is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whisky,“ the president said during a six-hour broadcast ministerial meeting.

Petro, who assumed office in 2022, has vowed to tackle drug trafficking and regulate the use of illegal substances. However, since he came to power, Colombia’s cocaine production has surged.

Cultivation of coca leaves in Colombia increased 10% in 2023 from the previous year, while potential cocaine production reached a record of more than 2,600 metric tons, a 53% increase, the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime said in October.

Cocaine is the fourth most consumed drug globally, according to the UN, and illegal in most countries. However, some governments have decriminalized possession of the drug in small amounts.

A study has ranked US cities with the largest spread between the highest and lowest earners in 2024.

Most estimates put the US median household income at around $75,000–$80,000. But this does not account for the spread between the highest and lowest earners, a metric that can demonstrate the diversity in financial realities within a community, says SmartAsset, which conducted the study.

Across the US, the top 20% of earners bring in at least $4.61 for every $1 that the bottom 20% of earners bring in. In some places, that multiple reaches over $7, SmartAsset says.

In 2024, income inequality increased most in Madison, WI. The highest-earning households last year earned at least $4.30 for every dollar brought in by the lowest-earning households. This is up from $4.24 in 2023. Madison’s median household income increased from $77,653 to $85,189 in that same timeframe.

New Orleans, LA, has the highest income inequality with a $7.91 multiple on earnings between the top 20% and bottom 20% of households.

Income inequality is lowest in Boise, ID. The highest-earning households earn at least $3.90 for every dollar of the lowest quintile. In 2024, Income inequality decreased most in Richmond, VA. Richmond saw about three times as much deceleration in income inequality (11.2%) as the next city (Laredo, TX).

A diagnostic test for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that requires only a single strand of hair has been approved.

LinusBio, based in New Jersey, launched its Clearstrand-ASD Thursday to help physicians rule out the condition in children between one and 36 months of age when autism is a concern. It does not provide a diagnosis.

'The test is intended for infants and toddlers who are at an elevated risk of autism, such as those who were born preterm, who have a sibling with autism, or who have demonstrated characteristics associated with autism,' researchers said.

While Clearstrand-ASD only rules out autism, doctors currently rely on observational signs that leave parents waiting for answers. The average age for an autism diagnosis in the US is four, but some children show signs at birth.

The system analyzes the strand of hair with lasers, turning it into a plasma to be processed by machine-learning algorithms. The technology then captures the child's metabolic history, which includes substances or toxins they have been exposed to or their body has processed. Research has linked metals like mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic to the root of the disorder, which Manish Arora, a co-founder of LinusBio and its CEO, said is part of his company's analysis. LinusBio said the ClearStrand-ASD is 92.5% accurate. Results are given in about three weeks.

A former interpreter for LA Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Thursday.

Ippei Mizuhara, who had been Ohtani's English interpreter since his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2018, was convicted for a fraud and gambling scheme and ordered to pay back nearly $17m that he'd stolen from the star athlete and another $1m to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in taxes.

Mizuhara was fired amid media reports last year about his gambling activities, which prompted investigations into Ohtani's finances.

A probe revealed Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from the athlete to pay off debts owed to a southern California bookmaker. He then lied on tax records to hide his actions. He pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges.

The scheme threatened to derail Ohtani's career — one of baseball's biggest global stars — as questions swirled about whether he was involved in the gambling scheme. The MLB has strict rules against sports betting, and it is illegal in California, though it is allowed in 38 other US states.

Beyond the stolen funds, Mizuhara also purchased several autographed baseball cards using Ohtani's money. The cards, valued at about $325,000, were intended for resale, but Ohtani has since petitioned a federal judge to gain ownership of the cards as part of the recovery process.

The South Korean government has ordered all its airports to install bird detection cameras and radars.

The order was in response to the country’s worst-ever aviation disaster in December, when a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 flying from Thailand belly-landed at Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier. The crash left 179 people dead and only two survivors.

The pilot warned of a bird strike before pulling out of a first landing attempt. The plane crashed on its second attempt when the landing gear did not emerge. Feathers and duck DNA were found in both engines.

All airports will have at least one thermal imaging camera, said the Ministry of Land, adding it aims to begin the rollout next year. Mobile sonic devices will also be implemented mainly for medium- and large-sized birds. Bird detection radar will be installed at all airports to enhance early detection of distant birds.

The ministry said it will “establish legal bases“ to move facilities that attract birds away from airports — such as food waste treatment facilities and orchards — and impose distance restrictions.

Repitle specialists were called to catch a pair of red-bellied black snakes spotted in a pile of gardening mulch in Sydney, Australia.

They expected to wrangle “four or five“ adults at most, team leader Cory Kerewaro said, but they stopped counting after pulling a “whole bunch“ of baby snakes from the pile. They initially bagged about 40 of the slithering predators to take away.

But the snakes kept coming. “Two of the females had given birth in the bag. We counted them individually, one by one. We had 102 in total.

Red-bellied black snakes are less venomous than other Australian species, but their bite is still toxic enough to cause severe pain, nausea and vomiting.

Kerewaro said the find was unheard of in snake-catching circles. “No one has been there at the right time and won the snake lottery. It was just the right time, right place for us.“