Election Day, HIV Drug, and New Holiday Movies

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Nov. 3. We're covering the voting logistics, key races, and legal battles shaping the 2026 midterms. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: a man just completed a 28-year walk around the world (Need to Know), a suspected supermarket cyberattack causes massive food waste (Sci. & Tech), claymation is having a renaissance (Etc.), and much more. 

Don’t keep us a secret: Share the email with friends or share via SMS/social.

 Need To Know 

It's Election Day

Today is the final opportunity for Americans to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, with races for the US House, Senate, and state offices. Preliminary results will start trickling in as early as 6 pm ET, though official certification could take days or weeks. Find your local polling place here.

Early voting and campaign advertising spending are on track to break records this year, as voters cite the economy as their top concern. Final preelection polls largely show Democrats favored to retake the House and leading in at least five of seven states expected to decide the Senate: Michigan, Kansas, Texas, Maine, Ohio, Alaska, and Iowa (see dashboard). However, the polls may not accurately reflect outcomes, as Democrats have recently been more likely to respond than Republicans. Pollsters try to account for this by giving more statistical weight to Republican respondents, but 2016 and 2020 polls still underestimated Republican support. See how weighting works here. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's emergency appeal to stop California from counting 20,000 mail-in ballots it suspects are from noncitizens. Check your state's voter identification requirements here.

HIV Drug Approval

The Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of a twice-a-year injectable HIV prevention drug yesterday to be sold in 120 low- and middle-income countries. Generic lenacapavir will cost $40 per person per year in those countries; the brand-name version, by Gilead, which currently lists at over $28K before insurance coverage in the US.

Gilead's patent protection for lenacapavir in the US remains in effect, but FDA clearance of the generic will pave the way for faster regulatory approval in some other countries. The generic drug stems from voluntary licensing agreements Gilead signed with six manufacturers in 2024 to reach lower-income countries. The deals exclude some middle-income countries like Brazil, where HIV burden is nonetheless high. 

Lenacapavir outperforms the daily oral protocol that has become the standard of care for reducing HIV transmission due to better adherence (watch via YouTube how the pill changed the course of HIV). An estimated 41 million people around the world live with HIV; roughly 570,000 died last year from HIV-related causes (see map).

Walking 'Round The World

Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former British Army paratrooper who spent the last 28 years walking around the world, returned home yesterday. He covered approximately 31,000 miles, one of the longest geographically unbroken trek in history.

The journey began on Nov. 1, 1998, in Punta Arenas, Chile. Bushby, then 29, had plotted his path in the mid-'90s after a birthday card from his father sparked the idea of walking from South America’s southern tip to his hometown of Hull, England. He initially estimated he’d return in 12 years, but visa issues, the 2008 economic crash, and the pandemic hindered progress. An arrest in Russia and a near-fatal plunge into the Bering Strait’s freezing waters added hurdles. But Bushby never skipped sections or used transportation, opting to swim across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel. His expedition spanned four continents, 30 countries, and 10,229 days (scroll for map).

Watch Bushby reunite with his mother here. 

Editor's note: In yesterday's edition, we incorrectly characterized the Michigan Senate race as a gubernatorial race. Thank you to the readers who caught this error. 

 In The Know 

Science & Technology

> Aging NASA telescope expected to plunge back to Earth this week after failed rescue mission (More) | See the Swift Observatory's discoveries during nearly 22 years in orbit (More)

> Castration extends lifespan in adult male mice by about 33%, early research suggests; finding could inform longevity treatments for men that do not involve castration (More) 

> Researchers fail to replicate psilocybin-linked reduction in anxiety and depression-like behaviors in mice, highlighting need for more rigorous research into therapeutic potential (More) | Neuroscientist and psychologist ponder psychedelics in medicine (More, w/audio)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq -1.1%) amid continued tech sell-off (More) | Anthropic reveals 12-fold year-over-year quarterly revenue increase and $895B in spending commitments ahead of IPO (More)

> Apple beats Wall Street expectations, reporting 12% year-over-year revenue increase in first earnings report with CEO John Ternus (More) | Chipmaker Marvell to acquire optical technology company Lumentum in $115B AI deal (More) 

> Snap reaches agreement to settle social media addiction lawsuit filed by teenage plaintiffs ahead of opening arguments this week; Meta, Alphabet, and TikTok previously settled (More) 

Politics & World Affairs

> Supermarkets in seven European countries—Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden—report suspected cyberhacks that caused freezers to overheat, requiring them to toss inventory (More) 

> Supreme Court will hear case today over whether Colorado must include schools that bar LGBTQ+ families in its publicly funded universal pre-K program (More) 

> Lindsay Clancy reappears in Massachusetts court as prosecutors seek to retry her over the deaths of her three children (More) 

In-Depth

> Sniffing Out Sickness

Knowable | Marta Zaraska. Could the secret to detecting diseases like Parkinson's and cancer be right under our noses? Scientists want to take a whiff of your breath, skin, and urine to find out. (Read) 

> The New Business of Building Paradise

WSJ | Nancy Keates. The latest luxury real estate amenity is a human-made surf lagoon with waves on demand. Peek inside the multimillion-dollar developments popping up in Texas, Utah, and Arizona. (Read) 

This year's buzziest holiday movies.

Least and most expensive states to host Thanksgiving dinner.

Distaste for AI is driving demand for claymation.

How did we get a bird's-eye view of Venice in 1500?

... and see this year's award-winning drone photos.

Why are the US' wealthiest obsessed with a Kansas City vlogger?

The sun draws a figure eight in the sky every year. Here's why.

Revisit the biggest song from every year in the 2000s.

... and 2006 record hits No. 1 on the Billboard charts, 20 years later. 

Clickbait: Are humans getting colder?

Historybook: American sharpshooter Annie Oakley dies (1926); Journalist and fashion icon Dame Anna Wintour born (1949); The Soviet Union launches first animal into Earth orbit (1957); Covert US arms sales to Iran revealed (1986); One World Trade Center officially opens (2014).