Good morning! It's Sunday, Nov. 23. More than 81 million Americans are expected to travel for Thanksgiving this Thursday. We’re taking a closer look at how the holiday came to be—and how it evolved over time.
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Dear Readers—Our Sunday edition delivers deep dives into interesting and relevant topics, helping you explore new ideas and feed your curiosity.
Instead of the news—which we cover Monday through Saturday—today we’ll bring you deeply researched overviews and the human-curated articles, podcasts, videos, and more that most fascinated us this week. |
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What's the story behind Thanksgiving?
While European settlers in North America had long observed days of thanks, prayer, and reflection, the “first Thanksgiving” most often refers to a 1621 meal between the Pilgrims and the native Wampanoag people.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared a national Thanksgiving Day on the final Thursday of November to be celebrated each year. A large meal shared with loved ones is the centerpiece of most Thanksgiving celebrations, where the average gathering size is seven and most people consume 3,150-4,500 calories.
What began as a neighborly meal to celebrate a successful harvest has transformed into an annual economic and cultural powerhouse: The day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days of the year for air travel as Americans prepare to eat upward of 40 million turkeys and 80 million pounds of cranberries.
... Read what else we learned about the holiday here.
Also, check out ...
> Venison stew was likely on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. (More)
> Presidents officially began pardoning turkeys in 1989. (More)
> Why the Wampanoag people signed a peace treaty with the Pilgrims. (More)
> A century of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. (More) |
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Black Friday Is About to Get Smaller |
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What are tardigrades?
Tardigrades are microscopic animals best known for their survivability in extreme environments, including the vacuum of space, pressures six times greater than Earth’s deepest ocean trench, and temperatures ranging from about minus 270 to 150 degrees Celsius (or minus 454 to 302 degrees Fahrenheit). Nicknamed “water bears,” these creatures traverse using four pairs of stubby legs that end in claws or adhesive pads and are found in habitats with moist sediments, like lake bottoms (watch under a microscope).
Their resilience comes from their ability to undergo cryptobiosis, in which a tardigrade expels nearly all the water in its body and tucks itself into a dried-up cyst called a tun. During this process, protectant molecules—including Dsup, a protein that shields DNA from radiation—create a glass-like matrix to protect a tardigrade’s cells and reduce its metabolism by 99.99%. Even after decades, tardigrades in a tun state have been revived through rehydration.
Research is ongoing to identify applications of tardigrade-specific proteins, including using Dsup to protect healthy cells during radiotherapy cancer treatments.
... Read our full explainer on the tiny creatures here.
Also, check out ...
> A lunar probe’s crash landing may have spilled tardigrades on the moon. (More)
> Explore a gallery of tardigrades. (More)
> Oxygen and nutrients are circulated in tardigrade bodies through physical movement. (More)
> Ballistic experiments show that tardigrades are unlikely to be an alien species. (More) |
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Real estate, 101
Real estate is an asset class that includes land or buildings, whether residential, commercial, or public. Roughly 66% of US households own real estate, and for the typical American homeowner, that property makes up roughly half of their household’s net worth.
Most of these homeowners (about 74% as of 2024) use a mortgage to finance their homes rather than paying for them in cash. The real estate industry encompasses a wide range of professionals, from house flippers to real estate agents. Real estate investment firms handle complex, large-scale projects such as commercial developments, and also partner with large corporate developers and investors.
The US housing market alone was worth a hefty sum of $55T as of September 2025. For context, the entire US stock market is worth roughly $62.2T.
... Read our full write-up on real estate here.
Also, check out ...
> Monaco is the world's most expensive real estate market. (More)
> The number of affordable homes built since 1970 has dropped 75%. (More)
> One theory suggests real estate markets follow 18-year cycles. (More)
> Why it's not straightforward to turn empty offices into apartments. (More) |
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🤖 1440 Explores ... How AI Talks Like Us |
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Ever asked ChatGPT a question and felt like it understood you? Or marveled at how AI can write, explain, or even argue convincingly? In our latest episode of "1440 Explores," our Editor-in-Chief Sony Kassam unpacks how large language models really work, with insights from legendary computer scientist and "Mathematica" creator Stephen Wolfram. Together, they explain how AI chatbots predict the next word, why they sometimes hallucinate, and what they reveal about humanity.
Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube |
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Historybook: First issue of Life magazine published (1936); First episode of "Doctor Who" airs on BBC (1963); Hockey great Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th goal (1988); Children’s book author Roald Dahl dies (1990); Miley Cyrus born (1992). |
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"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." |
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