First in (Controlled) Flight
What's the significance of the Wright brothers?
Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright are credited with creating and flying the world’s first sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air aircraft. One-time bicycle mechanics with only some public high school education, the two made history in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903, when they successfully flew a 600-pound, 40-foot-wide plane over 120 feet in 12 seconds under its own power.
Building on the work of gliding pioneers, the pair invented the three-axis system—a standard in aircraft today—to control the plane’s flight at every stage, allowing pilots to direct movement from nose to tail (pitch), wing to wing (roll), and top to bottom (yaw) (watch breakdown). Their scientific, documented approach to aviation pioneered the use of wind tunnels, aluminum crankcases in engines, and more, laying the foundation for the industry.
Adoption and large-scale production of their airplanes took time, in part because many observers doubted their claims and the practicality of powered flight. In 1908, a series of public demonstration flights in the US and France finally convinced skeptics and brought the Wright brothers international fame, spurring a wave of competitors, imitators, and lawsuits.
... Read our full explainer on the duo here.
Also, check out ...
> Peruse the Wrights' personal collection of more than 300 photos. (Look)
> Inspiring takeaways from famed historian David McCullough's popular 2015 "Wright Brothers" book. (Listen)
> There's debate about who really was "first in flight." (Read)
> A piece of the Wright Flyer flew on the first powered flight on Mars. (Read)
Digitized Collectibles
NFTs, explained
Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are unique digital assets stored on a blockchain that represent ownership of images, GIFs, songs, videos, virtual plots of land, and more.
Unlike “fungible” assets that can be exchanged for an identical asset, including the US dollar and bitcoin, NFTs are not interchangeable, making them more similar to fine art than currency. Each NFT is unique and verifiable on the blockchain.
NFTs helped bring a huge wave of attention and investment to the crypto space, despite hype for the digital assets fading over time.
As NFT scams have become increasingly common, the space’s credibility has been questioned. Proponents don’t think these incidents overshadow the space’s potential, given that NFTs can benefit artists and other creators by generating new income sources through the assets’ initial sale and, potentially, ongoing royalties when they’re resold.
... Read our full write-up on NFTs here.
Also, check out ...
> The most expensive NFT ever sold for $92M. (Read)
> NFT trading peaked in 2021 and has since significantly declined. (Read)
> A celebrity's NFT was "kidnapped" in 2022. (Listen)
> Examine the pros and cons of NFTs. (Read)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Historic floods batter Washington state.
Washington is under a state of emergency, with evacuation orders in place for tens of thousands of residents after atmospheric rivers dumped over 15 inches of rain in recent days. Several rivers have surged to record heights, and many bridges and roads have been washed out without a timeline for reopening. Some people have been rescued by helicopter. Another storm system is expected to bring more rain Sunday.
House Democrats release new photos from Epstein estate.
Lawmakers released 19 photos from a trove of more than 95,000 images recently obtained from the estate of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The images feature President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, among other high-profile figures. Meanwhile, the Justice Department faces a Dec. 19 deadline to unseal Epstein-related files under a law passed in November.
Fired University of Michigan head football coach charged.
Sherrone Moore, 39, was charged yesterday with home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering days after he was fired as the University of Michigan's head football coach over an inappropriate relationship with a fellow staffer. The charges stem from an alleged incident at that staffer's apartment hours after his dismissal. Moore was granted a $25K bond and is set to appear in court again on Jan. 22.
Thai parliament dissolved over controversial constitutional changes.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved the House of Representatives following approval from the king, triggering a 45- to 60-day countdown to new elections. The move follows a dispute over expanding elected lawmakers' powers. Anutin will lead a caretaker government until the elections and said the dissolution won't affect Thailand's military operations in its escalating border dispute with Cambodia.
Reddit challenges Australia's under-16 social media ban.
Online forum Reddit filed a lawsuit alleging the world-first law—implemented Wednesday—prevents teens from engaging in age-appropriate community experiences and imposes an intrusive, insecure age-verification process on all users. The Australian government declined to comment on the suit as of this writing.
Iran reportedly arrests Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.
Iranian forces arrested the human rights activist and others at a memorial service for a human rights lawyer, according to her supporters. Rights groups have called for a probe into the lawyer's death, with some suggesting it may have been a state murder. Mohammadi, 53, was in prison when she received the 2023 Nobel Prize for fighting women’s oppression and had been on temporary leave since last December.
Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Do Kwon, the cofounder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs, pleaded guilty in US federal court to fraud charges after an international search. The charges stem from a $40B crash that occurred in 2022 after two digital currencies he designed—TerraUSD and Luna—plunged in value. Prosecutors had recommended a 12-year sentence, and Kwon faced a maximum 25-year sentence.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Architects of AI" named Time magazine's 2025 Person of the Year; one cover photo features Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others (More)
> Film director Carl Rinsch convicted in $11M scheme to defraud Netflix (More) | Sherrone Moore held in jail as police investigate incident that occurred hours after he was fired as the University of Michigan's football coach Wednesday (More)
> Swiss singer Nemo returns their 2024 Eurovision winner's trophy in protest of Israel's participation in 2026 pop music competition (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI introduces ChatGPT-5.2, weeks after executives ordered an all-hands-on-deck effort to improve the AI model following rival releases from Anthropic and Google last month (More)
> Scientists discover enzyme responsible for a biological process enabling cancer cells to resist treatment, potentially providing a new intervention point for aggressive cancers (More)
> Marine archaeologists find a 394-foot undersea wall off the coast of France—built around 5,000 BCE and possibly the source of a local sunken city legend (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow +1.3%, Nasdaq -0.3%), with Dow and S&P 500 notching records (More) | Rivian shares fall roughly 6% after the electric vehicle maker unveils new AI tech, chip, and robotaxi plans (More)
> Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald to step down from role in January, will also relinquish board seat but remain an adviser through March (More)
> US weekly jobless claims rise to 236,000 for week ending Dec. 6, above economist estimates of 213,000 and the largest increase since March 2020 (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Senate fails to pass competing Republican, Democratic bills to extend enhanced, COVID-era subsidies for healthcare premiums purchased through the Affordable Care Act; subsidies are due to expire Dec. 31 (More)
> Indiana's Republican-led Senate votes against redrawing congressional map to favor their party (More) | MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell announces Republican run for Minnesota governor in 2026 (More)
> Federal judge orders the immediate release of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia from US detention; Garcia was sent to a prison in El Salvador earlier this year in defiance of a 2019 court order barring his deportation (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Beyoncé will return to Met Gala (May 4) after 10-year absence, serving as co-chair alongside Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour (More) | Charli XCX appears in three films debuting at Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 22-Feb. 1); see full lineup (More)
> Las Vegas Aces' A’ja Wilson named AP Female Athlete of the Year after winning unprecedented fourth WNBA MVP award and Time's Athlete of the Year title (More) |
University of Michigan fires head football coach Sherrone Moore after finding evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member (More)
> Sophie Kinsella, bestselling author of "Shopaholic" series, dies at 55 following brain cancer diagnosis (More) | Jubilant Sykes, a Grammy-nominated opera singer, dies of stab wounds at 71; his son is in custody for suspected homicide (More)
Science & Technology
> Amazon to invest over $35B in India's AI and cloud infrastructure by 2030, building on nearly $40B already invested in the country; news comes one day after Microsoft announced a similar $17.5B investment in India over four years (More)
> Psychiatric geneticists find 14 major psychiatric disorders fall into five categories with distinct genetic profiles, offering an explanation for why some disorders often occur together and supporting a biology-based diagnostic approach (More)
> Archaeologists determine humans learned to make fires 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, following a four-year analysis of 400,000-year-old heat-damaged tools found in eastern England (More)
Business & Markets
> Oracle shares fall over 11% in after-hours trading after the database software maker reports 14% year-over-year revenue growth in the quarter that ended Nov. 30, missing projected 15% growth (More)
> Oil companies offer roughly $300M for Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) drilling rights in the first of 30 planned offshore lease sales and the first such sale since 2023 (More)
> Swiss officials say US tariff cut from 39% to 15% will apply retroactively to Nov. 14, the day the countries reached a preliminary deal that ties US duty reductions to a $200B Swiss investment in the US by the end of 2028 (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> US military seizes an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after President Donald Trump calls on President Nicolás Maduro to step down; Trump suggests strikes on Venezuelan territory could begin "very soon" (More)
> House votes 312-112 to pass $900B bill funding the Defense Department and national security programs (More) | Federal judge orders the Trump administration to end National Guard deployment in Los Angeles (More)
> Daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado accepts Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Louvre Museum workers vote to strike over working conditions, ticket price hikes, and poor security after $102M heist; demonstration begins Dec. 15 (More) | Armed thieves steal eight Matisse paintings from public library in São Paulo, Brazil (More)
> "One Battle After Another" leads all films with nine nominations for 2026 Golden Globe Awards (Jan. 11); "The White Lotus" tops the TV side with six nods (More) | Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year extension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with ABC (More)
> Florida State tops Stanford 1-0 to win its third NCAA women’s soccer national championship in the past five years (More)
Science & Technology
> Google to launch its first AI-powered glasses next year: one audio-only model and another model with in-lens display (More)
> Researchers develop wireless device that uses light to send information to the brain, bypassing natural sensory pathways; could help restore lost senses (More)
> Global coalition of scientists seeking to understand dark matter completes most sensitive search yet, detecting neutrinos from the sun’s core for the first time (More) | What we've learned about the dark universe (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.1%) as investors await decision from Federal Reserve's final two-day policy meeting of the year, which begins today (More)
> President Donald Trump approves Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips for sale to China; in exchange, the US will receive 25% of the sale revenue (More)
> Candy giant Mars to close $36B acquisition of Kellanova, maker of Cheez-Its and Pringles, this week after receiving EU regulatory approval (More) | Magnum Ice Cream reaches $9B market cap after trading debut in Amsterdam (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Alina Habba resigns as US attorney in New Jersey, takes role as senior adviser for US attorneys to Attorney General Pam Bondi; comes after a court ruled Habba had been serving in the role unlawfully since her tenure was slated to end in July (More)
> Thai military launches airstrikes on Cambodia, accuses Cambodia of wounding two Thai soldiers at the border; clashes threaten US-mediated peace deal (More)
> Magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes off Japan's northeast coast, triggering a tsunami of up to 28 inches and injuring at least 23 people (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> President Donald Trump becomes first US president to host the Kennedy Center Honors, distributing lifetime achievement awards to actors Sylvester Stallone and Michael Crawford, rock band KISS, and singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait; ceremony will air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+ (More)
> Indiana takes No. 1 spot in 12-team field competing for college football's 2025 national championship (More) | Lionel Messi leads Inter Miami to first MLS Cup title (More)
> The UK's Lando Norris wins first Formula 1 world championship title following third-place finish in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (More) | Former NASCAR driver Michael Annett dies at age 39 (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI reportedly moves up the release of ChatGPT 5.2 to as early as this week; move follows CEO Sam Altman's "Code Red" memo in response to Google's Gemini 3 (More)
> Scientists develop process using CO2 to create carbon-negative construction materials; concrete production accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions (More)
> California officials issue warning against wild mushroom foraging after identifying 21 cases and one death linked to amatoxin poisoning, likely linked to the "death cap" mushroom (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets rise Friday (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.3%), with analysts projecting a nearly 90% chance the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates again Wednesday (More)
> SpaceX to offer insider shares valuing it at $800B, passing OpenAI as the most valuable privately held company; may eye initial public offering late next year (More) | What we've learned about SpaceX (1440 Topics) | ... and IPOs (1440 Topics)
> Federal officials waive final, $11M installment of $140M against Southwest Airlines over its 2022 holiday meltdown that left more than 2 million travelers stranded; decision cited company's efforts to upgrade infrastructure (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Supreme Court to hear case challenging President Donald Trump's move to fire Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, testing 90-year-old limits on presidential power to remove regulators (More)
> Japan says Chinese jets locked radar on its fighter jets; incident comes weeks after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi indicated the country could get involved if China took action against Taiwan (More)
> Hong Kong voters elect 90-member legislature weeks after fire in Tai Po kills at least 159 people; turnout is estimated at nearly one-third of the eligible population (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> 2026 FIFA World Cup final draw begins at noon ET in Washington, DC's Kennedy Center; live coverage begins at 11:30 am ET on Fox (More) | Ralph Lauren unveils Team USA uniforms for 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics (More)
> Public broadcasters from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia announce they will boycott 2026 Eurovision Song Contest over Israel's participation (More)
> New "Men in Black" film in development at Sony Pictures, with "Bad Boys for Life" Chris Bremner set to write the script (More)
Science & Technology
> CDC vaccine advisory panel to vote today on hepatitis B vaccines after yesterday's scheduled vote was postponed; vote originally delayed in September (More)
> Scientists identify previously unknown organization patterns in a brain region critical to learning and memory, offering insights into why some cells are more vulnerable to conditions like Alzheimer’s and epilepsy (More)
> Researchers discover a robust population of critically endangered Sumatran tigers in Indonesian forest, signaling that habitat conservation efforts are working (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +0.2%) as investors await latest inflation data today (More)
> US weekly jobless claims fall to 191,000 for week ending Nov. 29, the lowest since September 2022 (More) | Layoffs top 1.1 million for the year so far, the most since 2020, new report finds (More) | World's billionaires rise to record 2,919 people, with collective wealth of nearly $16T; 91 became billionaires through inheritance (More)
> Legal AI startup Harvey raises $160M at $8B valuation, more than double its valuation in February (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> The Supreme Court clears the way for Texas to use newly redistricted map for the 2026 midterm elections as litigation continues in the lower courts; new map could potentially deliver as many as five seats to Republican candidates (More)
> Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo sign US-mediated peace deal despite ongoing clashes in eastern Congo (More)
> Vatican commission finds women should not be ordained as deacons—ministers who can preside over weddings, baptisms, and funerals (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Two female gymnasts file lawsuit alleging USA Gymnastics and Olympic sports watchdog failed to address sexual abuse by coach (More) | Antitrust trial against NASCAR begins, with fate of NBA star Michael Jordan's team at stake (More)
> "Zootopia 2" earns $556M internationally over Thanksgiving holiday, marking the highest-ever global opening for an animated film and the highest global opening for any film in 2025 (More)
> NFL announces Charlie Puth, Brandi Carlile, and Coco Jones as headliners for Super Bowl LX pregame show Feb. 8 (More)
Science & Technology
> China's DeepSeek debuts two new AI models challenging Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT (More)
> Engineers create artificial tendons that allow robots to pinch with 30 times more force and three times faster than before, potentially enabling advances in surgical tools and autonomous exploratory machines (More) | Want more? Sign up for our weekly science and technology deep dives (More)
> New DNA analysis suggests humans first traveled to Australia and New Guinea about 60,000 years ago, roughly 9,000 to 13,000 years earlier than previous genetic evidence indicated (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow -0.9%, Nasdaq -0.4%) as December kicks off (More) | Bitcoin falls in largest daily drop since March (More)
> Nvidia takes $2B stake in chip-software designer Synopsys as part of expanded multiyear computing power partnership (More) | Eli Lilly cuts price for weight-loss drug Zepbound on direct-to-consumer site (More)
> Starbucks to pay over $35M to more than 15,000 New York City workers, along with over $3M in civil penalties, to settle allegations it violated labor laws (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Tennessee voters head to the polls in special election to replace Rep. Mark Green (R, TN-7), who announced his resignation earlier this year (More) | Former Trump attorney Alina Habba disqualified as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, appeals court rules (More)
> Son of Mexican drug lord JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán pleads guilty to two drug-related charges, months after his brother enters similar plea deal (More)
> Transportation Security Administration announces $45 fee for travelers without a federally compliant driver's license or identification card, known as a REAL ID, beginning in February (More) | What is a REAL ID? (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Ole Miss Rebels coach Lane Kiffin leaves the team to accept position coaching LSU Tigers (More) | See rivalry week results (More)
> Oscar- and Tony-winning playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard dies at age 88; Stoppard wrote "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," "Leopoldstadt," and "Shakespeare in Love," among other works (More)
> Miss Universe Africa cuts ties with the organization amid ongoing allegations of vote rigging, with co-owners investigated for alleged drug ties (More)
Science & Technology
> Overheated data center forces the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest derivatives exchange operator, to suspend global trading Friday for roughly 10 hours (More)
> Internal FDA memo claims at least 10 children died from complications due to the COVID-19 vaccine between 2021 and 2024; experts accuse agency of not providing details, misusing data from the unverified VAERS reporting platform (More)
> Genetic analysis suggests domesticated cats originated in North Africa and spread to Europe and East Asia roughly 2,000 years ago, more recently than previously believed (More)
Business & Markets
> Markets rise Friday (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq +0.7%) during shortened holiday trading week; analysts peg possibility of coming Federal Reserve interest rate cut at 80%-85% (More)
> US online sales hit an estimated $11.8B on Black Friday, up more than 9% from last year; order volume down 1%, with higher average sales prices (More) | The best resources we found researching Black Friday (1440 Topics)
> Switzerland rejects 50% inheritance tax for gifts and assets exceeding about $62M; wealthy entrepreneurs threatened to leave country (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> US halts all asylum decisions, pauses visas for Afghan citizens after Afghan who was granted asylum shoots two National Guard members in Washington, DC, one fatally (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> Hondurans vote in presidential election as US President Donald Trump threatens to cut aid to the country if right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura loses (More) | The US gave Honduras $194B in aid in 2023, the last fully reported year (More)
> Twelve young Muslim girls freed after abduction in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, near hideout used by Islamist militant group Boko Haram (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Bollywood star Dharmendra, whose career spanned over six decades and more than 250 films, dies at age 89 (More)
> Chance the Rapper and Julianne Hough to cohost ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” alongside returning hosts Ryan Seacrest, Rita Ora, and Rob Gronkowski (More)
> Caitlin Clark to make USA Basketball senior national team camp debut next month after missing second half of WNBA season due to groin injury (More)
Science & Technology
> Anthropic unveils Claude Opus 4.5 for software developers and knowledge workers, marking the startup's third major AI model launch in two months (More)
> NASA trims Boeing Starliner contract and indefinitely delays crewed Starliner flights, eight months after technical issues left astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (More)
> Novo Nordisk's semaglutide pill fails to slow Alzheimer's disease in clinical trials (More) | Neuroscientists identify rare gene mutation that may protect brain immune cells from Alzheimer's, pointing to potential preventative treatments (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.6%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +2.7%) as Alphabet (+6.3%), Tesla (+6.8%) lead tech rally (More)
> Amazon to spend up to $50B on AI infrastructure to support US government agencies; project to break ground in 2026 (More)
> Kohl's names Michael Bender as permanent CEO; Bender is fourth executive to lead the department store in four years after former CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired for misconduct (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Pentagon opens investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) over participation in a video calling on military members not to follow any illegal orders (More)
> State Department designates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Cartel de los Soles as foreign terrorists over alleged drug trafficking to the US (More)
> Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years; no casualties were reported as of this writing (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Grammy- and Emmy Award-winning entertainer Donald Glover reveals he suffered a stroke last year while touring as his rapper alias, Childish Gambino (More)
> Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul, nicknamed "the Point God," announces he will retire after this season (More)
> "Wicked: For Good" earns No. 1 spot at the domestic box office with $150M opening weekend, beating predecessor "Wicked" part one (More)
Science & Technology
> Robotaxi company Waymo gets approval from California to expand service across the Bay Area, in Sacramento, and between Los Angeles and San Diego (More) | How self-driving cars see the road (1440 Topics)
> COP30 climate summit ends without a new deal to expand prior commitments to curb fossil fuels, outcome criticized as underwhelming by attendees (More)
> Archaeologists unveil 1,700-year-old Roman sarcophagus found near Budapest, Hungary; area was part of the ancient city of Aquincum (More) | The best resources we've found on ancient Rome (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up Friday (S&P 500 +1.0%, Dow +1.1%, Nasdaq +0.9%) following signs the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates once more this year (More)
> Hedge fund Pershing Square, headed by activist investor Bill Ackman, reportedly plans to go public in early 2026 (More) | What we've learned about hedge funds (1440 Topics)
> BHP Group, the world's largest mining company by market cap, abandons bid to acquire Anglo American, the largest producer of platinum after preliminary discussions (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, GA-14) announces she will resign in January after President Donald Trump suggested he would back a primary challenger (More)
> Israel claims to have killed Hezbollah chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai after first airstrikes in Lebanon since June kill five people, wound 25 others (More)
> The US is reportedly planning to launch a new phase of operations in Venezuela, potentially beginning with covert activities (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
