Good Morning! 🌞 

Did you know that 99% of the earth's gold is in its core?

It's estimated that the Earth's core contains a vast amount of gold, possibly up to four times more than what has ever been mined by humans. However, this gold is inaccessible, located about 1,800 miles beneath the Earth's surface. If it could be evenly distributed on the Earth's surface, it would create a coating approximately 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) thick, covering all land areas.

Health

Great News For Some Americans

There's great news for some Americans: inhalers are set to become significantly more affordable.

Three leading inhaler manufacturers have committed to capping the out-of-pocket costs of their inhaler products and similar respiratory medications at $35 a month for certain patients in the U.S.

GlaxoSmithKline, a British pharmaceutical company, announced its price cap last week, joining AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim in this initiative.

However, Teva Pharmaceuticals, another key player in the inhaler market, has yet to announce a similar price cap.

These cost-capping measures by the three companies will not be implemented immediately and are the result of mounting pressures rather than spontaneous decisions.

In January, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions initiated an inquiry into the pricing practices of these four companies, questioning why inhalers cost more in the U.S. than in other nations.

This scrutiny is part of ongoing criticism and public frustration directed at the wider pharmaceutical industry for high healthcare expenses in the U.S. Following similar pressure, last year Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi significantly reduced the prices of certain insulin products for some U.S. patients.

So, who depends on inhalers, and what do they typically cost?

Inhalers are essential for people with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), allowing them to manage symptoms and provide relief during severe episodes, such as asthma attacks.

Approximately 25 million Americans live with asthma, and about 16 million are affected by COPD. The high cost of inhalers has forced many patients to ration their use, a concerning practice highlighted by the Senate HELP committee in January.

For a pricing comparison, most of these respirators are between $300-600 in the U.S., whereas they are generally between $9-50 in USD equivalent in many European countries.

Culture

Beautiful: Metallica Meets Polish Tradition

One of the great things about our modern era is the ability to see and listen to things from cultures far away from us.

A particularly enchanting example of this is when something, in this case music, is combined from two different cultures and creates something unique and beautiful.

World News

Apple Backs Down

Apple has suddenly reversed its decision to ban Epic Games, the creator of "Fortnite," from launching its app store on iOS in Europe. This change comes just one day after European Union officials announced an investigation into the issue.

This event marks the first significant challenge made under Europe's new digital competition laws, which took effect in March.

This development occurred after the European Commission sought information from Apple regarding the allegations. Thierry Breton, a senior EU commissioner, reinforced on X that gatekeepers cannot use threats to silence developers.

Epic Games announced in a blog post that Apple's decision allows "Fortnite" to return to European iPhones. The game has been absent from iOS platforms since 2020 due to a dispute between the two companies over Apple's developer policies.

Epic's statement said that Apple, after committing to the European Commission, would restore their developer account after the Commission demonstrated its readiness to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold dominant firms accountable.

Following discussions with Epic, where Epic agreed to comply with Apple's new policies focused on the EU, Apple stated, "Epic Sweden AB has been allowed to rejoin the developer agreement and has been readmitted into the Apple Developer Program."

Under the new EU DMA, app stores must permit downloads from third-party sources. Apple's response to this regulation is a framework that enables developers to produce entirely new iOS apps, functioning as independent app marketplaces.

While this new event might seem to only effect gamers, it actually has a major bearing on curbing Apple’s anti-competitive practices.

Environment

Planting Trees is a Bad Idea?

Sometimes, planting trees is not a good idea. We touched on this idea last Friday and shared a video of efforts to revitalize Scotland’s forest by tearing down 10,000 trees. However, this problem is not unique to monoculture tree farms.

One of the big reasons you might not want to plant trees, even if you are actively cutting them down, is because of overcrowding. Overcrowded forests cause many problems. One of the main contributors to the devastating forest fires in California and Australia is forest overgrowth and the lack of low intensity forest fires and controlled burns.

In nature, forest fires are actually relatively common. Because they occurred regularly, dead wood and dense brush did not accumulate. Most of the time, these fires would sweep through an area burning up the small brush, saplings, and any dead wood, but would not be able to burn the large healthy trees.

Unfortunately, if a forest goes too long without a fire or some other type of clearing, the fires will burn so hot that they consume everything.

Even if your area does not have forest fire problems, overcrowding could still be causing other problems. One of the best things about this problem is that it is relatively easy to improve, both on a larger scale with good government planning, and on a local scale, like your back yard (if you have a forest in it).

Luckily, there are a lot of people out there that know how to manage forest well and put out great content on the subject. The short video below is enlightening and entertaining on top of it. I would highly recommend it.

It makes me wonder what the forest in my area should look like if it were completely healthy.

Mind Stretchers

❔

What is the correct way to file an axe?

Yesterday’s Answer:
Charles then Joe, Lee, Janet, Sue.

Chris Hostetler got the correct answer first!

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected]

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.