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Good morning, it's Wednesday, July 22. One piece of transportation history has been found at the bottom of the Atlantic, while another is steaming across the country. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: the estimated cost of the Iran war (Need To Know), a country hit ties a Billboard record (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), a homeowner's nightmare purchase (In-Depth), the world's largest pop-up book (Etc.), and much more.
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Need To Know
Pan Am Found
The wreckage of Pan Am's Clipper Endeavor has been found off Puerto Rico, 74 years after the flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Douglas DC-4, roughly the size of a Boeing 737, took off from San Juan on April 11, 1952, bound for New York, but shortly after departure, the plane suffered engine failure and ditched at sea. Fifty-two of the 69 people aboard died, while 17 survived the crash—two of whom are still living today. The accident prompted sweeping aviation safety changes, including the now-standard preflight safety briefing, after many passengers refused the pilot's orders to evacuate and remained strapped into their seats.
An underwater search team located the plane roughly 2,000 feet below the surface, identifying it by the still-visible Pan Am logo and the aircraft's name painted on the largely intact wreckage. Watch how Pan Am went from aviation giant to aviation history—and explore other unsolved flight mysteries.
War Chest Cost
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine testified before a key Senate committee yesterday, advocating for the Trump administration’s request of $1.5T, including $67.1B in immediate funding to help cover the costs of the Iran war. Hegseth estimated the war has cost $37.5B to date. See takeaways here.
The request covers weapons, classified programs, fuel, operations, cybersecurity, and drones, among other costs. A shortfall has already reportedly forced the Pentagon to limit training and maintenance efforts; parts of the Navy and Air Force budgets are expected to run out of funds by August. The House plans to vote later this week to authorize $73B in defense spending before breaking for a weekslong recess; Democratic opposition may block the bill’s advance.
The testimony comes as President Donald Trump said the US will soon strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, where he suggested Iran may have moved its centrifuges (see how nuclear enrichment works, via YouTube).
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🫶 Humankind: California firefighters give oxygen to a bird that likely suffered from smoke inhalation after a vehicle fire. (w/video)
Big Boy Locomotive
The world’s largest operating steam locomotive, Big Boy 4014, arrived in Kansas City yesterday as part of a monthslong coast-to-coast tour honoring the United States’ 250th anniversary. Watch the gigantic steam engine in action here.
Big Boy 4014 was one of 25 large locomotives built for Union Pacific in the 1940s. The 1.2-million-pound machine hauled heavy freight through mountain passes during World War II. Retired in 1961 as steam engines were replaced by cheaper diesel-electric trains, Big Boy 4014 spent over five decades in a museum before Union Pacific reacquired it and converted it from coal to fuel oil. Though still too inefficient for regular service—using around 250 gallons of water and 15 gallons of fuel per mile—this summer's tour has drawn sentimental crowds (w/photos).
The locomotive began its journey at the groundbreaking site of the transcontinental railroad in Sacramento, traveled east of the Mississippi, and stopped in Philadelphia for July Fourth. It is now heading back west; track it here.
In The Know
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" ties Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 among nonholiday songs by women (More) | Listen to "Choosin' Texas" (More)
> Prosecutors present bodycam footage, crime scene photos, and police testimony to Los Angeles judge weighing whether there is probable cause to bring singer D4vd, 21, to trial for the murder of a 14-year-old girl (More) | See case timeline (More)
> Kaylee Hottle, deaf actress who played Jia in the "Godzilla vs. Kong" movies, dies in a one-vehicle crash at age 18 (More) | Watch Jia with King Kong (More)
Science & Technology
> Restoring levels of a hormone produced by the thymus gland could help curb age-related inflammation and boost the effectiveness of immunotherapies used to treat cancer and other diseases (More) | What's the thymus? (More)
> Personalized gene therapy helps teenager with rare, severe form of epilepsy walk independently for the first time with 90% reduction in seizure frequency; another patient, five years younger, sees 26% drop in seizure frequency (More)
> Milky Way's orientation likely flipped by more than 90 degrees about 10 billion to 11 billion years ago after a major collision with another galaxy, possibly explaining why some stars rotate in the outer Milky Way so slowly (More, w/computer simulation)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.9%, Dow +0.7%, Nasdaq +1.3%) (More) | Why does the stock market matter? (More, w/video)
> CVS Pharmacy to begin filling pet prescriptions at roughly 9,000 locations nationwide (More) | How CVS got its name (More) | Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly, alleging ads comparing their weight-loss and diabetes drugs are misleading (More)
> Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises agrees to sell auto-service chain Pep Boys to Mavis Tire for roughly $700M in cash (More)
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Politics & World Affairs
> France becomes first EU country to block social media access to kids under age 15, law is on track to go into effect Sept. 1 (More) | How effective was Australia's social media ban? (More)
> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fires his commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, amid ongoing protests over the recent firing of Ukraine's defense minister (More) | See scenes from last week's protests (More, via YouTube)
> Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega says the country will "never again" hold elections, pledging to extend his 20-year rule (More)
In-Depth
> The Rosenberg Boys
The Atlantic | Amy Weiss-Meyer. In 1953, two boys, ages 6 and 10, lost their parents as a result of execution by electric chair. They spent decades insisting their parents were innocent. Then the decrypted Soviet cables arrived. (Read)
> The Home Purchase from Hell
WSJ | Kate King. Buying a home sight unseen seemed risky enough—until one new owner walked inside and found three dead bodies. (Read)
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Etcetera
The US' 50 most expensive school districts.
Study finds monkeys can understand shapes like we do.
About 25% of Americans are estranged from a relative. What gives?
Minnesota's 66-foot-tall nutcracker is the world's tallest. (w/photo)
... and check out the world's largest pop-up book. (scroll for gif)
Why handwashing dishes makes the dishwasher less efficient. (w/video)
See Makeda, the baby baboon born in the San Diego Zoo.
Why the US' first female soldiers were called "Hello Girls."
A lightsaber with Luke Skywalker's hand sells for $3.8M.
Clickbait: Babies are cuddling giant melons in China.
Historybook: "America the Beautiful" written (1893); Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta born (1932); Infamous gangster John Dillinger killed by federal agents (1934); "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek born (1940); Singer and actress Selena Gomez born (1992).
"I just enjoy the moment I’m in. For me, life is a whole experience, not just a series of isolated moments. It’s like submerging yourself into a warm bath rather than sticking your toe under the faucet."
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