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Today’s Big Story

The Plan to Break Up Google

Why the government’s plan is such a big deal

Earlier this fall, the Justice Department prevailed in its antitrust case against Google, with a federal judge ruling that the search company is “a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” Now, the government has reportedly decided what it would like to do next:

“Alphabet Inc.’s Chrome browser could fetch as much as $20 billion if a judge agrees to a Justice Department proposal to sell the business, in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the world’s biggest tech companies.” Intelligencer says that cleaving off Chrome (the most popular browser in the world) was one of the likeliest consequences of a Google breakup—the other being a spinoff of Android, the most popular mobile operating system in the world.

It sounds pretty simple from a consumer standpoint; to most people, Chrome is just that browser you download after you buy a new computer. In practice, though, many say it could prove to be spectacularly messy—and, depending on what you think the government’s goal is, quite effective. But Intelligencer breaks it down like this: “Chrome’s role in the economy of the internet is much weirder and more significant than that.” Chrome is a commercial product created by Google, but it’s based almost entirely on Chromium, which is a free, open-source browser software available for licensing by other companies and organizations. Microsoft’s Edge is built on Chromium. The browser Amazon uses on its devices, Silk, is based on Chromium. Most alternative browsers are based on Chromium, including Opera, Arc, Brave and DuckDuckGo. And while the Chromium project is a not-for-profit operation, it’s primarily managed and funded by Google, meaning that the project’s priorities are influenced by the company, meaning that if you’re planning on building a product on the web, you’re effectively building a product around products and standards influenced primarily by Google.

According to Bloomberg, officials will recommend that the company “give websites more options to prevent their content from being used by Google’s artificial intelligence products.” Finally, they will reportedly push for “a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of the case against Google.” Of course, Google’s regulatory affairs VP, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said that the DOJ “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”

But, like with so many things, the recent election might have an effect on this. Digiday reminds us that this isn’t exactly an anti-Google administration stepping into power. President-elect Donald Trump underscored that point last month when he seemed to suggest breaking up Google isn’t in U.S. national interest. Sure, his stance could shift—predictability isn’t his forte—but for now, don’t bet on it.

Ozempic vs. Junk Food

As weight-loss drugs turn consumers off ultraprocessed foods, the industry has to pivot

Cheetos. Doritos. Oreos. All those snacks that end in -os are things that you never want to stop eating, right? They’re so satisfying … that you … just … keep eating them. As the New York Times points out, “Big Food has been marketing products to people who can’t stop eating” for decades. But now, suddenly, they can. The active ingredient in Ozempic, as in Wegovy, Zepbound and several other similar new drugs, mimics a natural hormone, called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), that slows digestion and signals fullness to the brain.

Around 7 million Americans now take a GLP-1 drug, and Morgan Stanley estimates that by 2035 the number of U.S. users could expand to 24 million. Those taking the drugs have reported losing interest in ultraprocessed foods, products the Times describes as “made with ingredients you wouldn’t find in an ordinary kitchen: colorings, bleaching agents, artificial sweeteners and modified starches.” You better believe that snack food companies and fast food chains are taking notice.

Already there’s been talk of a line of pizza and pasta dishes from Nestlé that’ll be launched and marketed specifically toward those taking weight loss drugs. The world’s biggest food company is pitching them as “food solutions” for people who want to complement their use of the drugs with “the right nutrition.”

Wild Weather Is Coming

A blast of snow and cold from one coast, a bomb cyclone from the other

What was expected to be one of the strongest storms in the northwest U.S. in decades arrived Tuesday evening, knocking out power and downing trees across the region. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting through Friday as the strongest atmospheric river—a large plume of moisture—that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season bears down on the region. The storm system is considered a “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly.

This year, it’s been the fifth-slowest start to the snow season since at least 2008. But that’s now changing. The same weather system is expected to produce “significant high wind impacts and heavy mountain snow” across parts of Washington state, Oregon and Idaho, according to the National Weather Service. Already, more than 600,000 customers are without power and another storm may be right behind this one.

Meanwhile, on the east coast, a “buckle in the jet stream will give rise to a multifaceted storm system, bringing wet snow, much-needed moisture, blustery conditions to much of the eastern half of the United States. Beginning Thursday into the weekend, conditions will contrast sharply with the tranquility that fall 2024 has been known for, with the potential for wet snow across more than a dozen states. So make sure you’re dressing warmly and staying home if you don’t have to leave the house.

Inhaling Vitamins

New evidence finds air is an overlooked source of nutrients

There’s something uniquely satisfying about taking a long, deep breath. And it turns out, there may be more to it than a simple lack of pollution. When we think of nutrients, we think of things we obtain from our diet. However, the latest science shows that there’s strong evidence humans can also absorb some nutrients right from the air.

In a new perspective article published in Advances in Nutrition, researchers are calling these inhaled nutrients “aeronutrients”—to differentiate them from the “gastronutrients” that are absorbed by the gut. They propose that breathing supplements our diet with essential nutrients such as iodine, zinc, manganese and some vitamins. This idea is strongly supported by published data. So, why haven’t you heard about this until now?

According to The Conversation, we breathe in about 9,000 liters of air a day and around 450 million liters in a lifetime. Unlike eating, breathing never stops. Our exposure to the components of air, even in very small concentrations, adds up over time. And scientists now believe that aeronutrients enter our body by being absorbed through networks of tiny blood vessels in the nose, lungs, olfactory epithelium (the area where smell is detected) and the oropharynx (the back of the throat). The lungs can absorb far larger molecules than the gut—260 times larger, to be exact. These molecules are absorbed intact right into the bloodstream and brain. One way to think of it is like inhaled drugs—cocaine, nicotine and anaesthetics, for example—will enter the body within seconds. And they’re effective at far lower concentrations than would be needed if they were being consumed by mouth.

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