Today’s Big Story

The Fertility Crash

​ Birth rates are crashing around the world. Should we be worried?

Why are birth rates falling so quickly and in so many places? Falling fertility rates around the world have alarmed governments, tech execs (and noted fertility fans) like Elon Musk, and economists—all for different reasons.

But there’s no denying it: The number of births is shrinking around the world. The birth rate in England and the United States have both reached record lows in the last year. But still developing Turkey has gone even lower than the U.K., and in Mexico, the number of babies has dipped more than America. Why are birth rates falling so quickly and in so many places? And can the trend be reversed?

While numerous policies and financial incentives have been employed globally, few have been proven to reliably boost fertility. But a new study from Nobel Prize–winning economist Claudia Goldin points to the extra hours women spend on child-rearing and household chores compared with men. She found major differences between countries with low fertility and those with even lower rates, or the “lowest-low” nations.

Could this so-called “fertility crash” come down to what men are doing—or not doing? In Sweden, women spend just 0.8 hours more than men each day around the house, and the country’s fertility rate is 1.7 kids per family. And in Denmark, where women work 0.9 hours extra, the fertility rate is also 1.7. As Fortune points out, both rates are below the so-called replacement rate of 2.1 kids per family, which is needed for a country to maintain a stable population.

But they exceed countries with even lower fertility. In South Korea, where the fertility rate is 0.9 kids, women put in 2.8 hours more than men on the home and family each day. And in Italy, where the fertility rate is 1.3, women spend 2.9 extra hours. The U.S., meanwhile, has a Scandinavian-like fertility rate of 1.7, even though women do 1.8 more hours of work at home.

In an interview earlier this month, Goldin said men’s assumptions about what other fathers are doing are important. “It won’t change unless the guy’s expectations about what he’s ‘supposed to do’ changes,” she explained. “There’s some evidence that individual men believe in couple equity more than they act on it, because they believe other people don’t feel this way.”

U.S. Sides With Russia

Washington is in standoff with Ukraine and Europe over competing U.N. resolutions about war

A showdown over Ukraine between the United States and its longtime European allies played out in the United Nations on Monday, as America voted against a U.N. resolution condemning Russia's invasion—siding with Moscow and other non-democratic countries like North Korea, Belarus and Sudan. However, the resolution (sponsored by representatives from Kyiv) passed overwhelmingly in the U.N. General Assembly.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. delegation also abstained from voting on its own competing resolution that simply called for an end to the war, after European-sponsored amendments inserting new anti-Russian language in the resolution were approved in the 193-member body by a wide margin. The amended U.S. resolution also passed.

In both the General Assembly and the Security Council, the United States and some of its closest allies, including Britain and France, were in opposing camps—a “remarkable public fissure between countries that have typically stood together when it comes to Russia and Europe’s security,” reports the New York Times. Coming on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it demonstrated the sharp turn in U.S. foreign policy under President Trump. Recently, the American president has blamed Ukraine for starting the war, called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”, spoken directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin about normalizing Washington-Moscow relations and implied that strong U.S. sanctions against Russia over Ukraine may be lifted.

Americans Don’t Trust Self-Driving Cars … Yet

AAA's latest survey uncovered serious unease about AI-driven vehicles

Are you ready to get into a driverless taxi? Do you trust a computer’s GPS more than, say, a random Uber driver? Well, a convincing majority of Americans remain “afraid” to ride in self-driving vehicles, according to a survey released Monday by AAA.

A January survey of 1,095 people found that 61 percent do not trust self-driving vehicles (that survey question didn’t differentiate between semi-autonomous cars, like some Tesla models, and fully autonomous cars, like Waymo robotaxis). Conversely, 13% trust self-driving vehicles and 26% are unsure of their safety. Mashable points out that while the percentage of those who remain scared of self-driving vehicles dropped from last year’s findings, which was 66%, 2025’s results represent a 7% increase in those frightened of using the technology from when AAA’s first self-driving survey was conducted in 2021.

But the data keeps pointing to computers being better drivers, overall. Recent research published by the Nature Communications Journal compared accident data from 2,100 autonomous driving systems and 25,113 human-driven cars. The study found that self-driving cars had fewer accidents than human-driven vehicles in most comparable scenarios. And the NHTSA says that automated technologies are likely able to detect the threat of a crash and act faster than people.

Does Lip Balm Help Chapped Lips?

Or are those little addictive tubes making things worse?

Winter is notoriously tough on our skin—and our lips have some of the most sensitive and thinnest skin on our bodies. If you’re suffering from dry, chapped lips, you’re likely reaching for a tube of lip balm. Or maybe you’re applying like crazy to ward off any dreaded cracks. But do these balms soothe flaking or can they make it worse?

At the base level, lip balms can help seal moisture into the lips, Dr. Jenna Lester told the Associated Press. But some people can’t take fragrances, flavors and preservatives found in popular balms. She warns those with sensitive skin to stay clear of lanolin, oxybenzone and excess fragrances. Those can “actually exacerbate irritation and dryness, prompting the need for more.”

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends lip balms that contain natural ceramides, hemp seed oil, mineral oil and shea butter. Coconut, avocado and extra-virgin olive oils help nourish chapped lips, too, Dr. Danny C. Del Campo, a dermatologist in Chicago, told the New York Times. He also said old school standbys, petroleum jelly (commonly listed as petrolatum or white petrolatum on labels), castor oil and glycerin, are perfectly good and will help lips heal—without causing any dependency for more and more lip balm. So, in short, use it while you need it (and not when you don’t).

Worth a Listen

Scratch & Win Podcast

Do you like scratcher tickets? Play the PowerBall when it gets over a billion dollars? “Scratch & Win” is a podcast series that follows the unlikely rise of America’s most successful lottery. It kicks off with the start of America’s lottery system (which was a standoff between Boston bureaucrats and mafia bookmakers). But the story reaches all the way to the present moment. How do we feel about the gambling industry that lotteries helped summon into being? And should the state be in this business at all? “Scratch & Win” is made by the Peabody Award-winning team behind “The Big Dig,” and is both surprising and informative.

Believe in yourself.