Airport theory, children's mattresses concerns, using poo for good: Catch up on the day's stories
Editor's Note: CNN's 5 Things newsletter is your one-stop shop for the latest headlines and fascinating stories to start and end your busy day. Sign up here.
👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! Congratulations on getting your taxes done and filed. If you're in line for a refund — or already have received one — it presents an opportunity to improve your financial situation in one or more ways. The question is, what makes the most sense for you? Consider these options.
Here's what else you might have missed during your busy day:
1️⃣ Calling all parents: As your children sleep, their mattresses and bedding may release toxic flame retardants and other chemicals linked to hormonal, reproductive and developmental harm, according to two new studies. Researchers told CNN that the brands were well-known, lower-cost mattresses found at leading retail stores.
2️⃣ 15-minute dash: Do you really need to turn up at the airport two or three hours before your flight? A viral trend called 'airport theory' has people testing the limits of how late they can arrive at the terminal — a high-stakes gamble with both winners and losers.
3️⃣ Filling in fossil record gaps: It's a long-standing debate in paleontology: Were dinosaurs headed for extinction even before a massive asteroid strike? To find answers, a team of scientists studied North America's fossil record, focusing on the 18 million years before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
4️⃣ Espresso yourself: … or not! Starbucks is rolling out a new uniform policy next month to create a sense of familiarity for its customers. The coffee chain has been looking for ways to bring people back into stores and is focusing on one recognizable item to help revive the brand.
5️⃣ Tech for thought: Using technology may be linked with a lower risk of developing cognitive decline later in life, a study has found. But if you're thinking that means you're free to scroll to your heart's content — not so fast. Experts say there are still many uncertainties.
🚀 Extraterrestrial escapade: Four passengers from SpaceX's Fram2 mission talk about their unique orbit over Earth's North and South poles and the research they worked on while in space.
• White House calls on Harvard University to apologize as it doubles down on funding freeze• Here's what's about to become more expensive with the next round of tariffs• His conviction was hailed as a #MeToo victory. After winning his appeal, Harvey Weinstein is back on trial
🍔 Chili's is starting beef with McDonald's, saying its version of a quarter pounder burger has that much more meat compared to the fast food classic.
✨ Living lavish: Rock star Lenny Kravitz shows off his luxurious Paris townhouse for Architectural Digest. Kravitz calls his aesthetic 'soulful elegance' and says his sensibility reflects his upbringing in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
🏥 Partial paralysis: The 'Old Town Road' rapper posted a series of videos to social media from the hospital, sharing that he lost control over the right side of his face.
✈️ Which airline will offer free Wi-Fi on most of its flights, becoming the latest major carrier to add the perk? A. FrontierB. AllegiantC. Hawaiian AirlinesD. American Airlines⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.
💩 Using poo for good: It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it — and it's paying off. By analyzing animal feces, researchers say findings could help conservationists better monitor wildlife and perhaps even restore dwindling populations.
👋 We'll see you tomorrow. 🧠 Quiz answer: D. Beginning in January 2026, members of American Airlines' free loyalty program will have access to the perk.📧 Check out all of CNN's newsletters.
5 Things PM is produced by CNN's Meghan Pryce.
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Blue Origin launch: How to watch Jeff Bezos' company's next human spaceflight from Texas
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Six more space tourists are preparing to join the growing ranks of civilians who have flown on a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space. The vehicle they'll ride to orbit, Blue Origin's New Shepard, is the same one that 58 others have ridden to space on 11 previous human spaceflights from the company's west Texas facility. The New Shepard's maiden voyage in July 2021 with a crew even included billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns the space technology company. New Shepard is composed of both a rocket and a crew capsule, which is outfitted with large windows for its passengers to glimpse spectacular views that most of us will never see. The rest of us will instead have to content ourselves with watching the mission on solid ground. Fortunately, Blue Origin will provide a livestream for the launch and spaceflight. Here's everything to know about Blue Origin's next human spaceflight and how to watch a livestream. When is the next Blue Origin launch? 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When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Birds have been nesting in rugged Arctic environments for almost 73 million years, new research finds — more than 25 million years longer than was previously thought. A collection of more than 50 fossils found in northern Alaska, which include embryos and hatchlings, suggest some of the early ancestors of modern birds either migrated or adapted to the harsh polar environment in the Mesozoic era, the age of dinosaurs. "The common conception is they're too primitive to be exhibiting this advanced behavior," Lauren Wilson, lead author of the study and a doctoral student of paleontology at Princeton University, told Live Science. "So you're either dealing with [Arctic winters] as an itty-bitty, freshly hatched bird, or you're 3 months old, and having to fly about 2,000 kilometers [1,240 miles] to get to a point where it makes sense to even migrate," Wilson explained. 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They lived alongside "probably about 12 or 13 different kinds of typical dinosaurs," like the Pachyrhinosaurus, a relative of Triceratops that was about 16 feet (5 meters) long and weighed 2 tons (1,800 kilograms). Other dinosaurs like Troodon, an 11-foot tall meat-eater with short, serrated teeth, "would have happily taken advantage of a bunch of these little cute little chicks for dinner," said Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and advising author of the study. RELATED STORIES —Chickens sprouted dino-like feathers when scientists messed with the Sonic Hedgehog gene —Why don't all birds fly? —Ancient duck-like creature discovered in Antarctica may be the oldest modern bird ever discovered To get to the fossil sites in the Prince Creek Formation in Northern Alaska, the researchers drove 500 miles (800 km) from Fairbanks, chartered a small aircraft to fly to the Colville River, then took inflatable motorboats up the river before setting up camp, Druckenmiller said. There they would look for an "orangey, pebbly, sandy" layer of sediment that contains small bones and teeth, and often lay on the permafrost to "excavate with little dental picks and small tools" from the layer itself. Now that the Prince Creek Formation is "one of the major North American Cretaceous bird sites," according to the researchers, Wilson says the next step is simply to find more fossils. "The more bones we find, the more confident we can be in exactly what types of birds we have," she said. "We might even still find a random bone that's from a bird we didn't know was there."
