Super duper Super Bowl: Philly whoops Kansas City

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Super duper Super Bowl: Philly whoops Kansas City

You may not give a damn about American football, but sadly our editor doesn’t care. Her team won and everyone’s gonna know about it.

The game: Two-time defending champs Kansas City Chiefs were beaten by the Philadelphia Eagles—taking revenge for their loss in the 2023 Super Bowl. So the Chiefs didn’t get to make history by winning three in a row. The final score: 40-22. We will spare you the game details—which are available over at ESPN.

See the nicest quarterback in the NFL—Jalen Hurts—enjoying the moment below:

The halftime show: Kendrick Lamar was awesome—as was his diss track of Drake (watch the whole show here).

He had excellent company—as in Serena Williams popping off:

And a Palestine supporter gate-crashed the party:

Other stuff to see: If you want to watch a very stilted Timothy Chalamet X Lamar convo—staged as a preview for the show—be our guest.

We were more entertained by Travis Kelce’s pregame fit:

Taylor Swift was entertained by the crowds booing her:

Most definitely looking for attention: Donald Trump who showed up in the stands:

The death risk of marijuana

A new study has found that people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) are nearly three times more likely to die within five years of their diagnosis. Also this:

Patients with cannabis use disorder were 10 times as likely to die by suicide as those in the general population. They were also more likely to die from trauma, drug poisonings and lung cancer.

Wtf cannabis use disorder?: It is “defined as being unable to stop using cannabis even though it’s causing serious health and social problems.” Around 30% of cannabis users suffer from the addiction. The condition is best understood as similar to alcoholism—not everyone who drinks becomes an addict.

Also this: A second study from the same team looked at the number of cases of cannabis-related psychosis and schizophrenia—before, during and after legalization. The proportion of schizophrenia cases nearly tripled, from 3.7% to 10.3%. Cases of psychosis also nearly doubled.

An effect of legalisation? According to the authors, legalisation has made more dangerous types of marijuana freely available:

“Many people think, ‘Oh, cannabis is not harmful — it’s organic, it’s natural; how great,’” said Dr. Laura Bierut... But the marijuana sold today is far more potent, and more harmful, than what baby boomers smoked in the 1960s and 1970s, she said.

More importantly, it is freely available to young people between the ages of 19 and 24:

“This is a period of the life span when the brain is still developing and still vulnerable to the effects of cannabis,” Dr. Gilman said. Psychosis and schizophrenia are also known to develop in young adulthood, she added, “so you have a double hit.”

New York Times has lots more on the two studies.

Christie’s controversial AI art auction

The reputed auction house announced the sale exclusively of AI-generated art. Titled ‘Augmented Intelligence’, the works span painting, sculpture, digital works, and interactive experiences. Some of these involve artists using AI to play with their own works of art. Others are created entirely by a machine:

Van Arman has up for grabs nine canvases from his “Emerging Faces” series. From 2017, the artist ran two generative A.I. models simultaneously, with one imagining and painting faces until the other recognized a human face. The resulting works represent some of the earliest paintings created by a neural network.

The process looks like this:

The most fun and innovative work involves a giant robot:

At Christie’s Rockefeller headquarters, the artist has installed a 12-by-10 feet painting robot built by robotics company Matr Labs and programmed to paint on a canvas. Its moves, while guided by Reben’s code, will be triggered each time it is bid on. The bigger the bid, the more the robot paints. The estimate for the piece, then, is anywhere from $100 to $1.7 million, per Sales Giles.

It looks like this:

Point to note: Not everyone is thrilled by the exhibit—with critics claiming the AI has been trained on the works of other people—without their consent. ArtNet has a nice write up of the exhibit—plus images of the works.

Squishy slime that can produce electricity

Researchers from University of Guelph have developed “slime” that can produce electricity when it is squished! Think elementary school slime project, but on steroids. It is made of oleic acid (a fatty acid present in olive oil), amino acids (which make up our protein) and 90% water—making it safe for the environment and our bodies.

And why would we need electric slime? It can potentially be used in anything from clean energy production to medical products. For example, bandages:

‘Our bodies produce small electric fields to attract healing cells to an open wound,’ Erica Pensini, an environmental engineer at the University of Guelph and co-author on the study… ‘By creating a bandage that increases this electric field, healing could theoretically happen faster. In this case, the bandage would be activated by our natural movements and breathing.’

Read the study here. Below is a nerdy video from the researchers explaining how it works. (Gizmodo)

what caught our eye

business & tech

One of Meta’s earliest employees—Kelly Stonelake—has sued the company for sexual harassment and gender discrimination, between 2009 and 2024.
A key financial expert says US dominance of the global markets is over: “US exceptionalism now exceptionally expensive, exceptionally well-owned… ‘Magnificent 7’ becomes ‘Lagnificent 7’.”
Politico has a must-read on the 15 days that upended Emmanuel Macron’s vision for European AI, which includes Trump’s Stargate announcement and DeepSeek’s breakthrough.

sports & entertainment

Please don’t suck, please don’t suck—Nawazuddin Siddiqui is set to play Hugh Laurie’s role in the Indian adaptation of ‘House. MD.’
‘Anora’ wins big at the Producers and Directors Guild Awards, cementing its status as a front-runner for the best-picture Oscar after a rough Golden Globes showing.
In a new way to crush people’s dreams, Ticketmaster has been cancelling the tickets of many Oasis fans...by accusing them of being bots.
Sticking with gigs, the heavy metal OGs—Black Sabbath—are reuniting for a one-off concert for charity in Birmingham in July.
Rohit Sharma ended his lean patch with a brilliant century, leading India to a four-wicket victory over England in the second ODI on Sunday, securing the three-match series.
PV Sindhu has pulled out of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships due to a hamstring injury.
The Guardian has a must-read on how sporting relations between Serbia and Albania have cooled, a decade on from an onfield brawl causing a diplomatic incident.

health & environment

A new study reveals that heart failure patients die 10 years earlier than their counterparts living in higher-income countries.
New York Times has a good read on how the dismantling of USAID under Trump and Elon Musk is already endangering millions of lives in Africa.
Indian hospitals are expanding their international patient base as medical tourism from Bangladesh dips sharply due to the country’s political crisis.
Happier news: A new USAID memo reveals that American-funded aid efforts to tackle diseases like TB and malaria, can now resume after the Trump administration had frozen all international aid.
Even just three days of a juicing ‘cleanse’ can lead to harmful changes in our gut and mouth bacteria.
Children of divorced parents are substantially more likely to have a stroke later in life, according to a new study.
Another day, another alarming climate change news—this time, most countries have missed the deadline to submit plans on greenhouse gas emissions and divest from fossil fuels, ahead of COP30.
New research reveals that blue stains seen on tree rings can help reconstruct the climate of thousands of years ago.
ArsTechnica has a good read on how North America’s largest bird—the California condor—has returned to the skies, decades after they stopped appearing in the wild.

as for the rest

Trump dismissed calls for Prince Harry's deportation, saying, "He's got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible," as a legal battle unfolds over whether Harry lied about past drug use on his visa application.
A federal judge blocked Musk's DOGE from accessing a critical Treasury payment system that distributes tax returns, Social Security benefits, and federal salaries.
Manipur CM N Biren Singh resigned after meeting Amit Shah, following a Supreme Court order to verify alleged audio recordings in which he claims responsibility for orchestrating violence against the Kuki-Zo community. Related good read: on how the dominoes that led to his resignation fell.
Indian forces have killed 31 suspected Maoist rebels and two security personnel in the deadliest combat this year, following an operation in Chhattisgarh state.
Israeli security forces have expanded a military operation in the West Bank, while also withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
After strong far-right showings in last year's European Parliament elections, a Madrid rally by the EU's largest far-right bloc adopted the "Make Europe Great Again" slogan in—you guessed it—a nod to the Donald’s ‘MAGA’.
Trump’s executive order backing disputed claims of Afrikaner persecution in South Africa has been met with cheers from some Afrikaners, reviving long-debunked narratives of land grabs and mass killings.
Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, is shrinking rapidly as young people leave for Seoul, intensifying South Korea's demographic crisis with the world's lowest fertility rate. For more, read our big story explaining the global decline in fertility rates.
The News Minute has a good read on why Karnataka’s police compare cybercrime to a mutating virus—as financial fraud cases have surged from just three in 2016 to 48 a day in Bangalore alone.
Bangalore has seen 40 pubs close in the past year, citing rising costs, decreased footfall, and government price hikes, with owners calling for financial relief.
Indrani Mukerjea—accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora—has been welcomed back into society much like infamous Manu Sharma: her memoir ‘Unbroken’ has won the Best Debut Non-Fiction Award at the PVLF Author Excellent Awards.
After a recent bus fare hike, Bangaloreans will now pay more for Namma Metro rides from February 9, with fares rising up to Rs 90 for longer distances.
Fourteen Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for alleged poaching, with two boats seized—bringing the total to over 50 detentions in less than two weeks.
Economic Times has information on the 20,000 Indian students who vanished in Canada—many duped by fake colleges or exploiting visa loopholes to work instead of study.
Al Jazeera has a good read on why Pakistan’s Punjab province has imposed a total ban on kite flying ahead of the Basant festival—citing public safety concerns.
Asia’s biggest air show, Aero India, is set to begin on February 10 in Bangalore, with over 900 exhibitors, including 150 foreign companies, spread across 42,000 square metres of space.
Barbara Kingsolver used royalties from ‘Demon Copperhead’ to build a rehab center for women in recovery, following her exploration of addiction in Appalachia in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Five things to see

One: Elon Musk is on the TIME magazine’s cover yet again. The November feature hailed the billionaire as a “kingmaker” and shows Musk sitting behind the big man’s desk in the Oval Office. What high-end media trolling looks like. Read the feature here. (CNN)

Two: Ed Sheeran surprised fans on Sunday morning with an impromptu performance on Church Street in Bangalore. But the diligent police shut him down—saying he didn’t have permission. Clearly, Bengaluru cops can’t just chill maadi. (Times of India)

Three: Ranveer Allahbadia has done it again. The popular podcaster also known as Beerbiceps has gone viral for asking perhaps the ickiest question ever asked on a public show: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex for the rest of your life, or would you join in once and stop it forever?” He pulled out this masterpiece on an episode of YouTube comedy roast show ‘India’s Got Latent’. (Mint)

Four: Robbie Williams’ new biopic ‘Better Man’—in which the singer is depicted as a CGI monkey—did badly at the box office, but won Best Film at Australia’s AACTA awards on Friday. When taking the stage, Williams provided a hilarious and brutally honest acceptance speech—in which he thanked drugs, ADHD, anxiety, “a lower than average sized-penis” and other such things for making the film possible. Watch his speech below. (News.com.au)

Five: Meet Kombara Kannan—who is the elephant on duty at the Kombara Sreekrishna Swami temple in Thrissur, Kerala. The excellent bit: He is a life-size mechanical Ellie—a gift from Sitarist Anoushka Shankar and PETA India, in recognition of the temple’s decision not to own or hire live elephants. (The Hindu)