🌎 Alien Life

Good morning. I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Easter weekend and didn’t have to worry about too much family drama. Today, we’ll go over China’s humanoid robot runners, the strongest evidence yet for alien life, and a dinosaur discovery.

Sit down, have a snack, and enjoy today’s edition.

— Chase Goepfert, Founder

China is betting big on humanoid robots

Nothing like a 13-mile race to speed up the singularity. Over the weekend, 21 humanoid robots and thousands of runners competed in a half-marathon on the streets of Beijing, highlighting China’s push to manufacture human-like robots.

Race to the finish

The half-marathon was a spectacle, with robots and humans running side by side while spectators were awed. Admittedly, the thought of an AI dusting a seasoned human runner is intimidating, but the robots still have a bit to learn:

• The men’s winner clocked a time of 1 hour and 2 minutes, while the fastest robot crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

• Many of the other robot contestants failed to finish, with one crashing shortly after the start and another falling to pieces (see video).

They came in all shapes and sizes: The running robots, developed by Chinese manufacturers, ranged from under 4’ to around 5’9”, with some sporting a rather industrial appearance while others looked shockingly like, well, humans. One of them can even wink and nod.

The new frontier

In a 2023 report, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology listed humanoid robots as the "new frontier in technological competition" with the goal of developing supply chains and large-scale manufacturing for their essential parts.

In general, China has been making a broader effort to step up its robotics game:

• The nation just invested $138 billion into cutting-edge AI and robotics technology last month.

• Since 2021, China has produced more industrial robots annually than all other nations combined, per the International Federation of Robotics.

While Beijing has a clear lead when it comes to industrial robots, humanoid ones are another story. China lacks many of the core components that are essential for making the Terminator successors, and US tariffs aren’t helping their case.

China isn’t alone: Significant investments in humanoid robots have also been made by Google, Tesla (see video), Nvidia, Apple, and Meta. To expidite development, investors have collectively dumped $7.2 billion in over 50 tech firms since 2015, according to Pitchbook.

Scientists find “strongest evidence yet” of alien life 124 light-years away

Will we finally find out if we are alone in the universe? Astronomers found one of the most promising “hints” of extraterrestrial life beyond our solar system on a giant planet over 740 trillion miles away from Earth.

A unique planet

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers were able to detect traces of what they think are marine microorganisms on K2-18b, an exoplanet found in the habitable zone of its solar system.

• K2-18b is roughly 8.6 times the mass of Earth and nearly three times its size.

What makes them think there’s life? The team of scientists from the University of Cambridge found that the planet's atmosphere had quantities of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), along with other qualities that make it a potential breeding ground for alien organisms.

• On Earth, these compounds are produced exclusively by marine microorganisms like phytoplankton.

• Their presence on K2-18b suggests the possibility of alien life, which could be in the form of ocean-dwelling microbes.

K2-18b is what scientists call a "Hycean" planet— a world that is covered in vast oceans and has a hydrogen-rich atmosphere—which makes it a prime candidate for the hosting of extraterrestrial life.

Sudden skepticism

While the potential of finally finding alien life is extremely exciting, scientists are urging caution, even those who found the groundbreaking evidence. Dr. Nora Hänni, a chemist at the Physics Institute of the University of Berne, said we must “rule out all the other options before claiming life.”

• Those who led the study admitted that there is a possibility that DMS and DMDS were formed through unknown non-biological processes.

Don’t be discouraged: The observation remains the strongest piece of evidence we have of extraterrestrial life beyond our solar system in human history, and obviously, researchers want to be 100% sure.

While further testing is needed to confirm the findings, lead researcher Professor Madhusudhan said there isn’t “any known process that can explain this without biology.” So it will either rewrite our knowledge of biology, or we’re right. I like those chances.

Capital One buys Discover to make the US’s largest credit card company

The purchase marks one of the biggest banking deals since the 2008 financial crisis. On Friday, financial regulators approved Capital One’s $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial, clearing the path for a deal that will create America's largest credit-card issuer.

Major upgrade

The deal will significantly boost Capital One’s credit card business and grant it a card network, giving it space to compete with other US card giants. After the merger, Capital One will control over $650 billion in assets.

• The deal will make the combined entity the largest credit card issuer in the US by loan volume, with around $250 billion, surpassing JPMorgan and Citigroup.

• Capital One $COF ( ▼ 0.03% ) and Discover $DFS ( ▼ 0.07% ) will account for ~22% of the US credit card market.

• The acquisition should bring in around $1.2 billion in annual revenue for Capital One, according to Bloomberg.

Additionally, Discover will now have full access to Discover’s credit card payment network, allowing it to be one of the few to compete with Visa and Mastercard, which are the nation’s largest credit card payment networks (see breakdown).

Is that unfair?

US banking regulators don’t seem to think so. The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency allowed the merger because they say the combined entity won’t hurt competition and will still meet the needs of the communities it serves.

However, as part of the agreement, Capital One has to clean up some of Discover’s messes:

• The Fed approved the deal on the basis that Discover would get fined $100 million for overcharging merchants from 2007 to 2023.

• Concurrently, Discover was ordered to pay a $150 million civil penalty and $1.2 billion in restitution by the FDIC.

Once that is settled, Capital One can reap the benefits of the deal. It plans to keep Discover under its original name for its cards and network, and the deal is expected to close on May 18th.

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First Ankylosaurus tracks in history found in Canada

What else has Canada hidden for the past 100 million years? While traversing the Canadian Rockies, Paleontologists found 100-million-year-old fossilized footprints, uncovering a missing chapter in dinosaur history.

Forgotten dinosaur

The tracks belong to ankylosaurids, which come from a larger group of ankylosaur dinosaurs that boasted features including spikes and vast, armored bodies and lived from the Late Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods.

Ankylosaurs fall into two main groups: Ankylosaurids and nodosaurids, both of which are herbivores and are known for their tank-like, low-hanging frames. They are estimated to weigh over 30,000 pounds and be roughly 30 feet long.

• Ankylosaurids are three-toed dinosaurs with mace-like clubbed tails.

• Nodosaurids, on the other hand, have four toes and a flexible, whip-like tail. Their footprints have been widely documented already.

What about the footprints? The tracks—estimated to be 100 million years old—were found in an extremely well-preserved state, with all digits clearly visible (see images).

A missing record

The long-lost footprints bridge a gap that has been missing from the North American fossil record, giving insight into the habits and behaviors of the armored dinosaurs.

• Ankylosaurids were previously thought to have vanished from the Americas between 84 and 100 million years ago (known as the Cretaceous period), later returning from Asia.

Now, the tracks disprove that theory:

• The findings show that ankylosaurids were not only present during the Cretaceous period, but coexisted with nodosaurids, the other subgroup of ankylosaurs.

The Canadian Rockies are a goldmine for footprints: Tyrannosaurid trails, enormous crocodylian traces, and the biggest Mesozoic bird footprints in North America have all been found in the region. Ankylosaurids now join the growing list, adding yet another page to the ever-expanding book on dinosaurs.

Plants make Home Depot $20 billion a year

It can thank households with more than two cats for 80% of sales. Home Depot’s garden section is worth $20 billion a year, providing the home improvement store with the most sales out of any of its other departments.

Smell the roses

Believe it or not, customers going to Home Depot $HD ( ▲ 0.58% ) are visiting the garden center more than any other part of the store, including lumber, paint, appliances, electrical, or flooring.

• The company’s gardening centers have maintained sales even when other sections slumped due to recent economic uncertainty.

• Spring has become Home Depot’s best time of the year, partly due to the huge demand for plants and other greenery.

Dan Stuppiello, who leads Home Depot’s merchandise, said the company’s “big holiday is spring,” especially since it hosts plant expos, which “build loyalty” by showing what goes on behind the closed doors of its test facilities.

Home Depot has test facilities?

Yep. The retailer analyzes plants under varying conditions in 25 trial gardens spread across nine US climatic zones. This allows the store to supply its gardening centers with greenery straight from trial sites.

According to Stuppiello, rigorous testing has given customers the best chance “to have success in their gardens” and leads them right back to Home Depot, leading to continuous sales. Sounds more like a Frankenstein plot to me.

FAST FACTS
Catch up on this week’s weird news

Chess Champion: GM Magnus Carlsen, largely considered to be the best chess player in the world, won the 2025 Grenke Chess Freestyle Open with a perfect 9/9 score. He had already won by round eight.

Turtle Time: According to a recent study of 48 groups of sea turtles, populations in more than half of the world are beginning to recover from obstacles like coastal development, pollution, and poaching.

Stealing Spikes: A famous cactus collector pulled off an astounding $1 million heist by stealing Copiapoa cacti, a rare cactus group only found in Chile with more than 30 species.

Sick at Sea: Around 200 washed-up sea lions, pelicans, and other marine animals have fallen ill with an algae-borne neurotoxin since February 20th. The Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles is rushing to help treat them.

Pod Pal: Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot, will create a podcast for you using Google Docs you submit. The new feature uses a human-sounding AI and will be released in “the coming weeks.”

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