The death of a pathogen researcher in Siberia has raised concerns about a possible outbreak of pneumonic plague, as Russian authorities continue to be tight-lipped about the case.

The CDC is reportedly monitoring the situation, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pressing Russia to disclose more information.

Last week, a worker died after developing severe pneumonia after a possible laboratory exposure at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.

Russian authorities later placed nearly 200 people under medical observation and began quarantine measures at a local hospital.

It’s a serious disease: Pneumonic plague is a rare lung infection that spreads through respiratory droplets and is almost 100% fatal if not treated immediately. It is the most lethal form of the plague, and the disease behind the Black Death (see more).

The CDC says it has put measures in place to identify the roughly 200 travelers who arrive in the US from the affected region per year, though countermeasures are harder to put in place with low transparency from Russia.

According to the World Health Organization, Russia has failed to provide:

How big is the risk that it spreads? CDC Director Erica Schwartz said the agency considers the threat to the US “extremely low” for now, a claim the WHO agreed with earlier this week.

Winter, apparently, saw your grocery bill and decided it wanted in too. Americans who warm their homes with oil could see bills rise by roughly 50% this winter, according to a recent analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

Over 4 million US households rely on heating oil, leaving the Northeast particularly vulnerable since the region consumes around 82% of the nation's supply.

The US Energy Information Administration expects:

Why will this year be more expensive? You’re probably familiar if you’ve been reading the newsletter as of late. War in the Middle East and Ukraine has disrupted fuel supplies, significantly driving up prices.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nation could see a decrease: Households using natural gas could see heating costs drop 9%, while propane users may save 3%, thanks to strong US reserves and less dependence on oil prices.

Several Northeastern states are already trying to soften the impact:

What’s a general tip that applies to everyone? The Energy Department recommends weatherization measures like sealing drafts and adding insulation, which one expert estimates could slash your energy bills by about 10%.

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⏰ Scientists just built the world’s first nuclear clocks. Unlike traditional atomic clocks, which track changes in electrons, nuclear clocks use lasers to measure changes inside an atom’s nucleus. One prototype is already accurate enough to lose just one second every 30 million years, although the best existing atomic clocks are still more precise. Researchers believe future versions could be even more accurate and eventually improve GPS navigation, telecommunications, and help search for dark matter.

🏆 Multiple Nobel Prize winners were announced this week. This year’s Nobel Prizes honored breakthroughs across medicine, physics, and chemistry. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel won for optogenetics, which uses light to control brain cells. Francis Halzen won for helping detect elusive “ghost particles” from space, while Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were recognized for controlling mirror-image molecules, a breakthrough that helped advance modern drug development.

➗ Mathematicians are pretty mad at ChatGPT. OpenAI released more than 300 mathematical findings this week, including progress on some of the world's most notoriously difficult unsolved problems. The breakthrough comes just a month after OpenAI claimed its AI had solved a famous $1 million Millennium Prize problem, although that claim remains disputed. While researchers are (begrudgingly) impressed, some worry about errors, transparency, and what happens when private tech companies start dominating scientific discoveries.

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Reality always finds a way to be stranger than fiction. Germany’s former spy chief, 80-year-old August Hanning, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of espionage, attempted treason, and spying for another country.

It comes as Germany already has a senior officer on trial after they were accused of passing classified information to Russia.

Hanning left Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service in 2005, but prosecutors say his access to its secrets didn’t end there:

How they uncovered it is even more interesting: Investigators found the intelligence documents while searching Hanning’s property in a separate case involving steakhouse heiress Christina Block, who herself is accused of arranging the kidnapping of two of her children during a custody dispute.

Who did he give the secrets to? Authorities haven’t revealed which countries Hanning allegedly spied for, however, prosecutors say Hanning connected Block with a private security firm run by former Israeli intelligence operatives, though he denies involvement.

Much like that time when you accidentally became important at work (whether you wanted to or not), demand for websites ending in .si has skyrocketed in the past week.

As luck would have it, that's the country's official domain extension.

The surge of interest came after President Trump’s executive order requiring federal agencies to adopt the term “super intelligence” in place of “artificial intelligence,” leading a massive wave of hopefuls to try and capitalize on the opportunity.

And they did… in a very big way:

Funnily enough, only about 3% of the domains registered were AI-related, according to web hosting platform Hostinger.

What’s the point of buying .si? Some buyers are treating the domains like digital collectibles, betting they’ll be able to resell desirable names later for a fat profit. One founder told TechCrunch he bought his company’s .si address simply to protect the brand in case the trend takes off.

This isn’t the first time: The rush echoes what happened with Anguilla’s .ai domain during the AI boom, when startups scrambled to grab short, tech-friendly web addresses.

→ More than 122,000 cases of Gatorade across 37 states are being recalled because of added artificial food dyes. Check if your state is impacted here.

→ America’s generations are moving in noticeably different directions, with boomers flocking to the Carolinas while Gen Z’s top destinations are Texas, California, and New York, according to U-Haul data.

→ MIT researchers have developed a navigation system that lets drones fly through unfamiliar environments and avoid unpredictable obstacles, which could be used in mining, delivery, and rescue missions.

→ Extreme heat can pose serious risks during pregnancy, with heatwaves linked to a roughly 25% increase in obstetric complications and each 1°C rise associated with around a 5% higher chance of preterm birth.

→ Even Warren Buffett can’t escape the algorithm, as the 96-year-old legendary investor reportedly spends nearly every night falling down YouTube rabbit holes from a recliner at home.

→ Halloween has changed quite a bit in the past century.

→ The world’s best dog photos just released.

→ See a chart of each state’s preferred ice cream flavor.