What We’re Following
Two Koreas: At last, it appears that the Korean War is beginning to end. North and South Korea have been moving to “dismantle guard posts, designate no-fly zones, and disarm what was once the most volatile place on the peninsula,” reports Uri Friedman. But the process of reconciliation seems to be outpacing denuclearization. Who gets credit? And who might still be dissatisfied with the state of affairs on the peninsula?
National Politics: The Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith won the seat in Mississippi, ending a disappointing season for black candidates for statewide offices across the country. Nancy Pelosi, still well positioned to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, isn’t budging in the face of questions about putting an end date on her House leadership. And remember Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who started his prison sentence earlier this week? His Russia ties continue to intrigue.
Study Says: Here’s a lightning round of fascinating recent research. If you’re not a person who thrives in the cold, you may not be one of these two types of people, who do better in frigid environments. Another recent study finds that Ph.D. students are disproportionately likely to struggle with mental-health issues. It turns out that our reference human genome is missing 300 million letters of DNA. And are women actually earning 49 cents for every dollar earned by a man—a far greater gender wage gap than the most commonly cited figure?
