Sunday Soup: Morning People, Prediction Markets, 'First the Frogs Died...'
Those articles, streaming recommendations and more, including a follow-up book if you loved Ken Burns 'The American Revolution.'
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We are counting down to some of the last bowls of Sunday Soup for 2025. This time around, we have articles that get behind the surge in prediction markets, question how long a person should be on antidepressants, and discuss the sharp move higher in NYC rents. Others dig into the social pain we early risers feel, why the disappearance of frogs shouldn’t go unnoticed, and using AI to try on… clothes?
We’ve also got a new book recommendation, and it’s one you may want to check out if you were a fan of the latest from Ken Burns. I mentioned it on this week’s Stocks & Markets podcast, but there are helpful links below if it’s still in your queue.
If you have a recommendation to share, we’d love to hear about it in the Comments section below.
Now enjoy this latest offering of Sunday Soup.
Articles 📰
The Social Cost of Being a Morning Person
"I wonder sometimes if this is simply a consequence of aging. Perhaps the trade-off between morning productivity and evening social capacity is as inevitable for someone like me as gray hair and reading glasses. But I suspect something more specific is at work—that in optimizing myself for the early hours, I have altered not just my sleep schedule but my emotional availability. The energy I pour into a.m. workouts and tackling a million emails before noon has to come from somewhere. That somewhere, it turns out, is everywhere else."
First, the Frogs Died. Then People Got Sick
"As dozens of frog species have declined across Central America, scientists have witnessed a remarkable chain of events: With fewer tadpoles to eat mosquito larvae, rates of mosquito-borne malaria in the region have climbed, resulting in a fivefold increase in cases. The discovery of this link is part of an emerging area of research in which ecologists and economists are trying to calculate the costs of species decline."
How Long Can You Stay on Antidepressants?
"Antidepressants are among the most prescribed and easily accessible drugs in the United States, and many people take them for years. But even though modern-day antidepressants have been around for decades — the Food and Drug Administration approved Prozac for depression treatment in 1987 — there is very little information about long-term use."
Prediction Markets Boom as Volumes Surpass 2024 Election
"In prediction markets, customers purchase contracts that will settle at either zero or $1 after the event in question is resolved. The figures on Dune capture notional volume — a measure that counts one side of each trade — to make volumes on the two exchanges more directly comparable. Polymarket’s data is sourced from its public blockchain, while Kalshi’s comes from exchange disclosures."
Manhattan Rents Hit Record High as Mamdani Won Mayoral Election
"Rents for Manhattan apartments surged to a record high in November, as Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral election in large part due to affordability concerns. New leases were signed at a median of $4,750 in the month, up 13% from a year earlier and 3.3% from October, according to data from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman."
Google’s AI Try-On Feature for Clothes Now Works With Just a Selfie
"Google is updating its AI try-on feature to let you virtually try on clothes using just a selfie, the company announced on Thursday. In the past, users had to upload a full-body picture of themselves to virtually try on a piece of clothing. Now they can use a selfie and Nano Banana, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model, to generate a full-body digital version of themselves for virtual try-ons. Users can select their usual clothing size, and the feature will then generate several images. From there, users can choose one to make it their default try-on photo."
What We’re Streaming📱🎧
We are still streaming that latest Acquired podcast deep dive on Coca-Cola (KO) , and if you haven’t started it yet, we’d suggest you get on it.
If you’ve completed that four-hour examination, then head on over to PBS to watch the latest from Ken Burns:
What We’re Reading 📖
Following the viewing of Burns’ The American Revolution, this new tome by Walter Isaacson seemed fitting.
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson
"To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a fascinating deep dive into the creation of one of history’s most powerful sentences: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
"Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundation for the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation.
"Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating the then-radical concepts behind it. Readers will gain a fresh appreciation for how it was drafted to inspire unity, equality, and the enduring promise of America. With clarity and insight, he reveals not just the power of these words but also describes how, in these polarized times, we can use them to restore an appreciation for our common values."
