Dehli water crisis, Brexit showdown, potato diet
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The mobile phone industry meets. Companies already started previewing their new wares ahead of the official start of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, including new phones from Samsung and LG, while Sony is expected to announce a “smart ear” headphone.
Delhi faces a water crisis. Schools will be closed and some factories shuttered as part of a water rationing program after protesters disrupted the water supply of India’s capital city.
Earnings for food, fitness, faces, and…Motorola. US milk processor Dean Foods, wearable fitness brand Fitbit, Botox maker Allergan and Motorola Solutions will report their quarterly performance.
Over the weekend
Boris Johnson backed a Brexit. The London mayor defied prime minister David Cameron by announcing that after “a huge amount of heartache,” he would not support his fellow Conservative Party member’s European Union deal. Cameron is expected to formally launch the referendum process on whether the UK should leave the EU this week.
Details behind North Korea’s nuclear test were revealed. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Obama administration was secretly negotiating talks with North Korea to end the Korean war (paywall), but was rebuffed by Pyongyang when it asked for the country’s nuclear arsenal to be part of the discussions. The country signaled the end of talks by conducting a nuclear test days later.
An Uber driver was arrested after a Michigan shooting. 45-year-old Jason Dalton was named as a suspect in a series of seemingly random shootings that took place over several hours in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Uber confirmed Dalton was a driver, and authorities are investigating reports that the suspect picked up fares in between the shooting attacks.
Trump and Clinton won big. Hillary Clinton captured more than half of caucus goers in Nevada, while Republican frontrunner Donald Trump won 32% of the vote in the South Carolina primary. Marco Rubio just beat out Ted Cruz for second place while Jeb Bush suspended his campaign after a disappointing fourth place finish.
Dozens of Syrians were killed by ISIS bombings. The latest attacks came just hours after US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov announced a provisional ceasefire agreement.
Quartz obsession interlude
Olivia Goldhill on the neuroscience behind the “I was just following orders” excuse. “People who’ve been ordered to do something bad to other people appear to genuinely experience a reduced sense of responsibility, according to a new study. ‘In a way, the Nuremberg defense isn’t just about wishing to avoid blame,’ says the study’s co-author. ‘It has some roots in actual subjective experience. And so it displaces responsibility towards people who are issuing the orders.’” Read more here.
Matters of debate
We’re teaching our daughters to be afraid. Parents’ constant warnings to their daughters to “be careful” encourages them to stay inside their comfort zone.
Technology is about to change dramatically. Based on the history of computing cycles, we should expect an explosion in products such as drones and AI that greatly expand our abilities.
Apple shouldn’t give up its fight with the FBI. If it agrees to unlock a terrorist’s phone, it will open the door to numerous similar requests, which could be used for far more dubious reasons.
Surprising discoveries
An Australian man plans to only eat potatoes for a year. In a move reminiscent of astronaut Mark Watney’s diet in The Martian, Andrew Taylor is testing whether one food can make up an healthy diet long-term.
Smartwatches are more popular than Swiss ones. Some 8.1 million smartwatches were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 7.9 million Swiss watches.
Plants are able to let it go. Instead of adapting their behavior following extreme events such as drought, most plants are able to forget stressful incidents and prepare for the best.
Women on eBay make more money if they pretend to be men. Buyers seem to subconsciously value products sold by men more than those sold by the opposite sex.
Scientists have revived tiny creatures frozen for 30 years. The millimeter-long organisms, fondly nicknamed “water bears,” can come back to life and even procreate after decades of being frozen.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, potato recipes, and stress-free plants to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.