Wild pigs already cause billions of dollars in damage to agriculture in the southern US.
Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images
Researchers say Canadian super pigs, a cross of between domestic pigs and wild boars, could invade the US.
They can withstand more cold than wild hogs, which already cause billions in damage in the South.
Areas of four northern US states are the most likely to be invaded by super pigs, a new study found.
Researchers have warned that Canadian "super pigs" could soon invade the US, potentially causing millions of dollars in damage — and four states in particular are especially at risk.
The so-called super pigs are a cross between a domestic pig and an Eurasian wild boar, brought to Canada in the 1980sas a new exotic pork product. Farmers eventually bred the two types of swine to make pigs that were larger, more prolific, and could withstand cold Canadian winters.
But when the boar market collapsed in 2001, many of the pigs were let loose, leaving the wild, super-charged pigs to proliferate. Today, they are common in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and have been documented in most Canadian provinces.
"They are the worst invasive large mammal on the planet. Period," Ryan Brook, a wildlife researcher and professor at the University of Saskatchewan who has studied the pigs for over a decade, told Business Insider last year.
A study published this month in the journal Biological Invasionsfound that northeastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western parts of Minnesota are the areas in the US most vulnerable tosuper pig occupation.
The researchers used data from GPS collars on feral pigs to follow their movement patterns and determine their invasion potential. They found the pigs were mostly located in forests, fields of crops, and wetlands. The pigs' apparent preferences and the opportunities for habitat connectivity indicate those areas of the northern US have "a high potential for invasive wild pigs" to move throughout them, the study said.
"Our work highlights a need for monitoring and science-based response strategies for likely southward spread of this invasive species to prevent or reduce potential crop damage, risks to native species, and disease transmission to humans, pets, livestock, and wildlife," the researchers wrote.
Feral pigs, like these shown in 1999 in Stephensville, Texas, can be found throughout the South.
Brook called the super pigs an "environmental train wreck." They can grow to over 600 pounds and eat just about anything, preying on native species like frogs and salamanders, the eggs of ground-nesting birds like ducks and geese, and even white-tailed deer. They destroy agricultural crops, especially corn, by eating them or tearing up the ground to access plant roots and insect larvae. They also carry diseases that can infect animals and people.
The resulting destruction adds up. According to USDA estimates, feral pigs already cause $2.5 billion worth of damage to US agriculture annually.
Those pigs, located in California and throughout the South, primarily Texas and Florida, are confined to warmer climates. They're the descendants of pigs first brought to the Americas in the 1500s by Europeans as a food source and later escaped or were set loose. Feral swine in the US today includes domestic pigs, wild boar, and even crossbreeds between the two, but they are not adapted to colder temperatures.
If the Canadian super pigs can establish populations in the northern US, farmers in colder climates, like the Dakotas, Montana, and Minnesota,could soon be terrorized by feral swine, too.
Both Canada and the US have struggled to control their feral pig populations.
"Eliminating or exterminating pigs is not an option in most of their US territory. Limiting the damage to crops, ecosystems, and native species is the best course of action," according to USDA Forest Service researcher John Kilgo, who studies wild pigs in South Carolina.
Hunting, a common wildlife-management tool in the US, has been proposed as a solution, but Brooks said the super pigs reproduce too quickly for hunting to keep up and that they also adapt quickly and become more elusive.
So, regardless of what you've heard, it's unlikely you can shoot your way out of a super pig invasion.
Digital transformations have made an appreciable impact on society. Whether it's conspicuous guidance or subtle suggestion, technology influences our everyday decisions. Think about it: You landed on this very page because an algorithm willed it — via a social platform, a search result, or some other digital conduit.
Digital transformations have made an appreciable impact on society. Whether it's conspicuous guidance or subtle suggestion, technology influences our everyday decisions. Think about it: You landed on this very page because an algorithm willed it — via a social platform, a search result, or some other digital conduit.
This extensive development of information technology has disrupted just about every industry you can think of. It's gaining even more momentum with the help of innovations such as artificial intelligence, cloud tech, extended reality, and additive manufacturing.
Business Insider's ongoing series "Build IT" takes a deep dive into the technologies that are driving change across sectors, including banking, farming, fashion, music, sports, and more.
Read the stories ahead to learn how experts are using tech tools to improve companies of all sizes and create a world where IT and digital innovations have resounding authority.
Credits
Series Editor: Brea Cubit Story Editors: Brea Cubit, Stephanie Hallett, Lily Katzman, Monica Melton, Mark Yarm Story Reporters: Érica Carnevalli, Shayna Conde, Nicholas Fearn, Jake Hall, Leila Jordan, Christine MacIntyre, Ngozi Nwanji, Amanda Paule, Bella Sayegh, Matthew S. Smith, Madeline Stone, Ellen Thomas, Diana Umana, Sabina Wex Illustrator: Glenn Harvey Design and Development: Annie Fu, Alyssa Powell, Taylor Tyson Social Audience Producers and Editors: Julianne Han, Daria Yazmiene Executive Editor, Special Projects: Julia Hood
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Inflation has slowed in recent months, but prices are still high in many consumer categories.
Heading into the summer, retailers are beginning to offer savings, especially in the grocery aisles.
Here's a roundup of major stores slashing prices, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
The weather is heating up and inflation is cooling down, but prices are still high in many consumer categories.
Several years of price increases have left many household budgets in tight shape, with shoppers increasingly looking for deals on groceries and other essentials.
Walmart US CEO John Furner said the retail giant has nearly 7,000 rollbacks going into the summer, a 45% increase over the count for the same time last year.
Walgreens said it would offer discounts on 1,300 products across health and wellness, personal care, and seasonal categories this summer. The pharmacy chain will also bring back promotional events including MyW Days in mid-July.
Costco
Costco's hot dog and soda combo has maintained the same price since 1985.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
While Costco hasn't announced a large batch of seasonal cuts, the CFO Gary Millerchip said the wholesale club holds monthly budget meetings where the various regions share recent price cuts, such as the past quarter's markdowns on pine nuts and frozen shrimp.
Aldi
Price cuts are coming to more than 250 Aldi products.
Alex Bitter/BI
Discount grocer Aldi is lowering prices on more than 250 items, focused on picnic necessities, grilling essentials, travel-ready snacks, and healthier foods. The company says it will save shoppers up to $100 million through Labor Day.
In the famous words of The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go?"
Bangaly Kaba, Director of Product at YouTube, devised a way to capture all of the variables that go into such a big decision, helping to zero in on any problems and drive conviction in determining any changes. Prior to joining YouTube, Kaba had also worked at companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Instacart.
As he wrote in a blog post on the subject, Kaba follows a simple formula to help asses if he's in the right job or not.
Impact = Environment x Skills
"The impact is only achievable by looking at two sets of variables, a set of variables related to the environment, a set of variables related to your skills," he said on a recent episode of "Lenny's Podcast" while describing impact as the most important part of the framework.
Kaba said "most people overlook" their work environment when thinking about career decisions. He breaks this down broadly into six categories: resources, scope, team, company culture, compensation, and your manager, which he says is the most important of these.
Kaba said he reviews these every year, ranking each on a scale of zero to two, divided in increments of 0.25. Zero means he's "not in a good place," one is "neutral," and two means he's "greatly benefiting from this situation."
Every year he asks himself, "What is the state of each one of these and to what extent do I believe that they can and will change?" He stresses that it's important to be honest with yourself when making this evaluation.
As for skills, Kaba thinks of four buckets, which are "communication, your ability to influence your leadership, strategic thinking, and then execution." He views communication at work as the most impactful and says it's important to focus on the "consistent evolution of your abilities."
In doing his evaluations, Kaba looks for roadblocks and identifies what is and is outside his control in the job.
"You're really breaking down each and understanding what's happening in the environment bit by it and what's happening with your skills," he said. "Where are you hindered structurally within the environment? Where are your skills kind of lacking? What do you have control over?"
Kaba says developing this framework "came out of a personal struggle that I had when I was at Facebook and trying to decide what my next move should be."
"I knew that I needed a change, emotionally I understood that, but I couldn't really have an objective way of thinking about it," he said. "So I really pushed myself to figure out like what is actually going on with my situation, how do I create a way that I can rely on objectively to understand what is actually going on."
In his blog post on his framework, Kaba wrote that the goal shouldn't be to automate the decision-making process to spit out the right answer, but rather to "narrow the decision down to the true problem," which can "help build conviction behind a decision."
One key way to get New Yorkers housed is through the housing voucher program.
But even those lucky enough to get a voucher are having a very hard time finding housing.
When Marc Greenberg founded a nonprofit in 1985 with the goal of helping homeless New Yorkers, there were about 20,000 people in city shelters. Today, the city is facing its highest rate of homelessness since the Great Depression.
And the biggest program to help those in need of homes — the federal housing voucher system — isn't keeping up.
About 150,000 people are sleeping in shelters, while more than 200,000 others are temporarily staying in other peoples' homes, crashing on couches and in basements, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.
A huge number of homeless New Yorkers are families. Almost 120,000 New York City schoolchildren were homeless at some point during the 2022-2023 school year. And an unknown number of other New Yorkers are spending their nights on the streets.
Just a few years before Greenberg started his organization — the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, which works with religious organizations to aid unhoused people — a court imposed a so-called "right to shelter" mandate requiring the city to provide a shelter bed for every unhoused person.
These days, the limits of that mandate are being tested as the homeless population has swelled, in part due to a significant influx of homeless migrants. With city shelters struggling, the government has set up more than 200 emergency shelters to house migrants, including in former jails and hotels.
"The nonprofit community is better at doing what we do than we've ever been before," Greenberg said. "We're also severely overworked and overtaxed."
It's no surprise that New York City is dealing with a homelessness crisis. Homelessness is, fundamentally, a housing problem. And the Big Apple has a dangerously low supply of both affordable and market-rate homes. The city has underbuilt homes for years, even as its population has boomed, creating 800,000 new jobs in the last 10 years while building just 200,000 new homes.
With rents and home prices sky-high, many are just a missed paycheck away from losing their homes. More than half of city residents are rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their before-tax income for housing.
Marc Greenberg of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing with staff, volunteers, and voucher holders in New York City.
Courtesy of Marc Greenberg
An inadequate solution
The country's biggest and most effective housing assistance program is helping get some unhoused New Yorkers into homes. New York City's housing authority operates the largest Housing Choice Voucher Program — also known as Section 8 —in the US, with about 85,000 voucher households and 25,000 landlords.
But the program is severely underfunded and need far outstrips the supply of vouchers in New York and across the country. Nationally, just one in four eligible Americans receive a voucher. About 10 million additional low-income households are going without the help they qualify for.
Greenberg's organization helped push to expand the city's voucher program, known as CityFHEPS. New York Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly rejected efforts to expand it, citing a lack of funds.
"We know that it's less expensive to put someone in housing than it is to have them on the street, have them in shelters, or at the hospital," Greenberg said.
Greenberg said he decided to seek out homeless voucher holders after hearing from those who'd had an excruciating time finding an apartment. "Two women who had already been housed using the vouchers said that the ordeal was so difficult, it was almost not worth it," he said. "A bell went off for me."
Activists, supporters, and members of the homeless community attend a protest outside City Hall in New York City on March 18, 2022, calling for greater access to housing and better conditions at homeless shelters.
Ed Jones/Getty Images
The Interfaith Assembly set up a pilot program about six months ago to help homeless voucher holders find homes. Their volunteers have worked with about a dozen people to determine what kind of assistance they need and help them find and secure a home. Greenberg said the work has exposed how much the most vulnerable voucher holders need an advocate to help them secure housing.
"Each situation is very particular and requires some real digging to figure out what's wrong," Greenberg said.
But the most difficult part, he said, is finding a new home.
Greenberg emphasized that the city needs more landlords who aren't just profit-driven and instead care about helping some needier New Yorkers.
"Until there's a large amount of available units, landlords are going to select someone that they feel is the best bet, and generally someone in a shelter is not going to make the cut unless it's a very substandard apartment," Greenberg said. "What we need to do is find landlords that really have a sense of mission to support this tenant."
One approach is to assure landlords that they're not taking a risk by accepting vouchers. Greenberg wants to see a city fund designated to reimburse landlords for any damages that exceed a voucher holder's security deposit as a way to encourage landlords to take voucher holders — something Oregon and Washington State have done.
"I've spoken to landlords who want housing voucher holders, who've experienced some real damage to their apartments," Greenberg said. "What we hope is for landlords to realize that the folks we're working with are in a support system, so they'll be more stable and less likely to be a bad tenant."
There are a slew of other Section 8 reforms housing advocates have proposed, including providing more logistical and cash assistance to voucher holders and shortening the home inspection process. Ultimately, though, nothing will make up for the dearth of both vouchers and housing.
Three Hermès Faubourg Birkins are on the block at Christie's handbag auction. Each is expected to go for more than $100,000.
Courtesy of Christie's
Christie's luxury handbag auction is underway, with some Hermès bags expected to fetch six figures.
The auction highlights the high demand and limited supply of Birkins that drives up their value.
Luxury handbags have become an investment piece akin to art or watches.
If you're in the market for a Hermès bag that doubles as a doll house, you're in luck — as long as you have $100,000 or so to spare.
Auction house Christie's launched its latest handbag auction on Thursday, and seven of the lots are expected to fetch prices in the six figures.
The most expensive bags are variations of the Hermès Birkin — and the estimated prices, all at heavy markups from retail, show the chokehold that the French house's hero product has on the luxury market.
A new Birkin bag starts at about $10,000 and can cost well into the six figures depending on material, size, and rarity. Each year, the company's artisans handmake a limited number of the style; in the luxury sector, that scarcity supercharges desire.
"It's literally economics 101," retail industry expert and consultant Hitha Herzog told Business Insider earlier this year. "When you have short supply and high, high demand and the branding that goes with it — that is what fuels it."
The brand's Faubourg Birkins are among those in the shortest supply and, thus, the most covetable. The bag's name refers to Hermès' Paris flagship on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where the company has been based since 1880 when it was still primarily a saddlery.
A Neige Faubourg Birkin 20 boasts the auction's highest estimated price: $120,000 to $180,000. And it could go for much more. Since 2022, Hermès bags sold at Christie's auctions have gone for an average of 141% of the lowest estimated price, Christie's said.
The rare bag's design is reminiscent of the store's facade, with its three windows and iconic orange awnings. The light gray colorway, which is supposed to convey winter in Paris, is the most valuable of the models, given the amount of exotic alligator skin used in its construction. Last year, the same style sold for just over $280,000 at a Sotheby's auction, and in 2022, another went for more than $300,000.
The other two Faubourgs available in the Christie's auction, one blue and the other brown, are expected to go for between $100,000 and $150,000. A Birkin with white gold and diamond hardware has the same estimate. Hermès handbags, particularly those in pristine condition (aka new) and rare designs, have always commanded high prices in the resale market due to their exceptional craftsmanship, timeless appeal, and limited availability.
"They are often reflective of the rarity and desirability of the bags," Nicole Pollard Bayme, the founder of luxury styling firm Lalaluxe, told BI over email. "Hermès Birkin and Kelly bags, especially the Faubourg bag, for example, are iconic symbols of luxury and status, coveted by collectors worldwide."
A crocodile Birkin with white gold and diamond hardware is expected to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000.
Courtesy of Christie's
As the auction demonstrates, luxury handbags — particularly those made by tightly controlled brands like Hermès — are increasingly worthy investments. The Neige Faubourg retails for about $50,000 and is expected to fetch two to three times that.
A 2022 Deloitte and Credit Suisse report found that value Birkin and Chanel bags had an average return of 38% and 11.8%, respectively, in 2020. That beats the average return rate of classic cars, watches, and fine art in the same year.
"Watches and jewelry as well as handbags (especially Chanel handbags) are clearly standing out as stores of value with low volatility (between 2.5% and 5% annually) and low drawdowns," the report's authors wrote.
For the resale premium, buyers gain immediate access to the bag of their choosing, something they typically can't get at an Hermès boutique.
While the "rules" around buying a Birkin directly from Hermès have never been disclosed — the company is currently embroiled in a legal battle around the practice — customers must often cultivate a yearslong spending history with the brand and relationships with sales associates. Even then, buyers don't often get to select a specific bag but are offered the opportunity to snag whichever one their sales associate can get their hands on.
"Most of our clients don't have the time or patience to play the 'Hermès game,'" Alexis Clarbour, who specializes in reselling luxury handbags at Madison Avenue Couture, told BI earlier this year.
These Louis Vuitton chests, estimated to cost between $10,000 and $15,000, are among the most expensive non-Hermès lots at the auction.
Courtesy of Christie's
While dozens of Birkins and Kellys (Hermès' other signature style) make up the auction's priciest lots, a couple of Louis Vuitton lots are expected to fetch at least $10,000. Both are limited editions from the brand's 2023 collaboration with artist Yayoi Kusama.
Chanel, Dior, Loewe, and Roger Vivier are also represented among the lots.
Last summer's handbag auction netted Christie's $4.1 million. Nine bags sold for over $100,000, with the top lot, a Kellywood, going for $176,400.
The BYD Shark, a hybrid pickup unveiled by the Tesla rival in Mexico earlier this month.
BYD
Cheap Chinese EVs are unlikely to come to the US anytime soon after President Joe Biden hiked tariffs.
But Tesla rivals are proving a hit in Brazil and Mexico, where auto exports are booming.
Chinese EV companies are also eyeing expansion in Europe, but could face tariffs there too.
China's Tesla rivals have had the door to the US electric vehicle market slammed in their faces — so they're turning their attention to Brazil, Mexico, and Europe.
Exports of Chinese EVs to Brazil surged in the first four months of the year, with automakers like BYD continuing to expand abroad even as Joe Biden announces 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association, reported by Reuters, showed that the number of China-made pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars exported to Brazil rose in April, growing 13-fold from the previous year to 40,163 units.
It saw Brazil become China's biggest foreign market for EVs for the second straight month.
Mexico has also seen a rapid rise in Chinese car sales, with total automobile exports, including combustion engine vehicles, jumping 27% in the first four months of this year, per Reuters.
The Warren Buffett-backed automaker, along with rival EV companies Chery and MG, is reportedly considering building a factory in Mexico — sparking anxieties among US lawmakers concerned about Chinese firms setting up shop in the US' largest trading partner.
China's legion of EV manufacturers are also eyeing Europe, one of Tesla's most important markets, as they seek to escape cutthroat competition back home.
However, they might soon face a regulatory reckoning in Europe. The EU is currently investigating Chinese subsidies for EV companies and could impose its own tariffs if it finds China's electric vehicles are being sold at artificially low prices.
"If I were in the shoes of a European carmaker, I would be pushing the EU to impose tariffs because the price [of Chinese EVs] is too low, and they can't compete at this level of technology," Giacomo Carelli, CEO of Italian vehicle finance and insurance provider CA Auto Bank, said at the Financial Times' Future of the Car conference in May.
Established automakers in Europe are bracing for a bumpy road regardless of whether the EU follows President Joe Biden in cracking down on Chinese EVs — but some remain bullish about their chances.
"The reality is the Chinese are able to bring in vehicles at very competitive prices," said Michael Cole, CEO of Hyundai Motors Europe, at the Future of the Car summit.
"It is more challenging for us, but all it means is that we have to sharpen our act … We have to react to the competition, but we have to assume it's fair competition — that's all we ask for," he added.
Recent studies have found that happiness and loneliness follow a U-shape throughout adults' lives.
Happiness and loneliness both peak early and later in life, with a decline during middle age.
BI spoke to adults who've been lonely and happy at the same time — and researchers who explain how that works.
Harry Samtur, 73, has a laundry list of activities to fill his time.
He takesclasses through a program for adults over 50, is part of a biking group, participates in a book club, belongs to a synagogue, and is also an artist, with a show coming up in just a few weeks.
Those activities have been "totally essential" for his well-being, the Minnesota resident said.
"It's great, but it takes an effort," Samtur told Business Insider. "It's something that's very important that I do, and it brings me a lot of joy."
However, Samtur said he still finds himself experiencing loneliness from time to time. Living alone and far from his family, he said he doesn't have the close connections he had growing up, and even though he tries to fill his time with hobbies and social events, feelings of loneliness still emerge.
"When people have families, they have their loyalties to their families, and they're very busy with their families. So when you're alone, you don't always have people to do things with. So loneliness does come up," Samtur said.
An April paper published in the Psychological Science journal highlighted Samtur's exact predicament. According to the paper, loneliness follows a U-shaped curve throughout life— it's higher in younger and older adulthood and lowest during middle age.
Perhaps counterintuitively, happiness tends to follow the same pattern. That means that right now, Gen Z and baby boomers, in particular, might be experiencing a strange juxtaposition: They're happy and lonely at the same time.
Why it's possible to feel happy and lonely at the same time
Happiness and loneliness are "complex emotional experiences that are not mutually exclusive," Eileen Graham, a coauthor of the loneliness study and associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University, told BI. Graham's work was conducted before the pandemic and examined over 120,000 participants from nine different countries, including the US, Germany, and Australia.
"You can experience both at the same time, and especially during midlife, that's an emotionally complex time, and people have a lot going on," Graham said. "So people feel maybe a little less happy with their lives in midlife, but it doesn't mean you're also feeling lonely."
Happiness and loneliness can evolve over one's life — and it can impact anyone, anywhere, as the study found.
"Overall, people tended to be more lonely, just persistently lonely, if they had less education, had lower income, and poor health," Graham said.
"And that can help us understand as people enter into older adulthood and are typically just, on average, becoming more lonely anyways, people with certain health conditions or from different socio-economic backgrounds might be even more at risk," she said.
Samtur said that even with the joy he finds from his activities, he knows how detrimental loneliness can be and how hard it is to overcome.
"There's so much polarity, and it's sometimes hard to deal with people, and then you just want to stay home and hide in a corner," Samtur said. "And I know people who do that, but in the end, we're social beings, and we need to have that interaction and go through the difficult experiences with others in order to find the good ones."
'I could be in a room full of people who love me and still feel super lonely'
Donna Basztura, 58, has experienced waves of happiness and loneliness throughout her life. A teenage mom, she experienced joy from her partner and child, but loneliness persisted, as most of her peers were not at the same stage of life.
As Basztura got older, her experiences with loneliness shifted — she had five more kids she raised on her own, and her life is now full with her children and grandchildren.But after moving to Florida four years ago, she's found herself facing a persistent dilemma: she attends every event she's invited to, and she finds joy in being with others, but there's a feeling of loneliness that she just can't shake.
"I could be in a room full of people that love me and still feel super lonely because everyone has someone, their husband, their wife, and that's wonderful. That's what we strive to do for our legacy to leave behind," Basztura told BI. "But then you're still so lonely. I never act like I am. I'm so bubbly. I'm the life of the party. I make sure I'm having fun, but it's just that emptiness and loneliness feeling that really, really devastates a person."
As Samtur and Basztura's experiences illustrate, having social interactions isn't enough to absolve feelings of loneliness. Graham said that social isolation and loneliness "are very different constructs" — the former is measured by how often and how many people someone interacts with within a set period of time, whereas the latter is "an emotional distress" when a person isn't getting what they need out of their social connections.
Balancing loneliness and happiness is an issue researchers are studying. In March, Gallup — in partnership with other organizations — released the 2024 World Happiness Report, and for the first time since the report began over a decade ago, the US dropped out of the top 20 happiest countries.
The happiness report foundthat social support — meaning positive interactions with neighbors, community groups, or friends and family — and loneliness both affect happiness, and "social interactions of all kinds also add to happiness, in addition to their effects flowing through increases in social support and reductions in loneliness," it said.
"Weak ties," which are small connections people make with others they might not know very well — say, an acquaintance at your gardening club or a barista at your regular coffee shop — can contribute to feelings of happiness but don't necessarily help cure loneliness. However, a 2014 study found that weak ties do have major benefits, helping people feel happier with a boosted sense of belonging.
Basztura wants more than just the weak ties she has in Florida; she's happiest when she's surrounded by loved ones and those who know her very well, like her family. Though she's recently met a man who she enjoys spending time with, she finds herself alone throughout the daydue to his work schedule.On top of that, she said a few of her close friends died during the pandemic, so she's lacking female friendships that played a significant role in boosting her happiness throughout her life.
"It's tough when you don't have an actual partner that you can rely on at our age and have gone through the things in life we've gone through in the era we were raised in. And you're just going forward. You're flying by the night pretty much by yourself," Batszura said. "And that emotion, it's really deep. It's really deep. I hide it well, but it's deep."
She made an effort to join clubs focused on fitness, like hiking or kayaking, but even surrounded by people, she didn't quite feel the connections she was hoping for.
"I could find enjoyment, I could find happiness, in swimming, camping, whatever," she said. "But again, I'm camping by myself. So the loneliness is absolutely still there."
'You have to solve it and figure out the best way for you'
BI has previously reported on how people across different generations experience loneliness. Over a third of Americans aged 18 to 25 reported feeling lonely in a December 2023 survey conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Some Gen Zers pay for social connections through activities like fitness memberships. One 24-year-old previously told BI that he spends over $200 a month for memberships at rock-climbing and jujitsu gyms because "if you pay for something, you'll show up to it."
"These types of activities ease the process of making friends more so than free activities because they tend to be more structured," he said. "Basically, you're stuck together with everyone else there and forced into new social situations."
Other Gen Zers have used the return-to-office as a way to facilitate connections and counter loneliness. A 23-year-old told BI that even though she was in "constant communication" with her coworkers, the online work environment meant that she "didn't actually have people around me who were willing and able to chat and talk and help."
Preeti Malani, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, previously told Business Insider that "being lonely as an 80-year-old may be due to a very different reason than someone who is a 19-year-old college student living amongst a huge group of people."
"You can be surrounded by people and be lonely," she said. "And that college experience or high school experience is a good example where you don't have the meaningful connections with people."
Meanwhile, older adults have turned to apps like Nextdoor and groups at local senior centers to make connections in their areas.
While people of all ages are working to make friends and combat loneliness, Graham said, the problem could be easier to solve at a younger age. That's because a lot of the reasons for loneliness when people are younger, like moving out of their parent's home and trying to build a new social network, are steps that will set up a foundation for later in life.
"I don't necessarily think that loneliness is bad in younger adulthood as long as it's not chronic and doesn't begin to naturally mitigate itself," Graham said.
But for older people, loneliness can be sparked by loved ones dying or social networks moving away, and it's harder for them to stay engaged after facing those losses. Joan Hendrix, 80, can attest. She told BI that after her husband died 10 years ago, she "could not function" due to her grief and the loss of companionship, and while she sought out professional help, she felt that she couldn't burden her loved ones with her feelings of loneliness.
She said that for about four years, she couldn't bring herself to go out and meet new people — that is until she looked out her window one day and saw weeds in her flower garden.
"So I said, 'Oh, I've got to go weed.' And so one day, I just went out and started weeding, and each day after that, I seemed to be able to move and do more things," Hendrix said.
Hendrix said she gradually became more comfortable reaching out to her friends and reestablishing relationships, as well as making new ones through various groups and volunteer opportunities. There are still moments when Hendrix feels lonely, but the overarching emotion she now experiences is joy.
"You learn to cope, and then after a while, you still might struggle, but you're able to cope with it, and you go along, and you do things that you need to do to get better and be happy again," she said.
Hendrix said that recognizing that she was facing both happiness and loneliness is what pushed her to seek help and make connections.
"You have to do a lot of work on your own to get better," Hendrix said. "Nobody can solve it for you. You have to solve it and figure out the best way for you."
Have you experienced happiness and loneliness at the same time or separately? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@insider.com.
Restaurants from Starbucks to Chipotle have marked up menu prices since the law took effect on April 1.
Other chains have found alternatives to offset the higher wage costs.
Many fast food workers in California have been taking home more money since April 1, when the state's minimum wage for those workers went to $20 an hour.
But restaurant owners, eager to protect profits, have raised the menu prices that consumers pay to help offset the cost.
Often, fast-food joints are operated by franchisees — business owners who run a small group of stores and pay a company like McDonald's for the right to do so. That means that individual franchisees may choose to pass on the higher pay costs, while others don't.
California's new law applies to chains with at least 60 "limited-service" locations in the US — that is, restaurants where customers order and pay for their food before getting it instead of sitting down and being waited on.
Indeed, some restaurant operators say they've already raised prices more than usual over the last year or two in response to inflation and are worried that another round of increases would scare off customers. One Burger franchisee told BI that he's instead installing ordering kiosks at his restaurants to save money on wages.
Lynsi Snyder, the president and third-generation owner of In-N-Out, told NBC's "Today" earlier this month that she pushed to limit menu price increases in response to both higher wages as well as general inflation.
"I was sitting in VP meetings going toe-to-toe, saying, 'We can't raise the prices that much, we can't,'" she told "Today." "When everyone else was taking jumps, we weren't."
Here are the restaurants — and specific franchisees — who have decided to raise menu prices since California's new minimum age kicked in:
McDonald's: Scott Rodrick, who owns 18 Northern California McDonald's restaurants, said he would raise prices. He was also considering changing his stores' hours and postponing planned dining room renovations to save money.
Burger King: Burger King restaurants in California raised prices by 2%, according to a report from Kalinowski Equity Research that examined prices at several fast food chains in the state before and after April 1.
Chipotle: Prices at the Mexican grill chain rose 7.5% in California after the law took effect, per the Kalinowski report. Company executives confirmed this on a late April earnings call, saying that the company increased prices between 6% and 7% at its restaurants in the state versus one year earlier.
Wendy's: Menu prices at Wendy's rose 8% in California, according to Kalinowski.
Taco Bell: Menu prices rose 3% after the new wage law took effect, Kalinowski found.
Fatburger: Marcus Walberg, whose family runs four Fatburger franchises in Los Angeles, told BI in January that he was planning to raise prices between 8% and 10% in response to the new wage law. He also planned to cut PTO for employees and freeze hiring, he said.
Vitality Bowls: Brian Hom, the franchisee in charge of two Vitality Bowls locations in San Jose, increased prices between 5% and 10% after the law took effect, he told BI. He has also stopped hiring and reduced the number of workers on duty per shift.
Chick-fil-A: Prices rose 10.6% between mid-February and mid-April, according to data from Gordon Haskett.
Shake Shack: The burger chain hiked prices 7.7% in California between mid-February and mid-April, Gordon Haskett found.
Do you work at a fast food restaurant and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
A composite image shows a top-down view of the flight decks of the US Navy's first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford and China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Riley McDowell/DVIDS, Pu Haiyang/Xinhua via Getty Images, Business Insider
China's most advanced aircraft carrier set sail for sea trials in early May.
It boasts electromagnetic catapults capable of launching the modern air wing China hopes to build.
Here's how this ambitious ship and its predecessors compare to US aircraft carriers.
On May 1, China's newest aircraft carrier left its berth in Shanghai under its own power for its first-ever sea trial, which lasted eight days.
Known as the Fujian, the carrier, the sole vessel of China's Type 003-class, is a completely new design compared to China's previous carriers, and is a symbol of China's ever-expanding naval ambitions.
With a displacement of over 80,000 tons, it is also the closest thing to a direct rival to US Navy aircraft carriers, which have long been regarded as the masters of the seas.
With vessels from follow-on classes expected, Fujian represents the latest evolution in China's carrier program, which, despite its scale and the impressive speed at which it has developed, has been regarded as lacking overall strength and capability compared to those of the US Navy.
China looks to have built a formidable warship in the Fujian, a centerpiece of its effort to design a modern carrier air wing. But a review of its capabilities shows it lacks some key advantages of the newest class of US supercarriers and also the infrastructure demanded by far-flung operations, possibly tethering its operations near China's mainland.
Liaoning and Shandong
Aircraft carrier Liaoning set out for sea trials at Dalian shipyard with the help of tugboats.
VCG/VCG via Getty Images
With construction beginning around 2017, Fujian is the third aircraft carrier China has built for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The first two carriers, the Type 001-class Liaoning and Type 002-class Shandong, were commissioned in 2012 and 2017 respectively.
Liaoning and Shandong are both based on the Soviet-designed Kuznetsov-class. Liaoning itself was purchased as an incomplete hulk from Ukraine in 1998 for just $20 million under the pretense that it would be turned into a casino. It was instead towed to China and refitted for war.
Both carriers were slightly modified from their original Soviet design to incorporate modern tech and enable more space for aircraft. Liaoning and Shandong's flight decks both measure about 1,000 feet in length, and while Liaoning displaces around 60,000 tons, Shandong displaces around 66,000 tons.
Despite attempts at modernization, Liaoning's and Shandong's capabilities are limited by their employment of the short take-off, barrier-arrested recovery (STOBAR) system, which utilizes a ski-jump ramp at the bow to get jets airborne under their own power.
This imposes limits on the weight of the jets at take-off, as they need to be light enough to lift off the deck under their own engines. Consequently, force multipliers like airborne early warning aircraft and dedicated aerial refueling aircraft cannot operate from Liaoning and Shandong.
A J-15 fighter takes off from aircraft carrier Shandong during the combat readiness patrol and military exercises around Taiwan.
An Ni/Xinhua via Getty Images
The air wings of the Liaoning and Shandong, which consist of 24 to 32 jets and 12 to 17 helicopters, respectively, are less than optimal for this setup, as the backbone of the wings, the J-15 fighter, is the heaviest carrier-borne aircraft in service. This means it has to carry a limited armament and fuel load, reducing its capabilities and combat range.
Because of these severe limitations, some observers have looked at Liaoning and Shandong less as battle-ready warships and more as training platforms from which China can gain experience with carrier production and operations as it prepares to field a more advanced and capable design.
China's latest carrier
An aerial drone photo shows China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, during its maiden sea trials.
Pu Haiyang/Xinhua via Getty Images
Fujian appears to be that more advanced and capable design.
Measuring 1,036 feet long and displacing over 80,000 tons, Fujian is larger than its predecessors. The most obvious advantage of its larger size is that it enables a larger airwing, which is believed to number approximately 60 aircraft.
The most important upgrade on Fujian, though, is its employment of a catapult-assisted take-off barrier arrested recovery (CATOBAR) system, which uses a catapult to launch an aircraft off a carrier's deck. While the CATOBAR system isn't new, Fujian is one of only two carriers in the world equipped with electromagnetic catapults (EMALS), the other being the new USS Gerald R. Ford.
An EMALS catapult enables Fujian to launch heavier aircraft than steam catapults, which means a more diverse air wing. China is currently developing a host of new carrier aircraft, including a catapult-launched variant of the J-15 known as the J-15S, a twin-seat electronic warfare variant known as the J-15D (similar to the EA-18 Growler), and a carrier-based airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft known as the KJ-600, which is almost identical in appearance to the US Navy's E-2 Hawkeye.
China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, was festooned with streamers during a launching ceremony at Jiangnan Shipyard.
With three catapults on its deck, Fujian will have a higher sortie generation rate than its predecessors, as it will be able to catapult multiple aircraft into the sky within seconds of each launch. By comparison, Liaoning and Shandong can only launch one aircraft at a time off their ski-jump bows.
Fujian's sea trial was meant to test the reliability and stability of its propulsion and electrical systems, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. The carrier has already passed its mooring trials and completed its outfitting, and reporting has suggested that the carrier will be commissioned in late 2025 or 2026.
Nimitz and Ford classes
Aircraft are seen flying in formation over USS George H.W. Bush, the last Nimitz-class carrier, during a training exercise.
The 10 flattops of the Nimitz class hardly need an introduction. Built between 1968 and 2006 and in commission since 1975, each carrier measures 1,092 feet long and displaces some 97,000 tons. All are nuclear-powered, meaning their range is virtually unlimited — constrained only by crew comfort and provision stores.
All Nimitz-class carriers utilize the CATOBAR system and are equipped with four steam catapults. However, only a few of the 10 carriers are able to operate F-35Cs — the carrier-based variant of the F-35 only in service with the US Navy — as the F-35C requires retrofits to a carrier's maintenance spaces and weapons lockers.
In 2017, the US Navy commissioned the USS Gerald R. Ford, the flagship of the successor class to the Nimitz. At 1,106 feet long and with a displacement of 100,000 tons, Ford is the largest warship ever built.
It is also one of the most advanced, with 23 new technologies on board. This includes a new Dual Band Radar system, two newly designed A1B nuclear reactors (capable of generating almost three times more power than the reactors on the Nimitz class), and a new elevator system built and positioned for modern smart munitions.
The most impressive upgrades may be its four EMALS catapults, which, thanks to their use of linear induction motors, have enabled the Ford to have a 33% increased sortie generation rate compared to the Nimitz-class. This measures the total number of aircraft the carrier can launch for missions in a day.
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford sails in the Adriatic Sea.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins
There is also the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), which, in addition to handling the weight of a wider variety of aircraft, is capable of self-diagnosing problems and sending maintenance alerts. Carrier aircraft snag a tensioned cable on the angle deck with their tailhooks, rapidly slowing the aircraft to a stop; those that miss must lift off and circle around for another try.
The sheer amount of new systems proved to a major headache for the Navy, as not all of them were functioning properly when the ship was launched. Consequently, the carrier didn't conduct its first deployment until 2022, five years after its commissioning.
Two more Ford-class carriers, USS John F. Kennedy and USS Enterprise, are under construction. The fourth, the future USS Doris Miller is on order, with its first cut of steel ceremony occurring in 2021.
At over 90% complete, Kennedy was originally expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2024, but is now planned to be delivered in 2025, whereupon it will join the Pacific Fleet. Enterprise's original delivery date of 2028 was likewise delayed to late 2029 or early 2030.
As Ford is unable to support the F-35C, Kennedy will be the first Ford-class vessel to have the stealth fighters as part of its air wing. Ford itself is scheduled to receive the modifications to be able to do so after an overhaul in fiscal year 2025.
How the flattops compare
The first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford and the Nimitz-class USS Dwight D. Eisenhower sail in formation in the Mediterranean Sea.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob Mattingly
The speed and scale of the development of China's carrier fleet is astonishing, but its limitations are also important to note — especially when it is compared to the US Navy.
At just 11 years old, China's carrier fleet is still quite nascent compared to the US Navy, which commissioned its first carrier over a century ago. Consequently, the US Navy has a wealth of carrier experience, including seasoned personnel and a training pipeline to impart lessons to new generations of sailors and naval aviators.
In contrast, China has only a few years' worth of experience with carrier operations, has no historical or practical experience protecting carriers from anti-ship weaponry or enemy submarines, and has no experience operating naval AEW&C aircraft. Like its larger fleet, its carriers have no experience in combat.
The experience issue is also relevant when it comes to development.
China has no experience operating carrier catapults on its warships (though it did study carrier catapults when it purchased the decommissioned Australian carrier HMAS Melbourn from Canberra in 1985 under the guise of scrapping). Despite this, it has chosen to skip developing a steam catapult system in favor of an electromagnetic one. This is likely going to prove a difficult task; it took years to solve the problems with Ford's EMALS catapults, and since the US is the first and only other country that operates the novel system, China can't learn how to develop or operate such catapults from anyone else.
The commissioning ceremony of the Shandong aircraft carrier is held at a naval port in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.
Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images
Another large limiting factor is the fact that all of China's carriers so far are conventionally powered, meaning their steam turbines are powered by fuel combustion. This means their ranges are much more limited as they will have to be refueled, something made more difficult by China's lack of a network of dedicated overseas naval bases like the US Navy's.
Chinese-controlled ports along the so-called "String of Pearls" may provide locations for Chinese carriers to refuel, but they are unlikely to be able to provide other kinds of necessary support like aircraft maintenance, and may also be unable to be defensive safe havens as dedicated military bases would, as they are more oriented towards civilian use. China does have a force of replenishment ships, but they would require escorts for protection.
The lack of nuclear reactors may also limit Fujian's sortie generation rate, as it is unknown how well its conventional steam turbines and diesel generators can generate the power for the EMALS catapults and the rest of the ship's systems.
"China is making progress, but it is slow and still lags the US considerably," Timothy Heath, a senior defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, told Business Insider. Heath noted in particular that China's carriers "rarely attempt to operate aircraft in blue water (outside the range of landing unrefueled aircraft to a divert airfield on land)" and that their overall sortie numbers are much smaller — about a dozen a day compared to 170 by the US.
China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, docks in Shanghai with a Chinese flag seen in the foreground.
Pu Haiyang/Xinhua via Getty Images
Nonetheless, Heath said the launching of the Fujian "shows clear ambitions to operate carriers at long range and this would overcome at least some of the issues of lack of bases and fuel."
China's continued investment in its carrier program, the progress it has made in naval aviation so far, and Fujian's size and sophistication indicate that China's commitment to a long-range and battle-ready carrier fleet is real and will only bear more results going forward.
"This will take years of practice and training to eventually overcome, but the Fujian gives China the ability to do so once they have mastered flight operations," Heath said.
China plans to build a fleet of six carriers by the year 2035. A fourth carrier, the first of the presumably named Type 004-class, is reportedly in development, though Chinese officials have been quiet on its details, including whether it will be nuclear-powered.
Benjamin Brimelow is a freelance journalist covering international military and defense issues. He holds a master's degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in international security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work has appeared in Business Insider and the Modern War Institute at West Point.