• Mary Meeker's new report predicted AI will transform education and teaching methods.
• Meeker's analysis suggested AI can accelerate learning and reduce teacher prep work.
• AI will personalize learning, provide real-time feedback, and support technical differentiation, she wrote.

Mary Meeker is back with a new report about AI and education — and it predicts how life will change for both students and teachers.

The former Morgan Stanley analyst famously began publishing her annual "Internet Trends" analysis in 1996 — a slide deck often hundreds of pages long and so widely read that some dubbed it the "Silicon Valley bible." And after a four-year break since publishing a report, Meeker has returned to give her industry insights.

Unsurprisingly, Meeker zooms in on tech's latest upheaval: AI.

Specifically looking at how education will evolve in the age of AI, Meeker writes in a Bond Capital report titled "AI & Universities" that the "biggest change is that students will have more answers at their fingertips faster — some will be right and some will be wrong."

It may be "the best time ever to be a self-motivated student," she writes, but that presents both a challenge and opportunity for educators.

"The university of the future will not look like the university of today," she writes.

For teachers, she writes that using AI to accelerate learning, even for students who miss out on in-person lectures, will be "a new art form."

"As technology evolves and becomes more widely available, teachers should be able to save time and increase productivity," Meeker writes.

The report highlights time-intensive tasks for which teachers can leverage AI, like analyzing student performance to create personalized learning plans or using generative AI models to translate raw texts and videos into assignments and learning material.

"Tomorrow's teachers may serve as cheerleader / coach as well as tutor, making the classroom more welcoming," Meeker says.

She suggests that AI can generate real-time feedback for both teachers and students. These foundational models can cater to individual learning styles, like automatic text-to-speech for dyslexic students.

Meeker also writes that "reducing incremental/unpaid teacher prep work" will minimize teacher and student burnout. This extends to software that assists in grading, scheduling, attendance tracking, and homework review.

As tech companies who have amassed a stockpile of AI GPUs can better attract and retain top talent, Meeker writes that schools looking to stand out and lead in research will also need to invest in AI resources.

"On the research side, technical resource availability, such as GPU access, will likely be key to differentiation/leadership," Meeker writes.

While she acknowledges that AI may replace human involvement in certain areas, such as coding and computation, Meeker remains optimistic about its ability to propel human innovation.

"[By] making these technical skills more of an open utility and toolset, AI can liberate human intelligence to focus more on ingenuity — the root force behind building and producing new things and ideas," Meeker wries.

You can read Meeker's full 16-page report here.

• The American Automobile Association tracks average gas prices in every state.
• Mississippi has the lowest gas prices with an average cost of $2.937 per gallon.
• California's gas prices are the highest in the US with an average cost of $4.794 per gallon.

Gas prices have fluctuated dramatically over the last few years, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, or EIA.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the price of gas to fall to a national average of $2.258 per gallon in 2020. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prices skyrocketed to an average of $4.059 per gallon.

The American Automobile Association, or AAA, reports that the national average sits at $3.491 as of July 1. Costs vary by state depending on factors such as distance from supply, retail competition, and local taxes, according to the EIA.

California, for example, has some of the highest gasoline taxes out of any state and uses a special fuel formulation due to environmental regulations, contributing to its higher-than-average prices.

Here are the states with the highest and lowest gas prices in the US, according to AAA data.

Alabama has the fifth-lowest gas prices in the US with an average cost of $3.087 per gallon of regular gas.

Oklahoma's average cost for a gallon of regular gas is $3.059, making it the state with the fourth-lowest gas prices.

Arkansas has the country's third-lowest gas prices at an average of $3.053 per gallon.

Louisiana is the second-cheapest state for regular gas, with an average cost of $3.005 per gallon.

Mississippi has the lowest gas prices in the US — an average of $2.937 per gallon of regular gas.

When it comes to states with the highest gas prices, Nevada is in fifth place with an average cost of $4.026 per gallon.

With an average cost of $4.053 per gallon, Oregon has the fourth-highest gas prices in the US.

Washington is the third-most expensive state to get gas at $4.316 per gallon on average.

The average cost of a gallon of gas in Hawaii is $4.696, making it the second-most expensive state.

California has the highest average gas prices in the US at $4.794 per gallon.

• Biden is facing the biggest challenge of his career as he aims to remain the Democratic nominee.
• The president's family encouraged him to continue his campaign, according to The New York Times.
• So far, he's leaning on his family and his political appeal among party blocs to forge ahead.

Democrats are still trying to pick up the pieces from President Joe Biden's poor debate performance last week.

Biden himself sought to reassure donors of his continued viability during a series of campaign fundraising events on Saturday. Top surrogates like Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined with other top Democrats in expressing their support for the president. And during a pre-planned gathering at Camp David, The New York Times reported that Biden's relatives encouraged him to remain in the race.

So for now, Biden's strategy is to dig in as his campaign works to repair the damage.

What could the coming weeks look like for Biden as he continues to navigate his reelection bid with skepticism from many within the party?

The power of family

Biden's close-knit family ties are well-known. He has prided himself on his relationships with his children and grandchildren. After his son, Beau, died in 2015, he spoke lovingly of the bond that they shared. And Biden has strongly supported his son Hunter Biden over the years as Hunter faced a litany of challenges related to his alcohol and drug addiction, as well as his recent conviction on felony gun charges.

On Sunday, Biden's family relayed their support for the president by urging him to stay in the presidential race, according to The Times. And Hunter Biden was one of the most vocal proponents of his father remaining in the contest, as he wanted Americans to see his father as the statesmanlike figure that he's long known and not as the largely ineffective candidate who struggled in the debate with former President Donald Trump, per the newspaper.

While Democratic strategists and pollsters are poring over numbers and voter reactions to assess Biden's chances, for now, he's leaning on his family's assessment to remain the party's standard-bearer.

He's been in a similar situation before.

In 2019, Biden didn't launch his successful 2020 presidential campaign until his family was fully on board with the decision.

The president is seemingly banking on his family's judgment once again as he endures what may be the most difficult stretch of his 50-plus year political career.

Biden's big swing-state test

Biden knows the importance of carrying must-win battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as holding Nevada. And he's making another run at both Arizona and Georgia.

It's why Biden's late-night stop at an Atlanta-area Waffle House and his seemingly reinvigorated persona at a Friday campaign rally in Raleigh mattered, even if it was overshadowed by fallout from the Thursday debate.

While many strategists in Washington were wringing their hands over Biden's performance, Biden knew he needed to act immediately to continue speaking with voters who could see him up close.

North Carolina was narrowly won by Trump in 2020 and upcoming polling will show the extent of its competitiveness headed into mid-summer. But Biden's Friday rally in the state was a reflection that he's here to stay and he's not going to be easily dislodged from office.

Most elected Democrats remain firmly behind Biden. But if new polling in states like Georgia and Wisconsin show the sort of erosion in support that is incredibly difficult to overcome, some bigger voices might start asking Biden to reconsider his stance.

For now, though, Biden remains in the driver's seat. And he's hoping it'll stay that way.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she'll file impeachment articles against Supreme Court justices.
• The congresswoman cast the move as an effort to "defend our nation" from "authoritarian capture."
• It came after the court handed former President Donald Trump a win in his immunity case.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is ready to impeach Supreme Court justices after the court handed former President Donald Trump a victory in his immunity case.

The New York Democrat wrote that the court had become "consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control" and that it is "up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture."

The House is set to return from its current recess next Monday.

It was not immediately clear which justices the congresswoman would seek to impeach, though she has previously suggested that Justice Clarence Thomas should be impeached over his failure to disclose lavish trips paid for by Republican billionaires, some of whom had business before the court.

On Friday, the court released an opinion finding that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for most official acts, a ruling that Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested would enable presidents to assassinate their political rivals.

Ocasio-Cortez's impeachment bid is unlikely to go anywhere in the near term: Republicans control the House, and even Democratic leadership hasn't fully come around to the notion that justices should face impeachment.

In a statement after the ruling, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Democrats would "engage in aggressive oversight and legislative activity with respect to the Supreme Court to ensure that the extreme, far-right justices in the majority are brought into compliance with the Constitution."

But the act of filing impeachment articles represents a significant escalation in Democrats' efforts to exercise greater oversight over the high court, which has faced numerous ethics scandals in recent years while issuing a spate of conservative opinions that have upended decades of precedent, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The last (and only) time a Supreme Court Justice has been impeached was 220 years ago, when Samuel Chase survived an effort to remove him in 1804 over his handling of two politically sensitive trials.

• I hadn't heard about gentle parenting until my son was over a year old. 
• I always thought I'd be a better parent to older kids than younger ones. 
• My wife is less gentle than I am, and I sometimes feel like maybe I'm just a pushover. 

I hadn't heard the term gentle parenting until our son was more than a year old. As an older millennial, I wasn't tuned into parenting TikTok and my Instagram algorithm was more likely to show me videos of trendy restaurants than offer parenting advice.

About the time our child started watching Cocomelon and Blippi, I turned to doom-scrolling through Reels hoping to drown out the cringy "Wheels On The Bus" playing in a loop. Eventually the algorithm caught on, and finally saw my first gentle parenting meme.

There are plenty of would-be comedians producing not-that-funny videos featuring the phrase, "gentle parenting." The most common variation was dragging our parents' generation for some kind of abusive parenting tactic, followed up by a new parent hugging their child. I found these Reels as informative as they were humorous, so I had to Google the phrase.

This gentle parenting thing turned out to be a pretty big deal, so much bigger than my sleep deprived brain could grapple with.

I eventually distilled down the concept to mean allowing our little dictator to rule with an iron fist. There are, of course, nuances beyond simply complying with your toddler's demands with the broad aim of allowing them to learn the consequences of their own actions while validating their feelings.

But, isn't that simply parenting?

I was raised with a different parenting style

My parents are the classic Boomer archetype: hippies-turned-yuppies, granola loving neoliberal Clinton Democrats. My mother shopped at the health food store, a place that sold fruit leather instead of fruit roll-ups. They never grounded me, though I was once or twice sent to my room. Nobody ever beat me, but I did have a few open palm spankings.

Before becoming a parent, I spent time with my friends' children on long weekends, at barbecues, brunches, birthdays, and even a few times at local bars. Some of those kids are already teenagers now. I had always assumed I would be a better parent to older children than to younger ones. I prefer routines to chaos, reason and logic to whims of hunger-induced tantrums, and conversation to high-energy rough housing.

I had always heard having your own children is different. As it turns out, my tolerance for a whiney, cranky, misbehaving toddler is much higher when he's my own. My first response is to ask him why he's upset rather than to yell. It seemed to me, as a first-time parent who had watched other parents struggle to control their children, the easiest way to soothe him was to ask what was wrong. I wasn't trying to gentle parent, I'm just a people pleaser.

And if logic and reason doesn't work, bribery surely does, right?

Sometimes I yell, but not often

My wife is less gentle. Recently our son scraped his arm. He didn't want us to bandage it, even after I showed him the assorted options decorated with puppies, planets, and Elmo. I called them stickers, which he loves, and I even let him stick a BandAid on my knee. Nothing worked. I suggested to my wife that we might bribe him with the promise of a fruit juice ice pop since we've convinced him these are just as good as ice cream. I was willing to negotiate with him.

"We just need to make him do things sometimes," my wife said, adopting the popular tactic otherwise known as "not negotiating with terrorists."

After dinner, when I went to wipe his hands, I swooped in to wipe his scraped arm. "No, no, no," he cried. "It stings, it stings." I held fast and wiped it clean before applying antibacterial cream. As I stuck the bandage on, I tried to explain it was part of growing up. I wanted to comfort him. I didn't like to hear him cry. He cried anyway.

I have raised my voice. I have even yelled. But only rarely. I wear eyeglasses, and with an astigmatism and high prescription, I'm nearly blind without them. These facts haven't prevented my toddler from knocking the glasses off my face, sometimes intentionally. He broke two pairs, even after having conversations about why he shouldn't touch my glasses.

Several months ago, when my second pair had already been glued back together more than once, he heard quite a few choice words when he knocked them off my face. It was the first real expression of anger I showed him, and I confined him to his crib while I waited for the glue to dry. He sobbed the whole time, and even tried negotiating his early release.

The time out in the crib was his first real punishment. He stopped hitting my glasses. Or at least, he stopped for a while. Then, a few weeks ago, while we were at my parents house, he slapped my face directly on the bridge of the frames. The already broken glasses snapped again, the pieces spilling across the floor. I yelled at him. I yelled loud enough my father heard me from the basement. My mother heard me yell from her bedroom. My wife heard me from the shower. My son was startled, frightened even.

I had to crawl around on my hands and knees, moving my hand over the floor until I found the pieces. We had transitioned from a crib to a toddler bed, so I had no place for his time out while waiting for the glue to dry. Instead, I blindly collected his toys scattered around the living room, placed them in their Rubbermaid containers, and stowed them in the closet.

For the rest of the day, he was angry with me. Later, when we got home, he didn't want me to sit on the couch, and when we went to read to him before bed, he insisted my wife read to him instead. It didn't feel good. The next morning, when he still held a grudge, I worried, at 3 years old, he was going to resent me for the rest of his life.

I'm not intentionally trying to gentle parent. And I want to set limits for my child because I know he needs them. His level of fruit snack consumption alone is proof of that. But I also know I don't want a relationship with him that is distant. I want him to trust me, I want him to understand the reason why I set limits for him.

Maybe at 3, that's too complicated for him to understand. But I'm still going to try.

• A cardiologist said to avoid snacking on fried foods and processed sweets to reduce heart health risks. 
• Instead, opt for more nutrient-dense alternatives like almonds, pistachios, and berries as healthy snacks.
• Enjoy your favorite snacks in moderation to create sustainable habits for long-term heart health. 

You don't have to give up snacking to improve your heart health, one cardiologist said.

It's no surprise that ultra-processed foods like fried snacks and sugary treats are linked to a higher risk of heart disease.

A few smart swaps can help you cut back on some of the biggest culprits, according to Dr. Mustali Dohadwala of Heartsafe, a private practice in Boston.

Dohadwala told Business Insider that nutritious options like berries can be a satisfying alternative. More awareness paired with moderation can also help you enjoy snacks without compromising your health.

"It's good to be able to discuss what the right thing to do is, but it's more important to understand it takes a conscious effort for most people to do the right thing for their body," the medical director said.

Snack on almonds or pistachios instead of fried foods

Popular snack foods like french fries and potato chips are compellingly snackable because they offer a one-two punch of fat and salt that can trigger a hit of dopamine.

However, excess salt and saturated fat can contribute to health risks such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

"To me, any form of fried food as a snack is probably not a good choice," Dohadwala said.

Instead, opt for nuts like almonds and pistachios, which offer a crunchy texture and savory flavors as well as benefits from heart-healthy fats and fiber.

"Nuts rather than fried snacks are a great source of protein and good for satiating your appetite," he added.

Reach for fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth

The other big category of snack food that can raise your risk of heart health issues is sweets. Cookies, candy, snack cakes, and more are loaded with added sugars, too much of which can prompt cravings and long-term health risks.

Fruit can offer some sweetness alongside vitamins, micronutrients, and fiber for a healthier choice, Dohadwala said.

Some of his favorite fruits for snacking include bananas, watermelon, cherries, blueberries, and strawberries.

"Berries are famous for natural compounds polyphenols that have tremendous antioxidant power to keep the cells healthy," he said.

Plenty of lower-sugar processed snacks are also available at the grocery store, but Dohadwala advised caution about relying too much on artificial sweeteners. Moderation is key when it comes to sweets, and sometimes, a little bit of real sugar may be a healthier, more satisfying choice.

Evidence suggests artificial sweeteners may also be linked to a higher risk of heart attack.

"Ideally, you don't want to consume sweets as a snack, but if you do, you should be consuming food items that have real sugar," he said.

He emphasized that you don't have to cut out all foods you enjoy, even if they're not nutritionally ideal since doctors sometimes eat Doritos too.

According to Dohadwala, allowing yourself the freedom to enjoy treats in moderation is a more realistic strategy that can help you stick to healthy habits long-term.

"What I like to do is give my body and mind a vacation every now and then," he said. "Taking those liberties from time to time is perfectly normal and reasonable. I say this to my patients all the time: We have to take things one day at a time. Life is a marathon, not a sprint."

• The Supreme Court is kicking two major cases back down to lower courts.
• The cases involve Texas and Florida laws challenging social media companies' content moderation.
• In outlining why the lower courts need to retake the cases, SCOTUS effectively granted a victory to the companies.

The Supreme Court isn't willing to blow up the internet just yet.

In a decision released Monday on a pair of cases concerning whether or not social media companies can moderate content on their platforms, the Supreme Court kicked the cases back down to the lower courts in Texas and Florida.

But, in outlining why the lower courts need to reconsider the cases, the high court essentially granted a victory to social media giants, a legal expert told Business Insider.

The Supreme Court had been weighing two cases — Texas's NetChoice v. Paxton and Florida's Moody v. NetChoice — both of which concerned laws in each state that limited social media companies' ability to censor posts based on users' viewpoints.

The laws were introduced after Donald Trump was booted off of Facebook and (then-called) Twitter in 2021 following the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Republicans in both states had argued that, in moderating the kinds of content that appear on their platforms, social media companies were discriminating against right-wing viewpoints and violating users' constitutional right to free speech.

There are a few key differences in the scope of both laws.

The Texas law applied to social media companies with at least 50 million users, while Florida included companies with over 100 million users.

Also, the Florida law specifically prohibited the companies from removing political candidates for office from the platforms, while the Texas law more generally prohibited the companies from removing any users' content based on their viewpoints.

As Judge Andrew Oldham wrote in his appeals court decision upholding the Texas law, the Florida law "prohibits all censorship of some speakers," while the Texas law "prohibits some censorship of all speakers."

NetChoice, a trade group representing companies including Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok, sued over the laws, arguing that as private entities the companies have a right to make editorial decisions about what kinds of content they allow. While supporters of the state laws had argued that users have a constitutional right to free expression on the platforms, NetChoice, ironically, argued that the companies have a constitutional right to free speech in deciding how to run their platforms.

"Texas is trying to flip the script and saying that somehow the First Amendment protects Texas citizens from the actions of private entities," Clay Calvert, a media law and First Amendment law expert, told Business Insider.

The thing about the First Amendment though is that it protects from government censorship of free speech, not from private entities.

"So both sides are claiming somehow that the other is trying to harm free speech interests," Calvert said. "But the fundamental principle is the First Amendment only protects us from government censorship."

And that's partly what the Supreme Court took issue with in its decision, with Justice Elena Kagan writing that the lower appeals courts in both states had not adequately analyzed NetChoice's First Amendment challenges to the laws or the scope of what platforms the laws apply to.

"Today's decision is a victory for NetChoice, because the court articulates very important principles that will come into play on remand ultimately in these cases," Calvert said.

The first of those principles that Kagan outlines is that social media companies are protected by the First Amendment when they curate content, Calvert said.

"Another big principle is that the government, whether it's Texas or Florida, cannot justify curtailing that editorial control and discretion and freedom under the interest of 'We need to rebalance and level the playing field to make it more even for conservative and liberal viewpoints,'" Calvert added. "That doesn't fly."

Before the cases made their way to the Supreme Court, they were battled out in the lower courts, and neither law went into effect under state attorneys general Ken Paxton and Ashley Moody.

Part of the reason the Supreme Court might have agreed to hear the cases to begin with is because there was a circuit split between the states. Texas's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the law was constitutional, while Florida's Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law was unconstitutional.

Now, those lower courts will have to reconsider the cases. The implications of their decisions could be huge.

Calvert told BI before SCOTUS's Monday decision that if the laws are allowed to go into effect, "The implications would be disastrous for social media platforms as we know them today."

"They would have to host all viewpoints on any topic and could not establish for themselves the types of communities, the speech-based communities that they want to host. So it would change things radically," Calvert added.

But Calvert said on Monday that because the high court's decision is so favorable to the social media companies, that's not likely to happen.

• You probably learned basic facts about your home state like its flower or bird.
• But there are many more fun facts you might not know.
• In Iowa, pigs outnumber people by 7-to-1; in Delaware, chickens outnumber people 200-to-1.
  

Thanks to elementary school projects and random trivia games, you probably remember a few fun facts about your home state like the official bird, flower, or dessert.

But there are plenty of more obscure fun facts about each of the 50 states that may surprise you.

From New York being the first state to require license plates to Hawaii having the highest life expectancy rate, here's a fact about each state that'll impress your colleagues and give you a boost next time you play "Jeopardy!"

ALABAMA: There's a store in Alabama that sells unclaimed baggage.

Located in Scottsboro, Alabama, the Unclaimed Baggage Center is organized into 10 departments, including books, womenswear, menswear, electronics, and fine jewelry.

ALASKA: The northernmost city in the US, Utqiaġvik, Alaska, experiences periods of uninterrupted daylight and darkness.

Per Travel Alaska, the city experiences 85 days of the state's famous "midnight sun," as the sun stays above the horizon during this period from May to early August.

Conversely, the city also experiences a "polar night," where there's essentially no sunlight for two months during the winter.

ARIZONA: The bola tie is the official state neckwear of Arizona.

Also known as a bolo tie, the accessory was designated as Arizona's official neckwear in 1973.

ARKANSAS: The most expensive diamond ever discovered in the US was found in Arkansas.

The 8.52-carat diamond was found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in 2015 by Bobbie Oskarson, and she named it after her niece. The Esperanza Diamond was fashioned into a necklace and is worth an estimated $1 million, The Inspired Collection reported.

CALIFORNIA: The state is home to over 100 ghost towns.

One of the most famous ghost towns in California is Bodie. The gold-mining town was once home to 10,000 people, but was fully abandoned by 1942, with some people seemingly having packed their belongings mid-meal.

Photographer Dennis Ariza told BI in 2021 the town looked like "people were abducted by aliens" with homework still on desks in the school and "food on the table and pots on the stove" inside homes.

It's now a State Historic Park.

COLORADO: There has never been a US president or vice president born in Colorado.

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of US presidents were born on the East Coast. Only two presidents have been born west of Texas: Richard Nixon, who was born in California, and Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii.

CONNECTICUT: The first phone book in the US was printed in New Haven in 1878.

The first phone book didn't actually list any phone numbers. Instead, it was a piece of cardboard with a list of 50 people and businesses who had phones, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

DELAWARE: Chickens outnumber people 200-to-1 in Delaware.

Per the USDA, Delaware is home to over 200 million chickens. Meanwhile, the US Census Bureau reported that as of 2023, the state has a population of about 1 million people.

 

FLORIDA: Disney World in Orlando is a no-fly zone.

The popular theme park is one of several no-fly zones in the US. Per the FAA, it received permanent no-fly zone status in 2014.

And yes, Disneyland in Anaheim, California is covered, too.

GEORGIA: There were four other state capitals before Atlanta.

Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, and Milledgeville are the state's previous capitals.

 

HAWAII: Hawaii has the highest life expectancy out of any state.

In 2020, the CDC reported that life expectancy in Hawaii was 80.7 years.

IDAHO: At 7,993 feet deep, the Snake River in Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.

This gorge is 2,000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

ILLINOIS: The Prairie State should be re-nicknamed the Pumpkin State — it produces more pumpkins annually than any other state in the US.

The USDA reported that Illinois produced 634 million pounds of pumpkins in 2022 — that's more than the production of California, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia (the other top pumpkin-producing states) combined.

INDIANA: It's illegal to catch a fish with your bare hands.

You also can't catch a fish with firearms, a crossbow, or dynamite, per Visit Indiana. Good to know.

IOWA: Pigs outnumber the human population in Iowa by about 7-to-1.

In 2022, the USDA reported that Iowa had 23.4 million hogs and pigs, which was actually three percent less than 2021.

KANSAS: Natural gas deposits in the state are some of the most helium-rich in the world.

Helium isn't just for balloons; it's a key component of medical technologies, manufacturing, space exploration, and national defense, reported the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management.

KENTUCKY: There are more barrels of bourbon than people in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Distillers' Association reported that, as of 2022, there are 11.4 million barrels of bourbon in the state. That's about 2.5 barrels of bourbon per person.

LOUISIANA: Milk is the official state drink.

It's been the official drink of choice for Louisiana since 1983.

MAINE: The state has its own desert in Freeport.

Per the location's website, the Desert of Maine is home to 20 acres of sand dunes with history that dates back to the 1800s.

MARYLAND: The first Ouija board was invented in Maryland.

The Library of Congress reported that the spooky board was first manufactured in Baltimore in 1890 for "supernatural communication."

MASSACHUSETTS: Basketball was invented in Springfield.

National Geographic reported that James Naismith created the 13 original rules of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public game was played in 1892.

MICHIGAN: No matter where you are in the state, you'll never be more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes.

The state is shaped by four of the five Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, Huron, Superior, and Erie.

MINNESOTA: Minnesota has the highest proportion of public golf courses.

Per the National Golf Foundation, 90% of the state's 477 golf courses are open to the public. That's 17% higher than the national average.

MISSISSIPPI: Barq's Root Beer was invented in Biloxi.

Barq's Root Beer was invented in 1898.

MISSOURI: The first successful parachute jump from a moving plane (what we now call skydiving) was completed in Missouri.

St. Louis Magazine reported that the daring jump was made by Army Captain Albert Berry in 1912.

 

MONTANA: In 1972, Loma, Montana, set the world record for the largest temperature increase in 24 hours.

From January 14 to January 15, 1972, the temperature in Loma, Montana, rose 103 degrees Fahrenheit from -54 degrees Fahrenheit to 49 degrees Fahrenheit, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported.

NEBRASKA: Kool-Aid is the official state soft drink of Nebraska.

History Nebraska reported that the popular beverage powder was invented in Hastings, Nebraska, by Edwin Perkins in 1927. It has been the state's official soft drink since 1998.

NEVADA: Nearly half of all the wild horses in the US are in Nevada.

Smithsonian Magazine reported that many of the state's horses are part of the Virginia Range herd, also known as "Annie's Horses" after the work of activist Velma Johnston, also called "Wild Horse Annie."

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American to travel into space, was from New Hampshire.

Shepard was born in Derry, New Hampshire, and on May 5, 1961, he became the first American to complete a suborbital mission, NASA reported. For his service, he was given NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, by President John F. Kennedy.

NEW JERSEY: During the Revolutionary War, more battles were fought in New Jersey than in any other colony.

Per the State of New Jersey, the Battle of Trenton was one notable battle that took place in the state.

NEW MEXICO: Santa Fe, New Mexico, is 7,000 feet above sea level, making it the state capital with the highest elevation in the country.

As a result of the higher elevation, Santa Fe Tourism warns visitors to be conscious of their alcohol intake, as one drink in Santa Fe is equivalent to three drinks at sea level.

 

NEW YORK: New York was the first state to require license plates on cars.

Time reported that New York Governor Benjamin Odell Jr. signed the bill into law on April 25, 1901.

NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina produces the most sweet potatoes out of all the 50 states.

The state has held the No. 1 spot since 1971 and produces about 60% of the country's supply, the North Carolina History Project reported.

NORTH DAKOTA: Rugby, North Dakota, is home to the geographical center of North America.

The monument was created in 1932.

OHIO: Ohio has the only state flag in the US that isn't rectangular.

This type of flag is called a burgee.

 

OKLAHOMA: There are more man-made lakes in Oklahoma than in any other state.

Many of the man-made lakes were made to help with issues like flood control, water supply, and hydroelectric power, the Oklahoma Historical Society reported.

OREGON: Portland, Oregon, has more breweries than almost any other city in the world.

Travel Portland reports that the city is home to about 70 breweries, and has a fitting nickname: "Beervana."

PENNSYLVANIA: The first public zoo in the US opened in 1874 in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Zoo opened on July 1, 1874, and continues to operate today, housing more than 1,700 rare and endangered animals, per its website.

RHODE ISLAND: The first polo club in the US was founded in Rhode Island in 1876.

The US Polo Association reported that James Gordon Bennett Jr. established the Westchester Polo Club, based in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1876.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Georgia may be well known for its peaches, but South Carolina actually produces more of the fruit annually.

Per the state's Department of Agriculture, South Carolina produces "more than three times the amount" of peaches than Georgia.

It calls itself "the tastier peach state."

SOUTH DAKOTA: Until its closure in 2002, the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America.

CBS reported that the gold mine produced over 40 million ounces of gold during its 125 plus years of operation.

TENNESSEE: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited National Park in the US.

In 2023, more than 13 million people visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park, National Geographic reported. Grand Canyon National Park, which is No. 2, only attracted 4.7 million visitors.

TEXAS: Dr Pepper was invented in Texas in 1885.

Per the Dr Pepper Museum, pharmacist Charles Alderton invented the drink in Waco, Texas.

UTAH: Utah is the only state where every county includes a part of a national forest.

The state is home to six national forests: Dixie, Fishlake, Manti-LaSal, Uinta, Ashley, and Wasatch.

VERMONT: Vermont produced 2.05 million gallons of maple syrup in 2023, more than any other state.

The state has only been outproduced twice: in 1918 and 1926, per the USDA.

VIRGINIA: The first college fraternity was founded in the College of William & Mary in 1776.

The secret society was named Phi Beta Kappa.

WASHINGTON: Washington produces six out of every 10 apples consumed in the US.

Per the Washington Apple Commission, the state harvests 10-12 billion apples annually. The apple is also the official state fruit.

WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia's name was almost "Kanawha."

Per the state, the name was discussed at a delegate convention in 1861 before "West Virginia" was officially selected. West Virginia became the country's 35th state in 1863.

WISCONSIN: The QWERTY keyboard was invented in Wisconsin.

The keyboard layout was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes and Carlos Glidden, and their typewriter debuted in 1874, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

WYOMING: Wyoming was the first state in the country to have a female governor.

Nellie Tayloe Ross was elected in 1925 after her husband died before finishing his term as governor, the National Governors Association reported. She went on to become vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and served two terms as director of the US Mint under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

• Apple's iPhone 16 is three months away from its official launch.
• The company introduced Apple Intelligence in June. It's expected to be a big part of the new iPhone.
• Here's what we know so far about the iPhone 16.

Apple is primed to announce its newest iPhone in September, and industry insiders are dropping clues about the upgrade.

The iPhone 16 isn't here yet, but Apple Intelligence — the company's official entrance into the artificial intelligence arms race — will likely be the centerpiece of the launch versus any major hardware changes.

According to Bloomberg, Apple Intelligence will be free at first, but subscription options might become available for those who want more AI capabilities on their device. Smartphone owners will have to upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro or later if they want to use Apple Intelligence.

One of the other adjustments will be to virtual assistant Siri, which should become even smarter with iOS 18 thanks to Apple Intelligence and an OpenAI partnership, the company announced at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a Taiwan-based analyst known for his Apple predictions, also said in May that the iPhone 16 Pro Max's battery will differ from previous models.

In a blog post, Kuo said that the energy density of the battery cells will increase in the device, which suggests that it will either have a longer battery life or the battery itself could be smaller.

Such changes would likely raise the battery temperature, Kuo said, but Apple might combat this with a stainless steel battery case — a first for the company.

The tweaks to the iPhone 16's battery will also help Apple comply with European Union regulations that require all smartphones to have replaceable batteries by 2027 since it would become easier to remove.

The stainless steel case "allows Apple to increase the battery cell density by 5-10% while meeting safety requirements, achieving two goals at once," Kuo said in an X post.

• Technomic data analyzed by Nation's Restaurant News ranks the top 15 US fast-food restaurants.
• McDonald's topped the list as the biggest fast-food chain in the country.
• Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, and Taco Bell also ranked highly.

In the US, fast food is king. However, some chains are simply bigger than others.

From McDonald's to Taco Bell, quick-service and fast-casual chains fared far better last year compared to casual-dining chains like Chili's and Applebee's, Restaurant Business reported in June. However, those chains are attempting to level the playing field this year with value-focused initiatives and comparable menu items — and it might be winning customers over.

The research firm Technomic recently identified the top 500 biggest chain restaurants in the US. The report, which Technomic said is based on "decades of historical data," analyzes trends in the food service industry and includes each chain's annual sales and unit counts for 2023, which were also reported by Nation's Restaurant News.

We looked at the top 15 chains listed as quick-service or fast-casual. We didn't include casual-dining or family-style chains like Cracker Barrel or Applebee's in this ranking. We also listed the year the company was founded, its 2023 sales, and restaurant count, per Technomic's report.

Here are the biggest chain restaurants in the US.

15. Popeyes

Year founded: 1972

Sales (2023): $5.5 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 3,051

14. Sonic Drive-In

Year founded: 1953

Sales (2023): $5.5 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 3,521

13. Pizza Hut

Year founded: 1958

Sales (2023): $5.6 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 6,593

12. Panda Express

Year founded: 1983

Sales (2023): $5.9 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 2,420

11. Panera Bread

Year founded: 1987

Sales (2023): $6.5 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 2,178

10. Domino's

Year founded: 1960

Sales (2023): $9 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 6,854

9. Chipotle

Year founded: 1993

Sales (2023): $9.9 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 3,371

8. Subway

Year founded: 1965

Sales (2023): $10 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 20,133

7. Burger King

Year founded: 1954

Sales (2023): $11 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 6,778

6. Dunkin'

Year founded: 1950

Sales (2023): $12 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 9,580

5. Wendy's

Year founded: 1969

Sales (2023): $12.3 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 6,030

4. Taco Bell

Year founded: 1962

Sales (2023): $15 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 7,405

3. Chick-fil-A

Year founded: 1967

Sales (2023): $21.6 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 2,964

2. Starbucks

Year founded: 1971

Sales (2023): $31.6 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 16,466

1. McDonald's

Year founded: 1955

Sales (2023): $53.1 billion

Restaurant count (2023): 13,457