TET HOLIDAY TASKS

I. Xem 2 bộ phim trên Studyphim và chuẩn bị 2 bài nói về nội dung phim, thích/không thích gì về bộ
phim.
II. Dịch các bài báo sau sang tiếng Việt

1. Presidents of Vietnam, Philippines tour Thang Long Imperial Citadel

Presidents Vo Van Thuong and Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. meet with artisans while visiting the Vietnamese Tet
space held at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel on Jan. 30, 2024.
E.g Hai vị chủ tịch nước Võ Văn Thưởng và Romualdez Marcos Jr. gặp các nghệ nhân trong lúc đi thăm không gian Tết
Việt được tổ chức tại Hoàng Thành Thăng Long vào ngày 30 tháng 1 năm 2024.
President Vo Van Thuong and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. visited the Thang Long Imperial
Citadel, a world cultural heritage site in Hanoi, on Tuesday as part of the latter's state visit to Vietnam.
The two leaders attended the "Happy Tet 2024" program that is taking place ahead of the Lunar New Year ( Tet) Festival
at the Central Sector of the citadel.
President Thuong introduced the traditional Tet of Vietnam, including its cultural values, folk games, and dishes, to his
guest. They also talked to local people and artisans of craft villages from across Vietnam who are reenacting the
traditional Tet spaces of Hanoi, the central and southern regions, and ethnic minority groups.
Later, the presidents took a tour of relics at the imperial citadel, including Doan Mon – one of the main entrances to the
citadel – with archaeological structures, the exhibition hall of antiquities and some items recognized as national
treasures, and Kinh Thien Palace that used to be the venue of the most important ceremonies, receptions for foreign
envoys, and discussions of national issues of feudal dynasties in the past.
The Thang Long Imperial Citadel, built by feudal dynasties in different periods of Vietnam's history, is one of the most
important relic sites in the country. In 2010, the World Heritage Committee recognized the citadel's Central Sector as a
world cultural heritage site.

2. Phu Quoc emerges as new trending destination among South Koreans

Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam southern coast has emerged as a new trending destination, spurred by the introduction of
new air routes by Korean Air.
Despite a shorter Lunar New Year holidays from Feb. 9-12, major Korean travel companies such as Hana Tour, Very Good
Travel and Kyowon Tour Travel Easy on Jan. 17 reported a remarkable annual surge in tour bookings, averaging around
50%.
Hana Tour revealed a 48% increase in overseas travel bookings during the holidays, demonstrating the highest growth in
Southeast Asia at 57%, followed by Japan at 25%, Europe 6%, South Pacific 6%, and China 5%.
This underscores a discernible customer preference for destinations with shorter distances.
Breaking down the data by region, the demand for travel to Vietnam and Japan collectively constituted over half of the
bookings, with 27% heading to Vietnam and 25% to Japan.
Analyzing holiday booking data, Kyowon Tour Travel Easy identified Japan as having the highest proportion of
reservations, accounting for 20.8% of the total. Vietnam secured the second position with a share of 11.7%.
Very Good Travel anticipated a booking growth of more than 10%. Among all international travel bookings, Southeast
Asia took the lead with the highest share at 37.2%, followed by Japan at 29.1%, Europe 11.2%, Oceania 8.1%, and China
6.4%.
According to its data, newly emerging tourist destinations gaining popularity among travelers include Siem Reap in
Cambodia, Phu Quoc in Vietnam, Taichung in Taiwan, and Matsuyama in Japan.
Renowned for its long beaches with gleaming white sand nestled beside inviting turquoise waters, Phu Quoc island
received accolades from the American travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler as one of the world’s top islands in 2023,
marking its second consecutive year on the prestigious list.
Phu Quoc offers a kaleidoscope of cultural-historical experiences and a range of accommodations, from affordable
housing to luxurious resorts.

3. What Happens to Muscles During Exercise?

Exercise changes our muscles, but its molecular effects depend on the type of exercise.
Exercising ranks at the top of many New Year’s resolution lists. While sweating it out, one may wonder what happens
inside the body during exercise. According to Keith Baar, a molecular exercise physiologist at the University of California,
Davis, the way that people choose to exercise—huffing and puffing on a treadmill or lifting weights—affects how their
muscles respond at the molecular level.
The molecular exercise physiologist Keith Baar studies how muscles change in response to different types of exercise.
When people undertake endurance training, such as running, one of the biggest changes in their muscles is an increase
in the number of mitochondria, said Baar. “If we go through exercise that uses a lot of energy, our body responds by
making more of the machines to make more energy.”
One key molecule that helps bump up mitochondria numbers is the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma
coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α), a protein that binds to transcription factors and regulates the expression of many genes in
the skeletal muscles of rodentsand humans.1,2 Besides boosting mitochondrial mass,3 PGC-1α also increases the number
of blood vessels in the muscles,4 improving the supply of nutrients and oxygen to keep cells working.
The molecular changes in response to strength exercise, such as lifting weights, are different. “With strength training, we
increase the production of the proteins in our muscles by regulating their translation rates,” Baar explained.
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) protein seems to play a central role in muscle growth.5,6 “It regulates
anabolic processes, increasing protein synthesis and decreasing protein breakdown,” he said.
Building both endurance and strength simultaneously may be difficult, though, as the molecular adaptations induced by
each type of exercise often counteract one another, Baar explained. “That's why you never see a huge muscular person
running a fast marathon.”

4. Criminal prosecution proposed for drivers with high alcohol levels

A senior traffic safety official has said criminal prosecution is necessary for those driving under the influence of high
alcohol levels, even when they have not caused any accidents. Tran Huu Minh, Chief of the Office of the National Traffic
Safety Committee, said the current administrative penalties for violations are relatively high and have a good deterrent
effect.
However, current law stipulates that after reaching the level three of violations, which means drivers have over 0.4
mg/liter in their breath or over 80 mg/100 ml in their blood, they will receive the same penalty, regardless of how high
the alcohol amount in the bodies.
"For example, whether a person drinks 5 or 30 glass beers, they will be fined the same. This does not entirely align with
the basic principle in administrative punishment, which is to impose fines proportionate to the violation," Minh told a
workshop discussing the harm of alcohol to road users organized by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of
Health on Monday in Hanoi.
Minh suggests that violations exceeding level 3 should be differentiated into higher penalties. Drivers who commit
particularly serious alcohol violations leading to complete loss of control and potential catastrophic traffic accidents
should be criminally prosecuted. "This is the case mentioned in Clause 4, Article 260 of the Penal Code, and can be
criminally prosecuted even if no consequences have occurred," he said.
According to this clause, traffic violations that could lead to consequences such as causing three or more deaths, or
property damage of VND1.5 billion (US$61,300), can result in up to one year in prison.
To have sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution, specialized agencies, especially the health sector, need to issue
regulations defining what level of blood alcohol concentration is considered particularly severe, causing the driver to lose
complete control and be processed under the clause. Consequently, the Supreme People's Court Council could issue
guidelines for authorities to implement the law's provisions, he said.
Agreeing with the proposal, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Anh Tuan, Director of the Vietnam-Germany Transport Research Center,
said developed countries like Europe and Japan have criminal penalties for alcohol-impaired drivers endangering traffic
safety. "Initially, they face administrative fines, but if the violation escalates, criminal prosecution, including bigger fines
and imprisonment, is imposed," he said. He added that the risk factor of drinking alcohol while driving is the "number
one danger" requiring increasingly stringent penalty measures.
"Drivers can easily spend tens of millions of dong to pay fines if violated, but facing jail time, they will be deterred," Tuan
said. Dr. Le Thu Huyen from the University of Transport believes that most countries consider driving under the influence
as a crime, with severe cases potentially facing criminal charges even if no consequences have occurred. Drivers also
have their violation records stored and face cumulative penalties for repeated offenses.
Currently, the highest penalty for car drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 80 mg per 100 ml of blood or 0.4
mg/liter in breath is VND30-40 million, with a license suspension of 22-24 months.
Huyen proposes differentiating these levels into 80-160 mg/100 ml and 160-240 mg/100 ml to impose heavier fines
based on the degree of violations. If a driver's blood alcohol concentration exceeds 240 mg/100 ml, they could face
imprisonment, she said.
In November 2023, regulations punishing drunk drivers sparked debate in the National Assembly during discussions on
the drafted Road Traffic Safety Law. Many delegates argued that the current absolute ban on blood alcohol levels for
drivers is inappropriate and suggested establishing limits to determine fines.
During the review of the draft law, the NA’s Defense and Security Committee said some of its members suggested
reconsidering the absolute ban on blood alcohol levels while driving as "too strict and not really in line with the culture,
customs, and practices of a portion of the Vietnamese people."
These members recommended referring to international experiences and setting appropriate blood alcohol levels for
each type of vehicle, ensuring consistency with the Penal Code's regulations. The draft law is expected to be submitted
to the NA for approval later this year.

5. A new digital screening tool may help fast track the diagnosis of children with autism
One out of every 36 children are autistic, according to recent estimates from the CDC. The prevalence, which has
increased in recent decades, is thought to be due to better recognition of symptoms and improved screening
procedures. Even so, families still face challenges, including a delayed diagnosis. And, for girls and children
of minorities, this delay is often longer due to an inability to access the right experts and the variability of symptoms
from child to child.
Currently, there is no medical test for autism. Instead, experts make the diagnosis by evaluating a child’s
developmental history and behavior.
“For the majority of kids, there’s no objective test other than observation of behavior,” says Geraldine Dawson, a
psychologist at Duke University, and the lead author of the research study. “We’re only relying on parent reports.”
For Black and Hispanic children, although their parents start noticing the signs of autism around the same time as
other parents, they are still diagnosed later than their peers, says Daniel Geschwind, a physician researcher at
University of California Los Angeles, whose research focuses on autism. As Geschwind notes, these children also must
be taken to more doctor’s appointments and are at a higher risk of receiving inaccurate diagnoses than their peers.
In a recent paper, published in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers describe a digital screening device that uses
machine learning to analyze various aspects of behavior to determine whether a child has a high probability of being
autistic or not. When they tested this screening tool—called the SenseToKnow app—in a sample of 475 children, they
found it had a high accuracy rate for predicting which children were eventually diagnosed as autistic.
Barriers to a timely diagnosis
As Dawson notes, parents are quite good at detecting if something is different about their child. But reporting those
concerns to their doctors poses significant challenges; whether its difficulty framing the context or finding the right
words to describe what they are observing. This is further complicated because autism manifests differently in each
child and the timing of early symptoms can also vary.
Given how variable these signs can be, even when parents report their concerns, pediatricians often don’t have the
right knowledge and training to pick up on the fact that it’s autism, rather than something else. “There aren’t enough
providers with expertise, and most general pediatricians don’t have the expertise to do this,” Geschwind says.
The main screening tool, which is called The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised with Follow-Up, or M-
CHAT-R/F for short, is made up of a formal screening questionnaire that includes a number of questions about a
child’s behavior and developmental milestones. That is then followed up with further questions from a pediatrician.
The M-CHAT-R/F works well in a formal research setting, but when applied in a busy pediatrician’s office where
appointments can be rushed, this accuracy drops. This drop in accuracy disproportionately affects girls, as well as
Black and Hispanic children.
“Of those [children] who screen positive, only half are referred to early intervention,” says David Mandell, a professor
of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, whose research focuses on racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health
disparities in access to autism resources. Mandell was not a part of the study.
How the SenseToKnow app works
The new screening tool works like this: parents have their child watch a 10-minute video while the camera records
various aspects of behavior. The test predicts whether the child has a high probability of being autistic based on
several factors—what they pay attention to in the video, what facial expressions they make, how they move their
head, and how they respond to their name.
“We found differences in face expression that are extremely subtle,” Dawson says. In practical terms, for parents
reporting these subtleties can be challenging. “It is very difficult for a parent to quantify and to even describe,”
Dawson says.
Of the 475 children who were screened with this app during a primary care visit, 49 of them were eventually
diagnosed with autism, while another 98 children were diagnosed with other developmental delays. This prevalence,
which is higher than average, was likely due to the opt-in nature of the study, which may have led the parents
concerned about their child’s development to enroll.
Sensitivity vs specificity
A good screening tool will reliably identify the kids who are autistic, while also identify the children who aren’t. These
aspects of a test’s accuracy are called sensitivity and specificity.
A test’s sensitivity is its ability to correctly detect autism when it is present; specificity is a test’s ability to correctly
detect when autism isn’t present.
If a test has poor sensitivity but high specificity, there is a high chance that the children with a positive result will be
autistic. However, there also will be a lot of autistic kids, which the test will falsely label: not autistic.
If a test has high sensitivity but poor specificity, then there will be a lot of children incorrectly flagged as being autistic
(false positives), but very few autistic children being overlooked.
When many autistic children are overlooked, it means a delay in receiving the services and accommodations that they
need; while a lot of children incorrectly flagged as autistic will lead to long waiting lists to see an expert who can carry
out a full evaluation.
“You want to balance your sensitivity and your specificity, to try to find as many of the true positives as you possibly
can, to get those kids started on intervention services, without clogging up the system with a lot of false positives,”
says Diana Robins, a psychologist at Drexel University, whose research focuses on autism. Robins, who is one of the
creators of the M-CHAT-R/F screening tool, was not involved in the Nature study.
The SenseToKnow app was shown to have a sensitivity rating of 87.8 percent, and a specificity rating of 80.8 percent.
More research is needed
Before the SenseToKnow app is ready for use in a primary care setting, it will need further studies, which includes
validating its accuracy in different groups of children.
“The next step is to test this in an independent population, to understand its generalizability more broadly,” says
Geschwind, who was not part of the study. “Can it predict outside of the sample that it learned on?”
Dawson and her collaborators are currently carrying out this research, testing the SenseToKnow app in a bigger, more
diverse set of patients, to see if it can still accurately predict autism. Although the SenseToKnow’s accuracy was
generally quite good, these results weren’t uniform among all groups of patients.
“The sensitivity in Black children was great,” Mandell says. “The specificity was not great.”
This lower specificity would mean a higher chance of a child receiving a false positive result—in which the test
predicts that a child is autistic when they are not. Given the relatively low numbers of Black children who were
enrolled in the study, this accuracy can most likely be improved with further testing.
“The next step,” Robins says, “is to test 5,000 or 10,000 kids at checkup and see how it works.”
 6. Efforts to trace monkey that fled Scottish wildlife park intensify
Japanese macaque spotted eating bird food in Kincraig may be seeking respite from breeding season
Efforts to trace a monkey that escaped from a wildlife park in the Highlands of Scotland have intensified after the
primate was spotted by a member of the public after his second night of freedom.
Hopes had been raised on Monday night that the Japanese macaque, which jumped the perimeter fence of the
enclosure he shares with more than 30 others on Sunday, had grown tired of his solo adventure.
He was spotted headed in the direction of the Highland wildlife park in Cairngorms, and local people – who were advised
to report sightings to a dedicated monkey hotline – were being encouraged to remove potential food sources such as
bins and garden bird nuts.
But the macaque headcount on Tuesday morning confirmed that one was still missing, and there has since been another
sighting that a team from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the park, is responding to.
Keith Gilchrist, the living collections operations manager at Highland wildlife park, said: “Throughout the day our expert
team of animal keepers will be patrolling the local area using a variety of techniques to try to coax him in, as well as
using our thermal image drone contractor to aid with the search. Cairngorms mountain rescue has also kindly offered to
support with their thermal imaging drone.”
By happy coincidence, the brother of the leader of the Cairngorm mountain rescue team is a renowned expert in
macaque behaviour at Kyoto University.
Also known as snow monkeys, macaques are familiar with cold mountain habitats.
Carl Nagle, who lives in the nearby village of Kincraig, told BBC Scotland News that he was enjoying a “lazy Sunday
morning” when he read the monkey alert on a local Facebook group.
“I looked out the window and there he was, proud as punch, standing against the fence eating nuts that had fallen down
from one of the bird feeders.
“He hung out, he looked a bit shifty like he was where he wasn’t supposed to be, which was true. He wandered around
the garden a bit – we thought he’d gone but he came back and then he was up on the bird feeders trying to get into
them. He was having a really good go – he worked harder at it than a squirrel.”
One theory is that the monkey jumped the fence seeking respite from the tensions of breeding season – there are two
dominant males in the park’s macaque group and their awol counterpart is younger and less confident.
Though the missing macaque is not thought to pose a threat to humans or pets, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
has advised the public to not approach him and contact the hotline on 079339 28377 with any sightings.

7. ‘Rock star of an animal’: Edinburgh zoo’s pandas to return to China

This article is more than 1 month old
After 12 years in Scotland, pandas to fly home amid ongoing dispute about purpose of zoos and ethics of China’s panda
diplomacy
As soon as she heard that Edinburgh’s pandas were about to be flown home, Sarah Greenwood knew she had to see
them. “I love everything about pandas,” she said. “I absolutely couldn’t miss it.”
Wrapped in a thick coat and hat to guard against the freezing temperatures and the first snow flurries of winter,
Greenwood, an events manager, 52, travelled from Cambridge on Wednesday to watch Tian Tian and her partner, Yang
Guang, grazing on bamboo, sleeping and exercising.
She is not alone: the news that the only pandas in the UK are leaving after 12 years as Edinburgh zoo’s most charismatic
residents, drew visitors from across the UK. Long queues have formed at weekends; scuffles even broke out as visitors
wrestled for space against the glass windows of the separate feeding rooms for the animals.
“I’ve been desperately trying to get here to see them,” Greenwood said. “It’s been a really tough year and a particularly
tough month. And in the end, I was just like: ‘I have to go. I don’t care. I’m going’.”
Alongside Greenwood were several dozen other people, including Chinese students, a family from Fife, and three young
women from Edinburgh, who work together at the Odeon cinema. The trio were brought to the zoo by Katie Cheung, 19,
who said she had seen the pandas “a tonne of times” since they arrived in Edinburgh in 2011 to febrile hype and a
welcoming party that included Scotland’s then deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and a host of Chinese dignitaries.
Their arrival came at the same time as a series of new Anglo-Chinese trade deals.
“I made them come with me,” Cheung said, gesturing to her two giggling friends. “They’re just so cute and cuddly … and
cute,” she added, to further laughter.
The pandas’ residency in Edinburgh will come to an end very quietly in a few days. They will soon be flown home without
fanfare, leaving behind a continuing dispute about the purpose of zoos and the ethics of China’s panda diplomacy.
Will Travers, director of the wildlife conservation charity Born Free and a leading critic of zoos, regards the entire episode
as “sordid”. The pandas’ residency in Edinburgh has been an “unmitigated failure”.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang arrived months after it emerged Edinburgh zoo was in financial crisis. All eight breeding
attempts failed, including one natural coupling, and artificial insemination using Yang Guang’s sperm and frozen sperm
from other pandas. The zoo hyped up Tian Tian’s early fertility windows to garner publicity. Its shop was remodelled
to accommodate panda merchandise.
Travers estimates that in all, the zoo spent roughly £13.7m on the pair. It paid China a $1m (£791,000) annual fee for first
10 years and $500,000 for the final two; £3m went on building an expansive new enclosure; there were medical costs, a
constant diet of homegrown bamboo that cost £2.4m; at least £1.2m on keepers’ wages, and more on insurance.
Meanwhile, the number of pandas in the wild jumped from about 1,000 in the 1980s to 1,864 in 2015, so the
International Union Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded the species’ status from endangered to vulnerable in 2016.
That undermined any case for captive breeding, Travers said. Their “quite blatant commercial exploitation [just] beggars
belief”.
Bob Elliot, director of the Scottish animal welfare charity OneKind, agreed. “Wild animals belong in the wild and
zoological collections are a sad hangover from the 1960s,” he said. “The vast number are held in captivity for
entertainment and financial gain. It’s time to concentrate efforts and resources on conserving habitats and the species
surviving in them.”
Their criticisms are rejected by Prof Simon Girling, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s chief vet and chair of the UK
government’s zoo experts committee. The RZSS, working with UK universities and Chinese researchers, has made
significant discoveries, he said, publishing nine peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Those included definitive proof that a panda’s “true pregnancy” lasts 42 days; new science on fertility testing, on
anaesthesia in pandas, the use of panda stem cells and – unfortunately for Yang Guang, on castration. Several years ago,
Yang Guang developed testicular cancer; the zoo brought in a vast mobile MRI machine on an articulated lorry to scan
him for cancer.
While the pregnancies failed, panda science grew, he said. Even so, no one is clear why Tian Tian’s failed to produce a
cub. He suspects Scotland’s northerly daylight levels had a role: the days shorten more quickly in Edinburgh than in a
panda’s natural environment in China.
David Field, the zoo’s chief executive, said despite Travers’ criticisms, international treaties and agencies, including the
IUCN, champion the role of zoos in global biodiversity efforts. Having species such as the panda in zoos “truly inspired”
people to support animal conservation.
Visitors “have had this emotional connection with the most incredible rock star of an animal”, he said. “One of the
fundamentals with zoos is engagement, connectedness with nature, turning people back on, not [just] knowing the
breeding cycle or the longevity or what they eat, but actually about loving animals, loving nature.”

8. Southampton University given mental health warning after student’s suicide

Coroner in Matthew Wickes inquest raises concern over ‘awareness and curiosity’ of academic staff around mental health
A coroner has issued a warning to Southampton University over the “awareness, understanding and curiosity” of
academic staff around the mental health of students after a student killed himself on the day his exam results were due.
Christopher Wilkinson, the senior area coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, said interruptions to
academic work and to the rhythms of normal student life during and after the pandemic had had a significant impact on
mental health.
The coroner issued a preventing future deaths report to the Russell Group university after the death of Matthew Wickes,
an engineering student, in June 2022. An inquest in Winchester concluded that 21-year-old Wickes took his own life
while suffering from an acute anxiety crisis.
Wilkinson said: “I am concerned about the level of awareness, understanding and curiosity of academic staff around the
mental health of students, particularly in the post-pandemic climate where interruptions to their study and dysregulated
student life have had a significant impact on their mental health.”
A number of universities have been criticised over the support provided to struggling students, among them Bristol
University, which was ordered to pay damages to the parents of Natasha Abrahart, 20, who died a day before she was
due to give a “terrifying” oral exam in front of teachers and fellow students.
A coroner strongly criticised the University of Exeter over the suicide of another student, Harry Armstrong Evans,
claiming it failed to respond effectively to his “cry for help” after a disastrous set of exam results.
During Wickes’s inquest, Southampton University said all staff were offered training on mental health management and
provided with guidance on how to support students. But Wilkinson said: “I am concerned that aspects of this are not
made compulsory for academic staff … It remains unclear as to who or how many staff have actually viewed or
undertaken the online training around student mental health.”

9. Elon Musk’s $56bn Tesla pay package is too much, judge rules
Judge ruled his pay – six times larger than the combined pay of the 200 highest-paid executives in 2021 – was set
inappropriately
A Delaware judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the investors who challenged billionaire Elon Musk’s $56bn Tesla pay
package as excessive, a court filing showed. The judge found that Musk’s compensation was inappropriately set by the
electric-vehicle maker’s board and struck down the package. If the decision survives any potential appeal, the Tesla
board will have to come up with a new compensation package for Musk.
“Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” Musk responded on Twitter/X.
Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta filed the lawsuit five years ago, accusing the company’s chief executive of improperly
dictating negotiations around the compensation package and claimed that the board acted without independence. The
court’s opinion directed Tornetta to work with Musk’s legal team on an order implementing the judge’s decision. The
ruling can be appealed to the Delaware supreme court.
Tesla’s agreement with Musk is by far the largest compensation deal ever for an executive and it contributes a significant
part of his fortune, which is one of the world’s largest. Musk testified during the compensation trial in November 2022
that the money would be used to finance interplanetary travel.
“It’s a way to get humanity to Mars,” he testified. “So Tesla can assist in potentially achieving that.“
Tesla directors argued during a weeklong trial that the company was paying to ensure that one of the world’s most
dynamic entrepreneurs continued to dedicate his attention to the electric-vehicle maker. Antonio Gracias, a Tesla
director from 2007 to 2021, called the package “a great deal for shareholders” because he said it led to the company’s
extraordinary success.
The judge said the defense was unable to establish that the “historically unprecedented compensation plan” was
necessary to ensure Musk remained dedicated to Tesla. She directed parties to confer on a final form of order to
implement her decision.
“Swept up by the rhetoric of ‘all upside,’ or perhaps starry-eyed by Musk’s superstar appeal, the board never asked the
$55.8 billion question: Was the plan even necessary for Tesla to retain Musk and achieve its goals?” Judge Kathaleen St J
McCormick wrote in her decision.
Tornetta’s lawyers argued the Tesla board never told shareholders that the goals were easier to achieve than the
company was acknowledging and that internal projections showed Musk was quickly going to qualify for large portions
of the pay package.
The plaintiff’s legal team also argued the board had a duty to offer a smaller pay package or look for another CEO and
that they should have required Musk to work full-time at Tesla instead of allowing him to focus on other projects. In
2022, he bought the social media company Twitter, which he renamed X, and he has founded several startups, including
brain implant company Neuralink, tunneling enterprise the Boring Co and SpaceX, a rocket venture.
The package grants stock option awards allowing Musk to buy Tesla stock at heavily discounted prices as escalating
financial and operational goals are met. He must hold the acquired stock for five years. Musk qualified for all 12 tranches
or performance targets in the plan. He was not guaranteed any salary.
The ruling will put the spotlight on Tesla’s next round of compensation negotiations with the CEO. Tesla’s value
ballooned to briefly top $1tn in 2021 from $50bn when the package was negotiated. The ruling also comes after Musk
reiterated his desire for 25% voting control of Tesla. Musk sold a big portion of his Tesla shares in order to buy Twitter
but said in a post on X in January that he was uncomfortable leading Tesla unless he had 25% of the voting control. The
billionaire owned around 13% of the company at the time.
Amit Batish at Equilar, an executive pay research firm, estimated in 2022 that Musk’s package was around six times
larger than the combined pay of the 200 highest-paid executives in 2021.
In July, Tesla’s directors agreed to return $735m to the company to settle shareholder allegations brought in a separate
lawsuit filed in 2020 that they overpaid themselves. The lawsuit challenged options that were granted to directors
starting in June 2017.

10.Wildfires are making their way east—where they could be much deadlier
We all know wildfires have been getting worse in the drought-stricken western U.S., but experts say the growing risk
on the east coast is concerning.
When we think of wildfires, we often think of western states like California where massive blazes, such as the 2018
Camp Fire, have been among the deadliest and most destructive in modern history. In 2020, California’s worst wildfire
year on record, 8,648 fires scorched 4.3 million acres of land.
While California and other western states face a high wildfire risk, the region’s wide expanses of wilderness are less
likely to threaten humans. Not so in the eastern and southern United States, where population density puts more
people and property at risk. According to the U.S. Census, 56 percent of the U.S. population lives in the eastern and
southern regions of the country, compared to just 24 percent in the West.
New research shows that there may be cause for concern in the East as well, where fire size, numbers, and total area
burned seem to be increasing.
Recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers used data collected over a 36-year period to show
that large wildfire numbers doubled from 2005-2018, compared to the two decades prior. The biggest increases were
seen in the Southern Coastal Plains of Florida, portions of coastal Georgia, and South Carolina where the five largest
wildfires occurred. Significant wildfires were also common in the Central Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, West
Virginia, and Virginia.
Conversely, wildfire numbers decreased in the northeastern U.S. as shifting climactic conditions led to more
precipitation.
Why fires are increasing
The goal of the study was to identify whether wildfires were growing in frequency and scope, not to show what was
causing this increase. But the authors speculate that warmer, drier conditions brought on by a changing climate
combined with a lack of prescribed fires has led to a proliferation of woodier plants, trees, and shrubs that provide the
fuel for fires to burn in greater strength and numbers.
“This makes for wildfire conditions that are much more difficult for us to suppress,” says Victoria Donovan, lead
author of the study and an ecologist at the University of Florida’s West Florida Research and Education Center in
Milton, Florida.
Invasive species like Cogongrass, a perennial weed capable of driving wildfires deeper into the forest, have also taken
over large swaths of the South, across Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The grass increases the instances of wildfires
because, once ignited, it burns hotter and faster and regrows more rapidly than native grasses.
Why wildfires in the East present greater risk
While the fires aren’t as large as they are in the West, the risk to humans is much greater.
“In the East we have a greater wildlife-urban interface, where we’ve seen more people intermingling with wild land
vegetation,” says Donovan.
The study points to examples like the 2016 Gatlinburg fire in Tennessee, which, although less than a tenth of the size
of the Camp Fire, destroyed nearly 2,500 structures and killed 14 people. When wildfires ignite in densely populated
areas, they not only increase the risk of a loss of life, but also become harder to defend.
Additionally, the danger of wildfire smoke extends much farther than just the immediate area of the fire and can
impact more people in the eastern U.S. Last year’s Canadian wildfires, for example, placed more than a third of the
U.S. population under air quality advisories.
The study also found that 85 percent of wildfires were caused by humans, a statistic which isn’t surprising to Volker
Radeloff, a forestry professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison who was not involved in the study. He says that
when fires happen in populated areas, the risk of human ignition increases. People can start fires for any number of
reasons, and in populated areas it puts the landscape at risk. They might be burning dead leaves in their backyard, and
it gets out of hand—or, in the case of the Gatlinburg fire, two teenage boys playing with matches set the land ablaze.
“In these areas where houses and wildlife vegetation intermingle it’s kind of a double whammy because when a fire
occurs lots of houses are at risk, you have to evacuate people, and there’s also more people to start fires either
intentionally or unintentionally,” says Radeloff.
Planning for the unknown
While the study did show that the number of wildfires in the past four decades have increased, it’s challenging to
point to trends because in the East, there’s still so much variability in the weather from year to year, says Loretta
Mickley, a senior climate research fellow at Harvard, who was not involved in the study. “There will be one huge fire
one year and then not much in the years to follow. You’re left wondering whether it’s a bad year or a trend,” she says.
While in the West you can see a clear upward trend in fires as precipitation decreases and temperatures increase, in
the East the weather is less predictable. In an El Niño year, for example, the distribution of rainfall in the South and
East may quell the risk of wildfires.
She says that the study is an “important first step” in showing us where we need to be taking care to protect the
landscape.
And no matter whether it’s a trend or not, the numbers are concerning. “Right now, it’s safe to say that in the Eastern
U.S. there are quite a few eco-regions that have had more fires in the last five to 10 years than in the decades before
that,” says Radeloff.

11.Microplastics are hidden in your home. Here’s how to avoid them.

The air, water, and food in your home is full of tiny, microscopic plastic particles. Here’s where you can find the most
common sources—and eliminate them.
Microplastics touch every facet of our lives. Smaller than a grain of salt, we interact with them more than we might
realize.
Humans inhale about 22,000,000 micro- and nanoplastics annually, and that's because they’re in our food, water, and
air.
As a result, microplastic has been detected in our blood and lungs. We're only just beginning to understand
the effect of microplastics on human health—but research suggests we should be concerned.
These tiny plastic particles may be inescapable, but with simple swaps and fixes, you can reduce the amount of
microplastic you encounter in your own home.
Kitchen—from packaging to cutting boards
Imagine you’re cooking potatoes for breakfast.
First, you’d remove the spuds from their plastic bag. Simply opening a plastic container releases microplastics,
according to a 2020 paper published in Scientific Reports.
Then, you might chop the potatoes on a cutting board. In June, researchers found that slicing food on plastic and
cutting boards produces tens of millions of microparticles each year. When those particles are cut on plastic boards,
microplastic ensues.
“We should switch to wooden cutting boards,” says Himani Yadav, the study’s lead author and a doctoral researcher
at North Dakota State University. “If you clean the wooden cutting board and disinfect it properly, it can go a long
way.”
After chopping those potatoes, you’d probably cook them. But overheating and heavy use of nonstick, Teflon-
coated pans can add 2.3 million micro and nanoplastics to your food. Researchers estimate we unwittingly consume
a credit card’s weight in plastic each week.
So how do you reduce the plastic in your food?
Carry your own reusable bags to avoid buying food that comes in excessive plastic packaging. When heating food, use
stainless steel or cast iron instead of nonstick pans.
Another way to limit your exposure is to filter your tap water—a 2019 analysis revealed that plastic fibers are in nearly
95 percent of samples of U.S. tap water. And consider eco-friendly options during cleanup, since sponges, microfiber
dishcloths, and kitchen brushes are major offenders in shedding microplastics.
Bathroom products that aren't so clean
The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 banned rinse-off cosmetics with plastic microbeads but didn’t force
companies to exclude plastics entirely. Ninety percent of all cosmetic products contain microplastic, added for
viscosity, color, and sparkle. When these products are rinsed off in the shower, about 100,000 plastic particles flood
the sewage system, evading wastewater plant filters and polluting waterways.
Rinse-off products are not the only source of plastic in the bathroom.
The deodorant industry is responsible for over 15 million pounds of plastic waste annually. Face and baby wipes that
are partially made with plastic can take upwards of a century to degrade, and more than two billiondisposable razors
reach landfills each year.
You can reduce your plastic consumption by simply opting for reusable alternatives or buying products in low-waste
packaging, like shampoo bars, body wash refills, or plastic-free natural deodorants. Use washable cotton pads instead
of single-use cotton balls, a safety razor instead of disposable ones, and a bamboo toothbrush. You can even try
making your own toothpaste.
Within products themselves, the Plastic Soup Foundation’s Beat the Microbead app can scan products for
microplastics.
Laundry room—a source of plastic fibers
Many articles of clothing are laden with plastic microfibers, which washers and dryers can break apart after repeated
cleanings. About 2.2 million tons of microfibers enter oceans each year.
Corinna Williams of Celsious, a sustainable laundry service in New York City, recommends sorting synthetic materials
like polyester, nylon, and acrylic from natural textiles like cotton, flax, and hemp.
“It’s best to … wash them in separate loads to reduce microfiber shedding,” she says in an email. “Laundry powder can
be abrasive, so when it comes to washing synthetic materials, we usually recommend using an unscented liquid
detergent.”
When laundering clothes, wash full loads with cold water on shorter cycles. Delicate settings should be avoided
because they use more water than other settings.
“Between washes, we recommend airing clothes out, steaming with a garment steamer, or spraying DIY linen spray,”
Williams adds.
You can also add devices like plastic-catching laundry bags and exteriorfilters to reduce microfiber shedding. Cora Ball,
the first microfiber-catching laundry ball, was co-invented by National Geographic explorer Rachael Zoe Miller to help
protect our oceans from this kind of debris.
When upgrading, consider purchasing a front-loading washing machine, which is more efficient than a top-loading
one. And finally, you can simply wash your clothing less often and hang them to dry.
A plastic-free future?
Ultimately, plastic manufacturers and the companies that sell their products are responsible for the high volume of
plastic waste in our environments, and significantly reducing that plastic—and the microplastics that come with it—
will require bold legislation like global treaties and state laws.
But individual consumers can still make a difference.
“It’s high time we need to be accountable for the plastic that we think we are not responsible for,” says Yadav.