Nuclear Waste Site, Birth Rates, & Endless Summer

News without the noise

Adam Rogers
April 10, 2026

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Finland is set to launch the world’s first permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel at Onkalo, a facility buried more than 400 meters underground in stable bedrock. The site will seal radioactive waste in copper canisters surrounded by clay, designed to safely contain radiation for hundreds of thousands of years.
Construction began in 2004 on a remote island near existing nuclear plants. The €1 billion project can store about 6,500 tons of waste and reflects Finland’s policy of managing its own nuclear byproducts. Most global nuclear waste remains in temporary storage, with no other operational long-term sites yet.
While experts say deep geological storage is likely the safest available option, uncertainties remain around long-term containment and material degradation. The project also raises challenges for future generations, including how to warn humans thousands of years from now about buried radioactive hazards.

A new federal report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the US teen birth rate fell 7% in 2025 to a record-low 11.7 births per 1,000 females ages 15–19, with sharper declines among younger teens. The rate has dropped nearly every year since 1991, down about 78% overall.
Researchers say the long-term decline is likely tied to fewer teens having sex and greater use of birth control, though the US rate still exceeds that of many other high-income countries and varies across racial, geographic, and economic groups.
The report also showed broader demographic shifts: total US births fell 1% to 3.6 million, fertility rates edged lower, and cesarean deliveries rose to 32.5% — the highest in over a decade.

The Selective Service System plans to automatically register eligible men ages 18–25 into the draft database by December, shifting away from the current self-registration system. The change was authorized in the 2026 defense law signed by Donald Trump.
Today, men must manually register online by providing basic personal information or face penalties. Under the new system, the government will pull data from federal sources, transferring responsibility from individuals to the agency and streamlining enforcement.
The move does not signal an active draft. The US has not used one since 1973, and reinstating it would require Congress to act. If ever triggered, the system would still rely on a lottery to determine who is called to serve.

One person died and two remain missing after a seven-story parking garage under construction in Philadelphia collapsed. (More)

Federal spending plans show $15 million in taxpayer funds are earmarked for Trump's planned triumphal arch in Arlington, Virginia, modeled after Paris's Arc de Triomphe. (More)

Melania Trump denied any friendship with Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell and called on Congress to hold public hearings where Epstein's victims could testify under oath. (More)

A London man was jailed for 27 months after stealing a handbag from a Soho pub that unknowingly contained a Fabergé egg and watch worth $2.8 million, which he later traded for drugs. (More)

Israel said it will open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as next week aimed at disarming Hezbollah, though Netanyahu stressed the two countries remain technically at war. (More)

Bahamian police detained an American man in connection with his wife's disappearance at sea after her daughter said his account of how she fell overboard didn't add up. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Thursday (S&P +0.62%, Nasdaq +0.83%, Dow +0.58%) as the Dow turned positive for the year. (More)

The average 30-year mortgage rate dropped to 6.37% this week after climbing to a seven-month high, though rates remain well above the sub-6% level seen just six weeks ago. (More)

"Big Short" investor Michael Burry sent Palantir stock down roughly 7% after posting that Anthropic's explosive growth in annual revenue proves businesses are ditching Palantir's consulting-heavy model for cheaper AI alternatives. (More)

Rory McIlroy shot a 5-under 67 to share the first-round lead at the Masters, putting him in position to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win back-to-back green jackets. (More)

Bestselling thriller author Freida McFadden revealed her real name is Sara Cohen, saying she used a pen name for years to keep her writing career separate from her work as a doctor. (More)

The Justice Department is investigating whether the NFL's TV contracts violate antitrust law by putting games behind subscription paywalls. (More)

A spike in demand for estrogen patches, fueled by the FDA removing a longstanding safety warning last November, has caused shortages that could last up to three years. (More)

The IUCN declared emperor penguins endangered after climate-driven sea ice loss drowned thousands of chicks, with the population projected to halve by the 2080s. (More)

Researchers documented what may be the first observed "civil war" in wild chimpanzees, as a once-unified Uganda group split in two and waged years of coordinated, deadly attacks on each other. (More)

Nobel-prize-winning breakthrough turns air into water.

Why the Persian Gulf has so much oil and gas.

The science behind why childhood summer felt endless.

Raising a child in the US now costs over $300k.

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