Numlock News: April 8, 2025 • Bees, Nintendo, Aurora

Apr 08, 2025

Switch

The Nintendo Switch 2 was unveiled just last week, and while the (pre-tariff) $450 price is what many casual gamers have been paying attention to, the real fans of the system have been really waiting for information about the cartridges or “game-key cards.” More specifically, real fans have been interested in what Switch 2 cartridges are going to taste like. Sure, some people buy games for the ability to interact with a piece of software designed, to challenge or engage them as players. However, real connoisseurs of the medium know that it all comes down to the flavor. Any gourmand of the original Switch cartridges — anyone who perhaps enjoyed “Zelda: Breath of the Wild” as an apéritif or perhaps went on the tempestuous journey of flavor that is “Super Mario Odyssey” — knows that all of the console’s cartridges were coated with a healthy serving of the bitterest chemical compound known to mankind: denatonium benzoate. Nintendo claims they apply the compound specifically to ensure children and pets do not eat the cartridges. Well, my fellow connoisseurs of cartridges and epicures of Amiibos, Nintendo formally announced on Monday that Switch 2 game-key cards do indeed taste bad, with programmer Takuhiro Dohta specifically saying, “We have indeed made it so that if it enters your mouth, you'll spit it out.” Tantalizing indeed!

Eddie Makuch, GameSpot

Day

A French-led team studied 10 years of aurora data from the Hubble Space Telescope’s observations of the planet Uranus to hammer down a more precise timing of how long a day on the planet lasts. It came to the determination that Uranus completes a rotation in 17 hours, 14 minutes and 52 seconds, which is 28 seconds longer than the estimates made in the 1980s after Voyager 2’s observations. The approach in general is neat, using continuous observations of a planet’s magnetosphere to pinpoint the world’s rotation, which is especially cool because it can be applied to planets and situations where observation of the surface is perhaps difficult. The study specifically alludes to the possibility of determining the rotation of any object with a magnetosphere and a rotationally modulated aurora, even those potentially outside of our own Solar System.

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press

China

The United States has long maintained a close trade relationship with China, one that is poised for upheaval given new tariffs. The $438.9 billion in imports is assiduously catalogued by the United States International Trade Commission, and a new analysis of that data reveals which goods we do not get from anywhere else in the world. For instance, given China’s extensive printing industry, 93 percent of all Children’s books ($505 million worth of product) imported to the U.S. come from China, as do 97 percent of baby carriages and parts ($380 million in goods). China also dominates fireworks imports (95 percent), umbrellas (96 percent) and vacuum flasks (96 percent).

Jon Keegan, Sherwood

Cry

A new survey asked Americans where they have ever cried, with the top 3 responses being (somewhat unsurprisingly) at home (89 percent of Americans saying they’ve cried there), at a funeral (75 percent) and in your car (62 percent). Other places that often elicit tears include at school (38 percent), at a place of worship (37 percent) or at one’s workplace (35 percent). That said, further down the list yields all sorts of intriguing places for processing strong emotion, including “at a meaningful cultural or historical location” (15 percent) or at a sporting event (5 percent). Only 42 percent of people said they’d cried at a movie theater, but just 32 percent of men said as much, which means either there’s some under-reporting going on here or that perhaps it really has been too long since Rudy, Saving Private Ryan or Big Fish have had a rep screening.

Jamie Ballard, YouGov

Ghibli

After several grating weeks of AI cranking out images that it considers to be Studio Ghibli-esque, it’s worth recalling that, generally speaking, an overwhelming majority of Americans back the rights of artists, writers, musicians and creators to not consent to their work training AI. According to the poll, conducted by HarrisX on behalf of Variety Intelligence Platform, 77 percent said they thought those creators should be asked for consent before training (with just 11 percent opposed), 75 percent said those creators should be compensated if AI is used to copy their style and 74 percent said that they should be able to opt out of AI model training entirely.

Audrey Schomer, VIP+

Pollinators

According to Washington State University’s Honey Bees and Pollinators Program, commercial beekeepers in the United States are reporting hive losses ranging from 60 percent to 100 percent, outpacing previous years where losses generally came in between 40 percent and 50 percent. The reason for this is still unexplained; even so, it’s prompting introspection about what can be done if honeybee populations can’t be sustained at current levels for crucial agricultural tasks of pollinating crops. One answer is the mason bee, a bona fide native of North America, unlike the European-transplanted honey bee. It is one of the 4,000 bees native to the U.S. and has the exact kind of democratic sensibilities that have generally been rewarded in the New World, with both the classic aversion to forming hives and a strict anti-monarchial policy of no queens.

Martha Ann Overland, NPR

Defiant Jazz

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology conducted 2 experiments to help figure out the relationship between workers and music played in the workplace. One involved 166 full-time workers who were given 1 of 2 playlists — either upbeat, happy pop music or slower, somber music — and asked to complete a task. The study found that workers dealing with music out of sync with their task saw higher levels of mental exhaustion and less pleasant feelings. The other study followed 68 workers in health care offices, retail stores and dining halls where background music was always on, and found that when the music was out of sync with the tasks, people were less likely to do positive things for the company and were more mentally drained. This is a big deal as 13.5 million Americans work in occupations where it’s common to have background music.

The Ohio State University

Thanks to the paid subscribers to Numlock News who make this possible. Subscribers guarantee this stays ad-free, and get a special Sunday edition. Consider becoming a full subscriber today.

Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news.

Check out the Numlock Book Club and Numlock award season supplement.

Previous Sunday subscriber editions: MCU · Fanfiction · User Magazine · Reentry · Panda Dunks · Net Zero · Spiraled · On The Edge · Luggage · The Editors · Can’t Get Much Higher · Solitaire ·