Numlock News: July 6, 2026 • Cabo Verde, Hydrofluoric Acid, Young Washington

Jul 06, 2026

By Walt Hickey

Welcome back!

Pufferfish

The government of Greece has unveiled a new bounty for invasive pufferfish that have gradually taken root in the fishery behind the second-largest fishing fleet in the European Union. As a pilot phase with 1.5 million euros (US$1.7 million) in funding, the Greek government will pay 5.33 euros for every kilogram of silver-cheeked pufferfish landed. The fish is a problem for a number of reasons, including its ability to bite through steel cans, its lack of natural predators and the fact that it contains a neurotoxin 1,000 times more potent than cyanide, meaning that there is no market whatsoever for the species.

Paul Tugwell, Bloomberg

Young Washington

The new film Minions & Monsters missed expectations but still came in at No. 1 at the box office, bringing in $61.4 million domestically over the five-day weekend. These movies tend to do best overseas anyway — it brought in $98.43 million in 71 markets abroad — but it was nevertheless enough to edge out Toy Story 5 for this week. The most interesting thing came in at No. 3, with Angel Studio’s Young Washington making $16.5 million, beating out expectations, with the ordinarily faith-driven studio depicting the adventures of a young George Washington. We here at Numlock must own up when we make a mistake, and I’m ready to eat crow: It was a mistake for Numlock Studios to release our founding father origin story Young Franklin, against this sleeper hit; making just $23, perhaps the world was not ready for a film about the dissolute, libertine youth of Benjamin Franklin that, yes, was rated NC-17 for strong sexual content, graphic nudity and intense depictions of Philadelphia.

Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter

Socializing

There has been a steady decline in the number of places in the United States designed for in-person socializing. The number of bars and nightclubs has dropped from 19.05 per 100,000 people in 2001 to 12.45 per 100,000 today, a decline seen in other third spaces. Bowling alleys dropped from 1.72 to 0.92 per 100,000 people over the same period, marinas fell from 1.38 to 1.17 per 100,000 and movie theaters dropped from 1.81 to 1.21 per 100,000 people. In 2003, Americans spent 284.7 hours socializing and communicating per year; by 2025, that dropped to 211.8 hours

Ben Steverman, Bloomberg

Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde had a Cinderella run at the World Cup, losing to the reigning champs Argentina (3-2) after an unexpected run into the knockout rounds. The country, an island nation home to about 550,000 people, has tourism making up about a quarter of GDP, and given a surge in interest from the world over, the country now hopes to capitalize on its moment in the spotlight to diversify its tourism business. Currently, the country attracts about 1.2 million tourists per year, mostly from Europeans who primarily visit just two of the nine inhabited islands and mainly on all-inclusive packages. This World Cup, and the global goodwill that accompanied it, is seen as an opportunity for the islands.

Bailey Schulz, Skift

Tall

It had previously been thought that taller trees are more susceptible to droughts, given studies that found that the larger the tree, the more onerous drought conditions are. A new study published in Science has at the very least found an exception to the rule: dipterocarps, which are a group of tropical trees. A team collected branches and trunk core samples from 38 different trees from five different species with heights ranging from 7.1 meters to 71 meters, and found that the tall dipterocarps have evolved to grow wider vessels at their base to compensate for the additional resistance in moving water up higher.

Mona Patterson, Science

Uranium

Uranium production in the United States reached its highest level in a decade, with production of uranium oxide reaching 2.1 million pounds. That’s up 223 percent over the annual production of 2024. It’s the largest number since 2016, when 2.5 million pounds were produced domestically. Exploration drilling for uranium was up by 66 percent, reaching one million feet of drilling across 1,824 holes.

Blair McBride, Mining.com

HF

Hydrofluoric acid is used in the manufacture of lots of different materials, but anyone with even a cursory chemical knowledge will clock that HF is gnarly stuff — one of the most corrosive and dangerous chemicals known to science. The number of accidents involving the release of dangerous chemicals is on the rise, increasing by 57 percent from 2021 to 2025, and of concern is the possibility of an industrial chemical incident involving hydrofluoric acid. Exposure to 170 parts per million of HF for 10 minutes can cause death or serious injury. Just about 50 refineries use hydrogen fluoride, and those refineries have reported over 200 accidents involving serious injuries and deaths to the EPA over the past 25 years.

Liza Gross, Inside Climate News

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Numlock News is written each day by Walt Hickey. Email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Every post is entirely by a human; SEN corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news. If you enjoy Numlock, tell a friend, word of mouth is the only way that independent publications like this one grow.

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