Numlock News: November 7, 2025 • Matcha, Vaquita, Heist

Nov 07, 2025

By Walt Hickey

Have a great weekend!

Prepare for trouble

Good news for demons attempting to operate within the world of Korean pop: you’re off the hook for a while and won’t be held accountable until at least 2029, which is shaping up to be the likeliest year for a sequel to the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters to be released. It’s the earliest time such a movie can conceivably be written, animated and distributed. That’s a fairly normal timeline for an animated movie, but oftentimes an established property will begin to make some early arrangements around a sequel in the event of a hit. Given that KPop Demon Hunters was such a surprise hit, this necessitated surprise negotiations, and thus a surprise delayed production timeline for a surprise sequel.

Aimee Hart, Polygon

And make it double

An incredibly endangered type of dolphin, the Vaquita, caught some good news this week. A new survey found that (in addition to the seven to 10 individuals still surviving) at least one or two new calves have been born, according to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. While a hopeful sign, the population is still down significantly from the 567 individuals logged in 1997.

Ryan Green, Scientific American

To protect the world from devastation

A key question plaguing the world is how to extract important metals from the earth, the solution to which typically comes down to mining before the subsequent extraction. New data suggests we ought to add plants into the mix. There are 721 species of plants that hyperaccumulate, meaning they extract a given element from the ground. Most of the time — for more than 500 of these plants — the element in question is nickel. It’s not perfect, as hyperaccumulating plants can become five percent metal by weight before dying. However, studying plants that desire arsenic, cadmium, cerium, copper, cobalt, lanthanum, manganese, neodymium, nickel, selenium, thallium and zinc sure seems like a valuable use of time.

Sarah DeWeerdt, bioGraphic

To unite all peoples within our nation

A new analysis of Rome’s roads found that the known extent of the imperial road system is 60 percent larger than initially envisioned. The analysis — known as Itiner-e — combined topographic mapping, satellite imagery and historical records to produce a map of roads across the world as of AD 150. In particular, it expanded the extent of the Roman Empire. They now estimate that the road network ran for 299,171 kilometers, a significant expansion from the 188,555 kilometers listed in the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World.

Tom Leslie, New Scientist

To denounce the evils of truth and love

A hotly-awaited report diving into the possible causes of the Louvre heist found that in the years leading up to the smash-and-grab, the museum probably didn’t spend enough on security. Instead, it is opting to invest in more art. The museum spent 105 million euros (US$121 million) acquiring 2,754 artworks from 2018 to 2024, but spent just 26.7 million euros on maintenance and security. They also only spent 3 million euros on a security upgrades plan that was supposed to cost 83 million euros. Just 134 cameras had been replaced from 2022 to 2025, a slow rollout that meant 38 percent of the rooms in the wing with the stolen jewels did not have security cameras. This discrepancy could be explained by the law requiring the Louvre to spend 20 percent of ticket revenue on acquiring new work, a stipulation that has drawn particular scrutiny.

Noemie Bisserbe and Stacy Meichtry, The Wall Street Journal

To extend our reach to the stars

The hot thing in tea right now is matcha, a Japanese version of ground tea that has become an incredibly exciting ingredient in many products the world over. That said, despite being the creator of matcha, Japan has lost production of the powder. One factory in China’s Guizhou province can produce 2,000 metric tons of the stuff annually, singlehandedly outpacing half of Japan’s matcha output. It’s a solid argument for why Japan ought to do to matcha what France did to “sparkling wine.” In general, China’s 3.3 million metric tons of tea outpaces India’s 1.4 million metric tons, Kenya’s 535,000 metric tons, Vietnam’s 274,500 metric tons and (despite its well-known tea culture) Japan’s 70,000 metric tons.

David Fickling, Blooomberg

Surrender now, or prepare to fight

In an incredibly rare decision, the US Patent and Trademark Office will examine a patent related to Pokémon battles. The patent had already been approved in September, and the reevaluation of a patent doesn’t happen very often. Normally, when it’s approved, that is the end of it. The specific patent is related to how battles work, where a player releases a Pokémon and tries to fight an enemy within a certain range. Based on stats, it is incredibly rare for the patent office itself to instigate such a choice; this has only happened 175 times from 1981 to 2024.

Nicole Carpenter, Aftermath

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