What's Happening

US News

The Internet Had a Case of the Mondays

What's going on: Not even the Sunday Scaries saw this meltdown coming. A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage knocked dozens of websites and apps offline yesterday — including WhatsApp, the UK’s tax system, Venmo, Snapchat, Hulu, McDonald’s kiosks, Ring doorbells, and gaming apps (cue: panic over your Wordle streak). The culprit? An error with the Domain Name System (DNS) — the so-called internet “phone book” — blocked AWS from routing traffic. Cybersecurity experts said it wasn’t a hack, just a technical fault that knocked out one of Amazon’s biggest hubs in Virginia. By late Monday, Amazon confirmed its systems were “mostly back online.” One expert said the financial impact could be in the billions of dollars. That’s one expensive glitch.

What it means: This wasn’t just an annoying hiccup — it was a reality check on how much of the world depends on a single cloud. AWS powers about a third of global internet infrastructure and has suffered several outages, including a major one in 2023. Yesterday, its backup systems failed to stop the ripple effect: Secure messaging apps like Signal stalled, government tools froze, and some military units briefly lost access to critical communications. Experts warn that relying on a handful of providers, mostly based in the US, is an “exceedingly dangerous situation.” That’s why some are pushing for decentralization and self-hosting — to prevent the next internet-wide faceplant.

Related: The Internet Crashed and the Memes Had a Field Day (NY Post) 

Health

Peanut Allergies Are Plummeting

What's going on: It’s official: More kids will know the joy that is licking peanut butter straight off the spoon. A new study found peanut allergy rates fell by 43% in recent years, following 2017 guidelines that encouraged parents to introduce peanuts early (think: four to six months old). The huge drop led to an overall decrease in child food allergies — by 36% — and eggs now overtake peanuts as the most common food allergen in young kids. The study was observational, so it can’t prove the guidelines caused the drop, but scientists say the link is striking. Food allergies can be dangerous — even deadly — and 80% of people never outgrow them.

What it means: One pediatric allergy expert told The Financial Times the findings show “we have the potential to further reduce — and perhaps even eventually eradicate — the burden of peanut and other food allergies in children.” Scientists still don’t fully understand what causes food allergies, but for decades, parents were told to avoid exposing infants to common allergens. That all changed after a 2015 trial found feeding peanuts to babies cut their allergy risk by more than 80%. As for this new study, one expert noted: “This is real world data of how a public health recommendation can change children’s health.”

Related: Experts Say Cervical Cancer Could Be Eradicated — But Not With These Policies (The 19th) 

Culture

Everyone Is Still Saying "Yeehaw"

What's going on: The horse girl aesthetic has come a long way from being a punchline. It appears that cowboy couture has reached a new level of obsession in America. The trend first took off during the pandemic (Yellowstone binge party, anyone?), but hit full gallop in 2024. Helping steer the reins: Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour, high fashion runway shows, and — most recently, Vogue’s cover featuring Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid riding horses on a Wyoming ranch. Meanwhile, Boot Barn says its shares have jumped 440% over the past five years, and Tecovas opened its first NYC store in September. One fashion photographer told CNN that the cowboy aesthetic is “more pervasive than I think I’ve ever seen a trope in recent history.”

What it means: This isn’t America’s first rodeo. The cowboy comeback tends to resurface during times of political and economic uncertainty — with people dusting off their boots after World War II, the Vietnam War, and again in the Clinton years. For some, today’s version ties into a wave of nostalgia fueled by conservative influencers and renewed interest in traditional gender roles. For others, it’s just about fashion. But experts note that the popular aesthetic ignores the history of Mexican, Black, and Native American cowboys who shaped ranch culture. In fact, the word “cowboy” dates back to slavery, when enslaved ranch hands were called “cowboys,” while white workers were labeled “cowhands.” Still, as one expert told Bloomberg, “The more you see things, the more they become neutral symbols.”

Related: Is This the Unofficial Official Color of Fall? (Elle)