LinkedIn Friday Quiz

Porsche Cayenne, SUV

In 2021, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT set the lap record for an SUV at Nürburgring’s Nordschleife track with a time of 7:38.925 (you can watch the video here). Three years later, however, the Audi RS Q8 broke that record with a time of 7:36.698.

Holding the record on the track, even if only temporarily, is a difficult achievement. Nürburgring, which opened in 1927, is located in Germany’s Eifel mountains and is considered one of the most demanding racetracks in the world, nicknamed “The Green Hell” by racing legend Jackie Stewart due to its challenging turns and the dense forests that surround it. It was a regular part of Formula One’s calendar until 1976 when Ferrari driver Niki Lauda suffered a near-fatal crash at the track. Major automobile manufacturers continue to use the Nürburgring Nordschleife (“North Loop”) track extensively. With 154 corners, substantial elevation changes (more than 1,000 feet), and varied road surfaces, the track’s combination of high-speed straights and tight, technical turns makes it effective in assessing vehicles’ chassis balance, suspension tuning, braking, and aerodynamic efficiency.

But a record at the Nürburgring isn’t the only thing these two cars have in common. Both utilize similar twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engines, though they integrate that engine differently. Another thing the two cars: both manufacturers are owned by Volkswagen.

Audi is directly owned by Volkswagen, but Porsche’s relationship is more complex. Porsche AG, the car manufacturer, is owned by Volkswagen. Meanwhile, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), a separate entity controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, holds a significant stake in Volkswagen: 32% ownership and 53% voting power. That voting power is diluted by a law that gives Lower Saxony, Germany’s second largest state and a minority shareholder, veto power. This is due to the “Volkswagen Law,” drafted to preserve regional interests (namely jobs and factories in Germany) and ensure the company will not fall victim to hostile takeovers. Thus Porsche SE, the holding company, indirectly controls Volkswagen, which directly controls Porsche AG, the car company.

Rockstar Xdurance

Rockstar Xdurance has the highest caffeine content among those listed, packing 300 milligrams into a 16-ounce can. This makes it one of the highest-energy energy drinks, significantly stronger than Ghost Energy x Swedish Fish (200 mg), Monster original (160 mg), and the drink that started the energy-drink craze in the US, Red Bull original (148 mg). Despite its lower caffeine content, Red Bull remains the market leader, and publicly traded Monster is the world’s second largest brand. Together, they have a combined 50-70% market share in many countries around the world; by size, the energy drink market is around US$73 billion in sales and comprises around a mid-single digits percentage of overall global beverages.

The soft drink industry is mature, growing 3-4% in sales each year. The energy drink segment has been growing faster, averaging 7-10% growth a year, due to their popularity with endurance athletes, fitness aficionados, and even gamers. Although Red Bull and Monster dominate the market, niche brands such as Ghost Energy and Bang Energy are rapidly gaining popularity. However, with growth comes scrutiny—some countries, including France, Denmark, and Norway, have restricted energy-drink sales due to concerns over excessive caffeine consumption.

While energy drinks are an increasingly popular source of caffeine, coffee still accounts for the largest share of caffeine consumption; in the US it is nearly 70%. A 16 oz. Starbucks Pike Place Roast coffee contains around 310 mg of caffeine, making it more potent than Rockstar Xdurance. Meanwhile, mainstream sodas such as Coca-Cola (34 mg per 12 oz.) and Mountain Dew (54 mg per 12 oz.) contain significantly less caffeine than energy drinks.

Prussia

Prussia developed the first coherent, modern protective tariff system to strengthen its domestic industry. Frederick William I (1713 – 1740) and his son Frederick the Great (1740 – 1786) implemented tariffs to support local industries, particularly textiles, porcelain, and iron work. The measures helped reduce reliance on imports and promoted industrialization. In the early 19th century, Prussia also played a key role in the Zollverein (1834) a customs union that later helped to unify German economic policy.

The use of tariffs can be traced back as far as the third millennium BCE, and other European countries used tariffs before the Prussians. In the UK, the Navigation Acts (1651-1849) restricted foreign ships from engaging in trade with British colonies, essentially acting as tariffs. The French also embraced protectionist policies in the 17th century. What made the Prussian tariffs different was that they were specifically implemented to foster domestic industries, rather than just control trade. Under the new Prussian tariff system, local industries thrived and helped Prussia become an economic force on the Continent. Britain, France, and Portugal all eventually adopted these sorts of tariffs, and the 18th century is generally regarded as a turning point in economic policy as nations moved from mercantilist trade restrictions to more structured tariff systems.

George W. Bush

The US Dollar Index (DXY) fell nearly 25% during the administration of President George W. Bush (2001-2009), according to Visual Capitalist. It also fell during President Donald Trump’s first term (2017-2021, down 10%) as well as under Richard Nixon (1969-74, down 16%). The dollar rose 22% under President Bill Clinton (1993-2001).

The DXY quantifies the value of the US dollar relative to a basket of six currencies from key US trading partners: the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc. The dollar index was established in March 1973 following the dissolution of the Bretton Woods system– which was based on a fixed exchange rate tied to gold–during the Nixon administration. Since then, the dollar index has undergone only one modification despite the increasing significance of trading partners such as China, Mexico, South Korea, and Brazil. In 1999, some of the original European currencies were replaced by the euro upon its introduction.

In 1985, the dollar index surged to record highs during Ronald Reagan’s presidency when the federal funds rate reached 18%. Such elevated rates made holding US dollars more appealing, an appeal that was bolstered by the relative strength of the US economy. The rapid appreciation of the dollar also contributed to the substantial trade deficit of that period—American goods became more expensive while imports were relatively inexpensive. Conversely, the dollar reached record lows in 2008 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. At the end of 2008, the Federal Reserve reduced rates to near zero as the economy cratered.

Since the start of 2025, movements in the US dollar appear particularly sensitive to news on tariffs. The dollar initially strengthened amid tariff threats against Canada, China, and Mexico before falling upon their suspension.

Hangzhou

The Six Little Dragons, some of the most prominent Chinese startups today, are all based in Hangzhou. The hottest of these six is DeepSeek, which captured global attention last month after the company launched R1, a cost-effective AI model rivaling those from OpenAI and Google. The other Little Dragons include humanoid-robot firms Unitree and Deep Robotics, brain-machine interface innovator BrainCo, 3D interior-design software developer Manycore, and Game Science, a video-game studio that publishes the popular Dark Myth Wukong. Local authorities in Hangzhou, best known as the headquarters of Alibaba, first mentioned the grouping in a new-year’s letter to the local business community last month.

That the Six Little Dragons are located in Hangzhou could indicate that the city is becoming a new hub for innovation. In addition to Alibaba, Hikvision is based there as well as industrial firms such as Shuanghuan (gears), Sanhua Intelligent Controls (thermal components), Hengli Hydraulic (pumps and hydraulics), Geely (electric vehicles) and Silergy (semiconductors). In addition to the city’s government-backed industrial parks, which can offer rental subsidies and other incentives to lure companies, the local universities have also contributed to the rise of tech firms in the city. Three of the Little Dragons’ founders are alumni of Zhejiang University. As of September 2024, Zhejiang had the fourth-highest number of graduates who are executives at Chinese AI startups, trailing Tsinghua University and Peking University in Beijing and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

90%

Cognac is a form of brandy, which is made by distilling wine. The four major cognac “houses”—Hennessy (owned by LVMH), Martell (owned by Pernod Ricard), Rémy Martin (owned by Rémy Cointreau), and Courvoisier (owned by Campari)—produce nearly 90% of the world’s supply of the spirit by value, and 82% by volume. This makes cognac one of the most consolidated segments in the spirits industry, which tends to be highly brand-centric. Producers sell premium-priced products made from commodities, with rivalry amongst the main industry participants manifesting primarily through brand promotion and signaling of status. For example, cognac has for years featured prominently in rap songs, with Hennessy being miles ahead of the other brands in the number of references. It is probably therefore not just a coincidence that Hennessy is the top-selling brand of the four.

The key reason for high concentration in cognac isn’t just name recognition in pop culture; rather, it is French regulations. Brandy can be sold as cognac only if it meets several criteria. It must be produced from specific grape varieties grown only in the area around the town of Cognac. It must be double distilled in traditional copper Charentais stills, and producers may distill only between November 1st and March 31st following the harvest. The spirit must then be aged in French oak for a minimum of two years. These sourcing and aging requirements create significant barriers to entry. Aging increases capital requirements as producers must buy the distilled wine known as eau-de-vie and barrels at least two years before being able to sell any of it as cognac. In addition, the major cognac producers must lock up significant raw material supply. They do not buy grapes on the open market but buy most of their eau-de-vie through long term contracts from grower/distillers—necessitating deep pockets, scale, and the ability to carry expensive inventory for long periods of time.

Firenado

A firenado is a whirlwind induced by fire or ash and is not specific to a location, whereas the other terms listed are specific to a place and a particular time of year. An elephanta is a strong southerly or southeasterly wind that blows on India’s Malabar coast during September and October, usually marking the beginning of the southeast monsoon season. A pampero is a blast of cold air coming from the west, southwest, or south on the pampas (grasslands) of South American countries such as Argentina and Uruguay. These winds are most common in winter (between May and August) and are often violent. Pamperos often mark a break in the extreme heat and humidity of summer. A cape doctor is the name of strong, dry southeasterly winds which blow on South Africa’s coast during its summers, from late September to March. The name comes from an old belief that these winds blow pollution and disease away from major cities like Cape Town.

Tesla Model 3

According to the 2024 Kogod Made in America Auto Index, the Tesla Model 3 ranked as the “most American-made” car. Other Tesla vehicles nabbed the second (Model Y and Model Y Long Range), third (Cybertruck) and fourth spots (Models S and X, which tied for fourth in a five-way tie with several models of the Ford Mustang GT). The Honda Passport ranked fifth while Ford’s Lincoln Corsair ranked tenth. The BMW X7 was the least American in this group of answers, though it was by no means BMW’s least American car. That distinction went to the BMW 7 series, which shared the lowest rank with models made by Volvo, Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, Porsche, Polestar, Kia, Mercedes, Jaguar Land-Rover, and others.

The study is conducted annually by a professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business who evaluates more than 500 car models on their country of origin and a half dozen other factors, including physical attributes of the vehicle and “unseen” criteria such as the locus of R&D and parent company’s domicile. Among other sources of data, the study relies on information provided under the American Automotive Labeling Act of 1994 (AALA), which requires all cars sold in the US market to specify on the vehicle the percentage of US and Canadian parts, the country of origin for the engine and transmission, and the location of final assembly.

An injectable HIV drug

Lenacapavir, an injectable HIV drug that protects against that virus for six months at a time, was named 2024 Breakthrough of the Year by Science. In two separate trials, the drug demonstrated efficacy rates of 100% and 99.9% in protecting against HIV when used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis. Although the success rates are impressive, the journal recognized lenacapavir for what it characterized as a “research advance.” Unlike traditional drugs, lenacapavir targets the capsid proteins of the virus, which form a stable and flexible lattice of molecules around viral genetic material. The drug functions by making HIV capsids rigid, hindering their ability to enter the nucleus of a healthy cell and deliver the viral payload. This effectively blocks the formation of new viral particles and prevents infection. Since capsids are unique to each virus, the technology behind lenacapavir could aid in developing drugs to prevent the transmission of other viral diseases.

This isn’t the first time an HIV-related drug has been named Breakthrough of the Year. Researchers were awarded the distinction in 1996 for showing that powerful cocktails of drugs could fully suppress HIV and stave off the development of AIDS. And in 2011, a different set of researchers won for finding that treated individuals whose virus is suppressed rarely infect others, a phenomenon known as “treatment as prevention.”

As for the other answers, two were Breakthrough runners up. The RNA-based pesticide targets specific genes in pests, making it safer and more effective than current chemicals. The first pesticide product made with RNA technology focuses on the Colorado potato beetle, which is resistant to chemicals and causes nearly half a billion dollars in crop losses worldwide annually. The other runner-up was the identification of an altermagnet, a third type of magnet that combines the features of the two other types—ferromagnets and antiferromagnets—in a persistent magnetic state. This new altermagnet has properties that could be important in next-generation magnetic memory technology called spintronics. The last choice, spatial proteomics, was named Method of the Year 2024 by Nature, for the impact the technologies—which studies how proteins are distributed in cells and tissues—have on the understanding of the organization, structure, and function of complex tissues. This is particularly relevant for global tissue atlas projects, which aim to enhance understanding of disease onset and progression by providing precise 3D molecular mappings and data on cell types, states, and interactions.

Slowing rate of drug discovery

Eroom’s Law is an ironic counterpart to Moore’s Law. While Moore’s Law observes that computing power doubles approximately every two years due to advancements in semiconductor manufacturing, Eroom’s Law highlights an inverse trend in pharmaceutical innovation: the cost of developing a new drug has been increasing exponentially over time. In other words, the productivity of drug discovery has declined. It is becoming slower and more expensive to bring new drugs to market, despite significant advances in biology, chemistry, and computational technologies. Over the past 60 years, the number of drugs approved in America per billion dollars spent on R&D has halved every nine years. About half the capital spent in drug discovery is directed to clinical trials, and only one in seven drugs entering Phase 1 clinical trials ends up being approved.

Jack Scannell, who formally coined the term in a 2012 academic paper (though the trend was observed in the 1980s), suggests there are four primary contributors to the phenomenon of Eroom’s Law. The Better Than The Beatles Problem: It becomes harder to discover groundbreaking drugs because the most obvious therapeutic targets (like statins or antibiotics) have already been addressed. The Cautious Regulator Problem: Regulatory bodies have increasingly stringent safety and efficacy standards, which slows approval and raises costs. The Throw Money At It Tendency: As pharma companies grow, they allocate capital without achieving proportional outcomes. Basic Research-Brute Force Bias: An overreliance on brute-force methodologies like high-throughput screening and genomics without a corresponding understanding of complex biological systems can lead to lower success rates.

The alternative hypothesis is that the pharmaceutical industry has become oligopolistic in nature; 20 big pharmaceutical companies control a significant portion of global branded-drug sales. That and the high costs of developing new drugs, it costs about $1.5 billion to develop a new drug, changes how these companies behave. The advent of AI—itself effectively the product of Moore’s Law—may help address Eroom’s Law by aiding in early-stage discovery and managing clinical trials more efficiently.

Gold

Amid geopolitical upheaval, election results, central bank policy changes, and variable interest-rate policies, gold posted a return of close to 27% in 2024. This topped the 23% return for the S&P 500 (buoyed by the outperformance of large US tech stocks) and is the largest one-year return for gold since its 30% return in 2010. Despite weakness for most of the year, Chinese stocks, as measured by the MSCI China All Shares Index, posted a return of nearly 17% for the year, bolstered by a 22% surge in the third quarter in response to a large monetary stimulus package announced by the People’s Bank of China, which also included support for the floundering property sector and initiatives to boost stock market returns. Convertible bonds also had a good year, returning 10% in 2024 after a 15% return in 2023. In terms of losses, US bonds barely eked out a positive return, posting 1.4% versus the nearly 6% advance of 2023. Foreign real estate also posted negative returns. In 2024, inflation-linked government bonds outside the US lost nearly 9%.

Exchange students and US PhDs

On March 8th, we posted a question that asked which country’s foreign-exchange students ranked fourth in earning US doctorates (after the big three of China, India, and South Korea). Only 4% of voters answered correctly (Iran), making it our toughest question of the year.

On June 7th, we asked when the first electric taxi was used in New York City. This question had our highest turnout of the year, and 33% of voters answered correctly. On April 12th, we posted a question about the most expensive item ever sold on eBay, and 9% of voters got it right. Lastly, on May 10th, we asked which US coin is the cheapest to mint, and 18% of voters answered correctly. The latter two questions were among our most difficult of the year.

Thank you for following our quizzes each week, we look forward to bringing you more in the new year!

Zimtsterne (Germany)

Zimtsterne, or “cinnamon stars,” are a popular German holiday cookie readily available in the country’s famous Christmas markets and have become part of holiday cookie platters around the world. The cookies are made from ground almonds, egg whites, sugar, and cinnamon, shaped into stars and topped with a smooth, white meringue glaze that hardens during baking. Food historians have traced the origin of the cookie to the late Middle Ages, when cinnamon became more widely available in Europe (though still a luxury item). The usage of almonds in the recipe could also signify a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern influence, as almonds also became more available through the opening of trade routes. Some historians also suggest that Zimtsterne may have roots in Jewish baking traditions due to the flourless recipe, which aligns with kosher dietary restrictions for holidays such as Yom Kippur, when they are used to break fasts. The other cookies mentioned are popular during winter holidays, but lack the distinctive snowy, white glaze of Zimtsterne. Alfajores are sandwich cookies popular in Latin America, particularly Argentina, usually filled with dulce de leche and coated with powdered sugar or chocolate and dredged in coconut. Kourabiedes are traditional Greek shortbread cookies often flavored with brandy or ouzo, also topped with powdered sugar. Ghoriba bahla, which have similar origins to the Greek cookie, are crumbly Moroccan cookies made with flour, sugar, butter, and sesame seeds. Regional variations include coconut or orange blossom.

New Zealand

New Zealand allows NZD1000 duty-free, which is about $580.  US stands out as it allows $800 duty-free for in-bound travelers, an allowance higher than most countries.  Also, Chinese travelers to Hainan Island are allowed to bring home items of Rmb100,000 duty-free per year—over $13,600.

Celsius beat Red Bull

According to Piper Sandler, a broker that conducts a regular survey on American teenagers, Red Bull was a more popular energy drink than Celsius. The top four in order were Monster, Red Bull, Celsius, and Alani Nu. Moreover, teens prefer energy drinks (39%) over coffee (31%) and soda (30%). Nike maintained its number one spot as a favorite brand for all teens—however, in footwear, Nike shed four points year-over-year (57% vs. 61%), with a sharp drop specifically among females (48% this fall vs. 56% last fall). Ulta is ceding share in favorite beauty shopping destinations—it ranks second versus a year ago, with Sephora now the top destination for beauty. Goldfish remained the most preferred snack, followed by Lays and then Cheez-Its.

Cigna was a bank

Cigna, an American multinational healthcare insurance company, has always sold insurance. The company was founded in 1982 through the merger of Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. (CG) and INA Corp. The name CIGNA is a mix of the ticker symbols of the two companies. INA started as a marine insurer in 1792, and Connecticut General was established by the Governor of Connecticut in 1865. Before turning his focus to racing cars in 1963 to compete with Ferrari, Ferruccio Lamborghini was in the tractor business and made his first tractor in 1948 using discarded war materials. Samsung was founded in 1938 as a trading company that sold dried fish, local produce, and noodles. It went on to sell textiles, insurance, and securities but it was not until the 1960s that the company entered the electronics industry. Finally, IKEA was launched in 1943 as a mail-order company to sell pens, watches, and nylon stockings. Running afoul of import licenses and quality control issues, IKEA’s founder discovered his main rival was selling furniture with success and made a similar pivot.

Greeks

The cornucopia, from the Latin cornu copia meaning “horn of plenty,” has become an important symbol for feasts in many cultures but its origins are rooted in Greek mythology. The Greeks viewed the cornucopia as a representation of prosperity and nourishment, often depicting deities associated with the harvest holding a horn-shaped container overflowing with coins, grains, fruits, vegetables, and other symbols of abundance and good fortune, particularly during harvest festivals.

There are several explanations regarding the origin of the cornucopia. One explanation, dating back to the 5th century BCE, describes a goat named Amaltheia (“Nourishing Goddess”) who broke off one of her horns, which had the divine power to provide unending nourishment, to sustain the infant Zeus. Another version involves Heracles wrestling with Achelous, a river god, and tearing off one of his horns, which river nymphs then filled with flowers and fruit to make sacred. The ancient Egyptians and Celts also used cornucopias to symbolize fertility, prosperity, and healing. It was also adopted by Christians in Europe as a symbol during harvest celebrations.

The term first appeared in English in the early 16th century after the cornucopia entered Christian parlance. By the 17th century, it had developed the figurative sense of “an overflowing supply” and began appearing in works by artists such as Janssen, Rubens, and van Kessel, who depicted harvest scenes. In the US , the horn-shaped basket has become a classic symbol of the fall harvest season and the Thanksgiving holiday.

1640s

Hoogheemraadschap Lekdijk Bovendams was a Dutch water authority responsible for maintaining the Lek River dike, an offshoot of the Rhine River located in Utrecht, about 25 miles south of Amsterdam. This organization was important, as much of the country is below sea level and prone to flooding, requiring the maintenance of water barriers or dikes. In response to flooding caused by drifting ice that breached the Lek River’s dike in 1648, the water authority issued bonds, including one currently held by the Beinecke Library, to fund repairs.

The 1648 bond held by the Beinecke Library is worth 1,000 Carolus guilders at a 5% interest rate. At that time, it represented significant value, as pastors or master carpenters earned 450-500 guilders annually. Made of durable vellum, the bond was transferable and payments were recorded on the document. With no expiration date, payments are perpetual, and it is a physical bearer bond requiring in-person presentation to collect. Yale acquired this bond in 2003, collected unpaid interest from 1977 to 2003, and another US$153 in payments in 2015 (inflation and a seventeenth-century reduction on the bond’s interest rate have reduced its value over time).

Yale’s bond is neither the only perpetual bond of the company nor the oldest. The company pays interest on seven legacy perpetual bonds, including one issued in 1638 to a local orphanage and currently held by the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The oldest bond still paying interest was issued in 1624 also to fund river defenses. Originally purchased by a Dutch woman and passed down through her family, it was eventually presented by a descendant to the New York Stock Exchange, where it remains today.

20-40%

The percentage of oil or gas that can be extracted from a reservoir, called the “recovery factor,” for mature oilfields is generally between 20-40%. This is because mature oilfields often experience issues like decreasing reservoir pressure and increased water production, which limit the amount of oil that is recoverable through enhanced oil-recovery methods such as gas injection, chemical flooding, and thermal recovery. These methods can significantly boost recovery rates but even with these advanced techniques, achieving a recovery factor of 30-40% is uncommon and generally only feasible under specific conditions.

The upstream oil and gas industry, also known as exploration and production (E&P), involves finding and extracting oil and natural gas from underground reservoirs. This sector includes tasks such as geological surveys, drilling exploratory wells, and developing infrastructure to bring hydrocarbons to the surface. The industry is highly cyclical and competitive, influenced by the lag between economic cycles affecting commodity prices and producers’ supply responses.

1983

Joe Marver founded Spirit Halloween in 1983. He opened the first temporary location at the Castro Valley Mall in California after experimenting with the Halloween business in his women’s apparel shop. According to Marver, he was “laughed at” initially, but proved naysayers wrong by doing $100,000 worth of business in just 30 days. In 1999, Spencer Gifts purchased Spirit Halloween, which by then had become quite well-known for selling costumes, candy, and other Halloween-related items. While Spirit Halloween is now all but synonymous with Halloween, it doesn’t have any permanent storefronts. In fact, all Spirit Halloween locations—more than 1,500 in total—are temporary, seasonal pop-up shops set up in vacant retail spaces all over the country. A year-round team analyzes available real estate and the process of setting up the stores starts in the middle of the summer (reportedly, most set-ups take around a fortnight to complete). Spirit Halloween reportedly prefers locations with high visibility and a substantial population, but is known for making nearly any space—no matter how large or how small—work. According to CEO Steven Silverstein, part of the success of the stores is the brand’s name recognition. And indeed, Spirit Halloween stores are extremely recognizable and well-known all across America today. In fact, for many people, the sight of a Spirit Halloween sign marks the official start of “spooky season.”

Candela (luminous intensity)

The candela is one of the seven fundamental base units in the modern standard measurement system. It quantifies the visible light perceived by the human eye in a specific direction, distinct from measuring the total light emitted by an object in all directions (known as a lumen) or electromagnetic radiation such as x-rays or radio waves, which are detected via power in watts. Derived from the Latin word for candle, “candela,” this unit indicates the luminous intensity (or brightness) of light, with an average wax candle emitting about one candela. Before 1948, countries standardized luminous intensity differently, often using the flame from a “standard candle.” For instance, the English standard of candlepower referenced light produced by a spermaceti candle weighing one-sixth of a pound and burning at 120 grains per hour. Meanwhile, Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia used the hefnerkerze, based on the output of a Hefner lamp.

In 1937, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, including experiments measuring luminous intensity using platinum, the International Commission on Illumination and International Committee for Weights and Measures proposed a new unit—the candela—closely matching candlepower. Alongside the candela, the other primary units include the meter (length), kilogram (mass), second (time), ampere (electric current), kelvin (temperature), and mole (amount of substance).

A new way to process the fish

Hollandse Nieuwe, or pickled herring, is a source of Dutch national pride, so important it often gets served with a flag. Dutch myths attribute the creation of pickled herring to a humble herring fisherman named Willem Beukelszoon. According to the myth, Beukelszoon figured out a way to perform the “gibbing,” the process of deboning, gutting, and pickling the fish, on his ship rather than taking it back to shore. By moving the process to their ships, Dutch fishermen could stay out on the water longer, sail further out into the Atlantic, and travel further south to sell their products. This subtle shift profoundly affected dominance of the pickled herring market, and made the fish a source of national wealth and pride.

While the effect of doing the gibbing on-board isn’t in doubt, modern historians do not believe it was invented by Beukelszoon, if he even existed, or by any other Dutchman. Historians believe rather that the Swedes invented this method of gibbing. But as history and national pride show, the Dutch put it to better use.

Salalah, Oman

For three years in a row, the Port of Salalah in Oman has been designated the second-most efficient container port in the world, according to the 2023 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI). Developed by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, the index is based on data from more than 400 ports, comprising more than 182,000 vessel calls, 238 million moves, and more than 381 million twenty-foot equivalent units (a general unit of cargo capacity). The CPPI defines and measures efficiency as “total port hour,” effectively how fast on average a ship can get in, anchor, load and unload cargo, and leave the port. Interestingly, three of the top five most-efficient ports are managed by Maersk/APT Terminals (a Danish terminal operating company). Cartagena in Colombia ascended to the third-most efficient port, while Tanger-Med in Morocco remained fourth and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia was fifth. The world’s most efficient (and largest) port is Yangshan in Shanghai, which has been in the top spot for two years.

The Port of Salalah has been in operation since 1998. Located in the northern Indian Ocean, it is part of the Maritime Silk Road, which runs from the Chinese coast via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, Trieste, and from there via rail to Central and Eastern Europe.

A plant for fiber

Japan’s currency, known for its elegant designs and distinctive texture, is printed on plant fiber instead of cotton or polymer, two ingredients commonly used to make paper currency. These fibers are sourced from the Mitsumata tree, which originated in the Himalayas. These trees became scarce in Japan, as the number of farmers has dwindled and citizens have left the countryside for work in big cities. By happenstance, the company responsible for printing Japanese banknotes, Kanpou, funded a charitable program in Nepal to help rural farmers dig wells and found that a resilient variety of Mitsumata (called argeli locally) was growing abundantly in the country’s hilly regions. After the 2015 earthquakes destroyed much of Nepal, Kanpou sent experts to Nepal to help local farmers cultivate Mitsumata trees according to the strict standards required for producing currency. The process is rather protracted. Seedlings are planted in early summer, and branches harvested in the fall. The bark must be steamed off using metal pipes rather than being cut with an axe, and it should be harvested no later than three years after planting, while it is white and before it turns red. Once the raw paper is ready, it is transported through steep, winding hills to Kathmandu, then driven to Kolkata, India, and finally loaded onto steamers bound for Japan. Nepal now provides the majority of the Mitsumata trees needed to print Japanese yen.

Japan’s use of paper money is unusual compared to other East Asian countries. According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, less than 40% of payments in Japan are made through non-cash methods. By comparison, more than 90% of transactions in South Korea use such means. Yet, the use of cash peaked in 2022 in Japan and has been declining since then.