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Must-Watch: Inside “The Plastic Detox,” a Documentary on Plastic Exposure and Infertility (New York Times)

In “The Plastic Detox,” a new documentary released Monday on Netflix, six couples with unexplained infertility work to rid their lives of plastic in the hopes that doing so will improve their chances of having a baby. They toss out air fresheners and cutting boards, and try adopting bamboo toothbrushes and deodorant packaged in paperboard.
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Produced by an Academy Award-winning team, the documentary features leading scientists and personal stories of couples who bravely share their infertility journeys and the steps they’ve taken to detox their homes and lives. You’ll never look at plastic the same way again.

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Their guide on this journey is Shanna Swan, an 89-year-old epidemiologist who has spent much of her career studying the effects of environmental chemicals on reproductive health.
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In the film, Dr. Swan, a professor of environmental medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, inventories the sources of plastic in the participants’ daily lives and identifies alternatives. Over a three-month “intervention period,” she measures concentrations of chemicals in their urine and sperm counts.

Plastics contain toxic chemicals, derived from petrochemicals, known as “endocrine disruptors”, such as phthalates, which make plastic soft and flexible, and bisphenols (BPAs), which make plastics harder and more durable, The Guardian reports. As Swan explains in the film, they’re ubiquitous. “We ingest them, we absorb them through our skin, we inhale them. Every which way that they can get into our bodies, they do. And as they pass through our bodies, they wreak all sorts of havoc.”

Without giving away who does or doesn’t get pregnant, the detox results are encouraging, with bisphenol levels plummeting and sperm counts soaring, The Guardian writes. 

It’s impossible to draw reliable conclusions from such a small sample group (Swan is currently applying for NIH funding to conduct a much larger trial), and it’s important for couples to note that there are many other factors in fertility and conception, according to The Guardian.

But the message from Swan is clear: “Couples trying to get pregnant should try to avoid the use of products containing plastic,” she says. "Our couples did much better reproductively in only three months by making fairly easy changes in their lives, and everybody can do that."

Watch the documentary on Netflix here, and check out additional streaming suggestions in the guide below. 

The Price of War

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Costco Lines, Canceled Trips, Fuel Rewards: Americans Hunt for Cheap Gas (Bloomberg)

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Americans are searching for ways to offset rising gas prices as the effect of the war in Iran hits their wallets.

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At a Costco Wholesale Corp. gas station near San Antonio, wait times have stretched as much as 30 minutes and lines wrap around the block. Elsewhere, drivers are refreshing apps like GasBuddy and going out of their way for cheaper fuel and discounts as prices reach nearly $4 a gallon on average. Others say they are trimming spending on grocery, takeout and travel.

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How much Americans' spending behavior changes, and what that means for the US economy's main engine of growth, will depend on how high prices at the pump go, and for how long.

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The war in Iran has sent US oil prices soaring by about 45%, and gasoline futures have gone up by more than 50%, with regional energy giants being forced to cut production and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil usually transits.

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The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, jumped past $110 a barrel, pushing up gasoline prices. Some states are already seeing costs well above the national average.

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Higher gas costs are already having an impact on consumer spending, leading to less spending in other categories, said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon. Consumers are more sensitive to gas price increases in an environment where they're rising rapidly, he added, and $4 a gallon is a key threshold.

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Oval Office Tensions

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US-Japan Talks: Trump References Pearl Harbor as Iran War Tests US-Japan Alliance (Bloomberg)

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Tensions between the US and Japan over the Iran war remained evident as President Trump hosted Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, even as he praised Tokyo for answering his call for support in the effort.

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The visit was bound to be fraught as it’s not clear what steps Japan is willing to take immediately to help alleviate the economic and security consequences of the war, which remains deeply unpopular in Japan. Joining an armed conflict is legally questionable under the country’s constitution.

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“They are really stepping up to the plate,” unlike NATO allies, Trump said Thursday at the White House alongside Takaichi. “We’ve had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything.”

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Still, the uncomfortable circumstances were on full display when a reporter asked Trump why the US hadn’t informed Japan and European allies in advance of his strike on Iran.

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“Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” he said, turning to Takaichi with a chuckle. “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”

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Takaichi didn’t treat that as a laugh line, instead pursing her lips and casting glances to her advisers seated to the side in the Oval Office. The line was remarkable both because it raised the World War II-era Japanese attack on the US and because it underscored Trump’s cavalier attitude toward informing allies of major military operations.

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The incident also was the latest instance of a foreign leader being put on the back foot in a White House meeting with Trump, who has looked to leverage those opportunities to extract concessions or criticize their policies as being counter to US interests.

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What I'm Reading

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Travel Alert: Sean Duffy Says Small Airports Will Close If Dept. of Homeland Security Shutdown Continues (Bloomberg)
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the partial government shutdown will lead to airport closures as challenges grow for Transportation Security Administration agents who are not receiving paychecks.
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“As we get into next week and they’re about to miss another payment, this is going to look like child’s play compared with what’s happening right now,” he said in an interview with CNBC. “You’re going to see small airports I believe shut down.”
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Passengers will also see “extensive lines,” he said, and possible gridlock for air travel.

Xi You Soon: Trump Says China Meeting ‘Reset’ After Delay Amid Iran War (Bloomberg)

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President Trump said his postponed trip to China for a summit with counterpart Xi Jinping had been “reset” and suggested it would take place in mid-May.

Cyprus-UK Agenda: Cyprus President Calls for Talks With UK on Sovereign Bases (Bloomberg)

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Cyprus wants a “frank, open discussion” with the UK government over the future of the British sovereign bases on the eastern Mediterranean island once the current conflict in the Middle East is over, President Nikos Christodoulides said Friday in a Bloomberg TV interview with Oliver Crook. Cyprus currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency until July, when Ireland takes over.

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🔊 New Episode Alert: Today's Daily Read Podcast just dropped, featuring an AI-powered breakdown of today’s biggest headlines. We go beyond the scroll with key takeaways, smart context, and the “why it matters” behind each story—so you can stay ahead in less time. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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Brackets Give Back: Bloomberg’s 2026 Brackets for a Cause Unites Finance Leaders for $1.2M in Giving (Bloomberg)

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For the eleventh year, Bloomberg LP has assembled a group of titans from the worlds of business and finance to take their best shot at filling out the perfect March Madness brackets.

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Each of the participants has picked a charity and pledged $20,000 — which means there’s more than $1.2 million at play. Half of the total pot goes to charities of the three participants with the most accurate brackets for the men’s tournament; the other half goes to the top three for the women’s side.

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Mike Bloomberg's chosen organization is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which he chairs after helping lead the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan in the years following 9/11.

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Viewers can use this interactive graphic to track the 2026 Brackets for a Cause leaderboard and its progress round-by-round as the tournaments march toward the Final Fours in Indianapolis and Phoenix.

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Attention Members: Equinox Unveils Luxury Le Labo Soaps, Shampoos In All Gyms (Forbes)

Ryan Wagner: The Guinness Inspector Teaching America How to Pour the Perfect Pint (Wall Street Journal)

As the head of beer quality for Guinness in the US, it’s Ryan Wagner's job to make sure that bartenders have everything they need to deliver drinkers a perfect pint of the brand’s signature stout. In the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day—which doubles as a national Guinness-drinking bonanza—he makes as many as a dozen visits a day to ask: “How’s it pouring?”

Served well, Guinness is an uncommonly handsome beer, with an instantly recognizable foamy beige head that sits atop the company’s harp-logoed “tulip” glass. But according to Wagner, pouring a photogenic pint is a matter of both art and science. Leading a training session at a Wall Street bar, Blue Haven South, ahead of the holiday, he filled two pints—one neat and tidy, the other messier, shedding “Irish tears” of foam down its side. 

“Here’s my question, friends: Which one are you ordering a second of?” Wagner asked the group of a half-dozen employees. “This is the difference between selling three beers versus just the one.”

At a time when Americans are cutting back on booze, Guinness is booming. Last year, the company saw the greatest year-over-year volume growth among brands that sold more than a million cases, according to NielsenIQ data. Social media is flooded with photos of drinkers “splitting the G,” or taking a gulp that lands the foam of their beer in the middle of the Guinness logo. Finding the best pint in a given city has become a digital scavenger hunt.

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Weekend Streaming Guide

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Company Retreat (Prime Video)
After fooling an unsuspecting Ronald Gladden into thinking he was part of a real jury documentary, the hoax reality hit “Jury Duty” returns with a new setup. In Season 2, now titled “Company Retreat,” a temporary worker named Anthony is dropped into a staged corporate retreat for a family-owned hot sauce business; it begins streaming today on Prime Video.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (Netflix)

Four years after “Peaky Blinders” ended, the story continues with the feature film “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” with Cillian Murphy returning as Thomas Shelby. Set in the 1940s, it follows Thomas’s son Duke as he tries to take over the family crime syndicate, sparking a power struggle between father and son.

Imperfect Women (Apple TV+)
“Imperfect Women,” based on Araminta Hall’s novel, follows three longtime friends — played by Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara — whose bond is shaken when a murder investigation brings buried truths to light. Joel Kinnaman, Corey Stoll and Leslie Odom Jr. also star.

Best of Late Night

On a video going viral featuring a woman who referred to herself as an idiot for voting for Trump three times:

“Well, admitting it is the first step.”
-- Jimmy Kimmel

“Well, someone’s not getting an invite to the new ballroom.”
-- Jordan Klepper

“Wow! She’s a three-time Trump voter? Just imagine how angry she’ll be when she votes for him a fourth time.”
-- Jordan Klepper

And from Late Night with Seth Meyers: Seth reminisces about a simpler - albeit recent - time when people used regular phones and Hollywood had original ideas. Click the photo below to watch.

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