One Sentence News / July 13, 2022
By Colin Wright
Summary
## Key takeaways - **Guinea Worm Near Eradication**: Only 15 cases of guinea worm disease were recorded globally in 2021, down from nearly a million new cases in the late 1980s. This parasite, with no vaccine, was reduced by improving living conditions, clean water access, and basic health care. [00:22], [00:42] - **James Webb Telescope Images Released**: The first handful of images from the James Webb space telescope, launched over six months ago after development since 1996 and costing around 10 billion dollars, have been released by NASA. These show its potential as Hubble's successor to peer deeper into the distant past using infrared light from near the L2 Lagrange point. [01:13], [01:33] - **Klarna Valuation Slashed $39B**: Klarna raised $800 million in new funding but at a dramatically reduced valuation of $6.7 billion, down from $45.6 billion in June 2021 and discussions of $60 billion as recently as February 2022. Ukraine invasion, interest rate hikes, and customer aversion to debt amid inflation fueled the fintech rout. [02:05], [02:28] - **No Vaccine, Huge Victory**: Guinea worm disease eradication progress is notable because there's no vaccine, so infection numbers were reduced only by dramatically improving living and health conditions worldwide, especially access to clean drinking water and basic health care. [00:54], [01:03] - **Fintech Overvaluation Exposed**: Between February and now, interest rate hikes and Ukraine invasion fueled retreat from overpriced tech assets scaled to many times income, while customers soured on debt amid economic instability and high inflation, hurting Klarna and buy-now-pay-later firms. [02:40], [02:51]
Topics Covered
- Guinea Worm Nears Eradication Sans Vaccine
- JWST Peers Deeper into Cosmic Past
- Fintech Valuations Crash 85% in Year
Full Transcript
this is one sentence news a daily podcast featuring three news stories with a sentence-long summary and one sentence of context a piece i'm colin
wright [Music] it's wednesday july 13 2022 let's talk about the news from our world in data
guinea worm disease is close to being eradicated only 15 cases of guinea worm disease were recorded globally in 2021
down from nearly a million new cases in the late 1980s guinea worm disease is caused by a parasite can be absolutely debilitating to its victims and has been
harrying humans living in parts of africa the middle east and asia for thousands of years this is a notable disease-related victory because there's no vaccine for guinea worm disease so
the only way to reduce infection numbers was to dramatically improve living and health conditions for a huge number of people worldwide especially in terms of
access to clean drinking water and basic health care both of which helped prevent such infections from happening in the first place
from bbc news new nasa space telescope delivers spectacular pictures the first handful of images taken by the james webb space telescope which was launched
into space a little over six months ago began development in 1996 and cost around 10 billion dollars in total have been released to the public by nasa
after much anticipation all five images released thus far show the potential of this massive satellite which is the successor of the hubble space telescope
to look even deeper into the distant past by gathering infrared light from its home deep in space near the l2 sun earth lagrange point which is a point of
gravitational balance between the earth and sun located nearly a million miles from earth [Music] and from bloomberg klarna's valuation
slashed by 39 billion dollars amid fintech route by now pay later financial technology giant klarna has raised a new round of funding bringing in 800 million
dollars from new and existing investors but at a dramatically reduced valuation that prices the company at 6.7 billion dollars down from
45.6 billion in june of 2021 that's quite the financial haircut to take in just over a year and as recently as february of 2022 the company was in discussions that would have valued it at
closer to 60 billion between then and now though the invasion of ukraine and interest rate hikes have fueled a retreat from assets that are now thought to have been overpriced especially tech
companies with valuations scaled to many times their income and many customers have soured on the idea of taking on more debt during a period of economic instability and high-flying inflation
levels which has seriously hurt the perceived value of klarna and other by now pay later focused companies [Music]
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