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In a sign of inflation, Dollar Tree will be hiking prices 25%, NASA launching first mission to test asteroid deflection, inclusive calls to eliminate male and female categories in awards show and more news.
One of America’s last remaining true dollar stores is having to hike prices past a buck due to rising inflation, as the company announced on Tuesday it will raise prices by 25%, from $1 to $1.25 on the majority of its products in the first quarter of 2022.
The company said the price hikes to $1.25 “not a reaction to short-term or transitory market conditions.”
Dollar Tree said its previous practice of keeping prices at $1 hampered the company and forced it to stop selling some “customer favorites,” CNN reported. Raising prices, the company says, will allow them to expand selection and bring new products and sizes to its stores.
NASA will launch its first mission on Wednesday testing its ability to deflect an asteroid in space. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NBC reported.
In this first-of-its-kind mission, NASA will intentionally crash a spacecraft into the asteroid by Dimorphosto, a space rock with a width of 520 feet, in an attempt to deflect it. Dimorphosto orbits a much larger asteroid named Didymos, which has a width of 2,500 feet. NASA says neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth.
The DART spacecraft will smash into the asteroid at a speed of roughly 15,000 mph. According to NASA, the impact will not destroy the asteroid, but is expected to “give it a small nudge…to deflect its path around the larger asteroid.”
In a move that many wonder could soon be followed in the United States and elsewhere, the Brit Awards will eliminate separate male and female categories next year, the organizers have announced, the BBC reported.
Therefore, this year’s recipients Dua Lipa and J Hus will go down in history as the last stars to win best female and male at the Brit Awards.
The move comes as artists such as Sam Smith and Will Young have previously called for the change, arguing the current system excludes non-binary artists. Smith, who is non-binary, missed out on a nomination at this year’s awards, and writing on Instagram, called for award shows to be more “reflective of the society we live in.”.
Born at 21 weeks, Curtis Means, a boy born in Birmingham, Alabama, weighed only 14.8 ounces at birth. Although born last year, he has now been certified as the world’s most premature baby by Guinness World Records. The previous record was set 34 years ago by a Canadian boy who was born at 21 weeks and five days, the BBC reported.
By comparison, a full-term pregnancy is typically 40 weeks, making Curtis 19 weeks premature. Curtis had a twin, C’Asya, who died a day after his birth. Curtis was taken off the ventilator after three months and spent a total of 275 days in the hospital before being released. He is now a 16-months-old in good health, according to doctors, but still needs supplemental oxygen and a feeding tube.
