Greeting and salutations

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: More details emerge about the U.S. and Iran peace deal; GLP-1 drug takers are exercising less; Is the pursuit of happiness a universal ideal; and why do humans have a tendency to move counterclockwise?  

Let’s get into it!

According to Statistics Canada, return trips from those who visited the United States reached 1.9 million in May, up 9.5% from the same month a year ago.

Travel to the U.S. has been in decline for over a year. The decline began weeks after President Donald Trump took office for his second term and began imposing tariffs on Canada, while also musing about annexing the country.

Almost every month since then, travel declined, with some studies suggesting Canadian visits to the U.S. were down over 40% for prolonged periods. The May figures suggest the trend may be starting to reverse, at least when it comes to road trips.

“Driven by an increase in return trips by automobile (+15.1%), the increase in overall return trips from the United States in May 2026 marked both the second consecutive month of year-over-year increases and the second increase since December 2024,” StatCan said in the report. “In contrast, return trips from the United States by air in May decreased 5.5 per cent from May 2025.”

A study conducted by researchers at HSHS Saint John’s Hospital in Illinois found those who’ve been prescribed GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic are exercising less.

The study involved an analysis of FitBit data from the All of Us research program, which is an ongoing macro study that collects numerous points of health data from a massive and diverse group of Americans.

The Saint John’s study looked at data from obese participants who’d started taking medications like Ozempic or Wegovy, and found their physical activity had considerably dwindled once they began using the medication.

The researchers said their findings highlight the importance of physicians recommending patients continue exercising, even while on weight loss drugs, in order to encourage the many cardiovascular health benefits that come with it, including the preservation of lean body moss (including muscle).

“These findings suggest that weight loss alone may not promote increased physical activity, highlighting the need for targeted interventions that encourage physical activity alongside pharmacologic therapy,” they wrote in their paper.

The Lord-of-the-Flies-like ritual in the image above notwithstanding, scientists have long wondered why people tend to drift in a counterclockwise direction when walking toward anything.

A paper published in Nature Communications by researchers in Spain and Japan covered five separate studies designed to test whether such patterns are actually observable, and what variables could exist to cause them.

The researchers accounted for the mechanics of drifting in individuals walking alone, and tested for crowd dynamics when the pattern was observed in large crowds, like how a sea of people moves at a mall, airport, or a street festival.

They also accounted for hand-dominance, obesity, gender, age, and cultural differences, and in each study, the tendency for people to drift slightly in a counterclockwise direction was observed, but with no clear explanation for what was causing it.

Upon concluding their meta-analysis of this strange but clearly real phenomenon, the researchers cautiously concluded it likely has something to do with human biomechanics.

Specifically, they pointed to “subtle asymmetries in how the brain, muscles, and body” interact with one another, which in turn lead to what can only be described as a rather bizarre tendency to walk in a counterclockwise direction.

The pursuit of happiness could be described as secular scripture in some parts of the world. In North America, it’s mostly understood to be the highest ideal.

In the happiness maximization study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, however, the researchers conducted a global analysis of this fleeting “ideal affect,” and determined certain uses of it may be universally understood, but in those cases, they aren’t universally pursued.

It also found that many uses of it are only applicable in WEIRD cultures (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic). For cultures with different backgrounds, happiness as a concept takes on different meanings.

In WEIRD cultures, it’s understood as subjective well-being, life satisfaction, the maximization of the frequency of positive affect, and the minimization of negative affect.

In other cultures analyzed, including those in countries like Bhutan, Ghana, and Japan, the conceptual meaning can take on a whole list of other sub-concepts, including the desire to feel part of a harmonized collective, an affinity to a higher moral order, and a oneness with nature.

Overall, maybe it’s the case that the pursuit of the purest form of happiness can only be facilitated by the societal advancement typical of WEIRD cultures. On the other, perhaps the concept is predominantly influenced by cultural traditions, and isn’t rooted in any universal “ideal affect.”

All in the universe

From All in the Family, to The Jeffersons, Maude to One Day at a Time, we’re taking a look back at the Norman Lear universe of TV shows with today’s trivia!