Life on the water

Good morning Staker! Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a great week and are gearing up for all that 2026 brings. Today is our last day of looking back at some of the most interesting, amusing, and informative stories of the last year. But don’t worry, we’ve still got a new game of trivia for you! 😂 Enjoy!

Let’s get into it!

According to a study conducted by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, older adults certainly care about their health, but they consider “social activities and inclusiveness” more important.

The study was based on responses to questions asked of over 388,000 patients age 65+ at walk-in clinics across the United States. They ranked social activities and inclusiveness ahead of health, independence, and family togetherness.

The implication suggests the cohort knows they’re happiest, sharpest, and overall at their best when they’re immersed and included in vibrant social activities.

"I would have thought health would have been a little bit higher since this is an acute-care setting," he said. "But I think it just shows that older adults—like everybody else— are very complex and have other needs that are just as much a priority."

Almost half of the survey’s respondents listed socializing and inclusiveness as their top priority, with just 21% listing health, 17% listing independence, and 10.5% saying family togetherness.

The study’s authors say the results could help tailor medical care in a way that prevents the loss of this top priority or outright encourages patients to continue immersing themselves in it.

To describe the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham over the last 50+ years as a rollercoaster ride would be the understatement of the century. The last time they were publicly on speaking terms was in 2018, before Stevie ended their working relationship on the spot over a dispute in which she deemed Lindsey’s behavior unacceptable.

It didn’t seem likely the two would ever work together again after Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie passed away in 2022 and Nicks confirmed the band would never tour again.

However, both artists recently appeared for separate interviews on an episode of the Exploder podcast to discuss the reissue of Buckingham Nicks. While listeners assumed their choice to appear separately meant they were still not speaking to each other, Stevie nonchalantly confirmed they were.

"Lindsey and I started talking about it last night. This whole thing seems really like yesterday to us,” she said of their early days together before opening up about their chaotic romance that served as the inspiration for a long list of timeless hits, including Landslide, Silver Springs, Dreams, Go Your Own Way, The Chain, and so many more.

“Our relationship was up and down and up and down and up and down and difficult, but at the same time, fantastic,” she said. “And what we were doing was so fantastic, that it was worth putting up with the trials and tribulations of a relationship that’s difficult.”

After months of consideration amongst a monster class of nominees, three toys have been chosen to be inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Battleship, slime, and Trivial Pursuit will be immortalized in the annals of toy history, and are currently on display at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, celebrating their well-deserved induction.

Battleship headlines the star class of 2025, having sold over 100 million units since first being introduced to the world nearly five decades ago. In 1979, it also became the first board game to be featured on a computer.

“Battleship has long been a household name in the board game world. Its popularity crested in 2012 when Universal Pictures and Hasbro released a movie called Battleship. The film was only very loosely based on the game, but it helped cement Battleship’s place in popular culture history,” said Mirek Stolee, curator of board games and puzzles at The Strong National Museum of Play, according to a press release.

Slime has been a hallmark of “meaningful play” for children everywhere since 1976, and Trivial Pursuit has also sold over 100 million units.

“Trivial Pursuit’s influence has spread beyond the realm of board games to game show iterations and video game adaptations,” Stolee said. “Frequent updates and innovations continue to keep Trivial Pursuit relevant.”

Though the Butterfly Nebula is located in the constellation Scorpius, it was the Gemini South telescope in Chile that captured this stunning new image of the planetary nebula located 2,500-3,800 light-years away from Earth.

Planetary nebulae actually have nothing to do with planets. In reality, these nebulae are the remnants of dead stars that ejected their gas into the ether when they ran out of fuel.

The Butterfly Nebula, however, is peculiar in that its gas first started leaking when it expanded into a red giant as its fuel reserves depleted. Initially a star similar in stature to the Sun, it grew 1,000 times that size before collapsing into a white dwarf.

Gas moving slower due to the intense gravitational pull of a white dwarf created the thick ring that almost looks like the knot of a bowtie. The gas outside the ring formed what now looks like the wings of a butterfly, 2,000 years after the ejection began.

Intense ultraviolet radiation emanates from the center, heating the gas in the wings and giving them their colors: oxygen in blueish-green, hydrogen in glowing red, and nitrogen in deep-red/violet.

Life expectancy has risen considerably since the end of the Second World War. With many living 20 years longer than people did in the 1950s, plenty are choosing to make ocean-crossing moves to retire internationally. It’s no surprise countries overseas are making an effort to attract them.

International Living magazine just released its Annual Global Retirement Index for 2026, and revealed the year’s top international place to retire is Greece, which scored the most points across categories like cost of living, healthcare, housing, visas, climate, and ease of integration.

Greece offers the Golden Visa as an invitation to younger retirees looking to move abroad. It automatically nets foreigners a residence permit if they invest a minimum of 250,000 euros in real estate.

“Greece’s rise to number one marks a shift in Europe’s retirement landscape,” says Jennifer Stevens, executive editor of International Living. “For years, Portugal and Spain led the way, but recent visa changes and rising costs have retirees looking elsewhere. Greece now offers what many are seeking—a beautiful, welcoming, and affordable European base with accessible residency options and a lifestyle that feels rich in every sense.”

You can read about the rest of the top ten here, which includes Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and more.

Anybody’s guess

Happy Friday, Staker! It’s time for another round of trivia à la carte.

We’ve got a set of 10 random questions—the only thing connecting them is that they’ll make sense if you were born in the ’60s. So walk on down memory lane with today’s trivia!

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Monday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder!*