Years before he portrayed the villainous Mr. Potter, the actor felt overwhelmed on opening nights and feared he would forget his lines.

Leader and HealthNew research shows that ensuring the skin is in excellent condition should be a priority for anyone who wants to increase their chances of living a long life 23 December 2024 Dr Jeremy Burgess/Science Photo LibraryOur skin isnt just our biggest organ, it is also the one we are most familiar with. We look at it constantly, touch it, wash it, inspect it. And yet, when we think about looking after it, our minds often jump to aesthetics. We are inundated with ads for lotions and potions that promise to enhance our appearance as if sex appeal is all that matters about this special organ.There are many other reasons to take care of our complexion besides cosmetic concerns, however. According to new research, its condition can have knock-on effects for the rest of the body. Due to the dense thicket of blood vessels running under the surface, inflammation that starts in the skin can easily spread to the heart and the brain, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia, for instance. Wrinkles arent just a projection of our age they can actually drive the ageing process. And so we should think of skincare in the same way as exercise: the best reason to do it isnt for looks, but for the undeniable health benefits.Ensuring our epidermis is in excellent condition should therefore be a priority for anyone who wants to increase the chances of living a long life, which is why we have produced a special report on what we know about the best ways to care for it (see Why looking after your skin is so crucial to your long-term health).AdvertisementTaking a scientific approach can help us to make informed decisions about new productsAs the evidence builds about the importance of the skin for general health, research into how to care for it is moving away from marketing campaigns for healthcare products into the realm of proper scientific study.We now know that certain foods can reduce the damage caused by air pollution and the suns UV rays, for example, and we may be able to nurture its microbiome through more regular contact with nature. Taking a scientific approach can also help us assess new fads and fashions, so that we can make informed decisions about the goods and services with proven benefits, beyond claims of quick fixes.Beauty may not be skin deep but there is nothing shallow about wishing to protect our bodies from the outside in. It may save our hides in more ways than one.Topics:

Mud therapy may help to replenish the beneficial bacteria in our skin microbiomeMichael Zegers/imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG/AlamyLook under the microscope at any square centimetre of human skin and you will find it teeming with bacteria, fungi, mites and viruses. It might sound yucky, but your skins microbiome is an important defence against invading pathogens.Because there are all these bacteria already there, its quite hard for a pathogen to get a foothold, says Catherine ONeill, a dermatologist at the University of Manchester, UK, and chief science officer of AxisBiotix, a company that offers skincare products based on microbiome research. Bacteria can also wage warfare on each other by secreting different chemicals that inhibit the growth of pathogens.Trained immunityThe skin microbiome, together with the gut microbiome, also helps train our immune system during childhood, teaching it to attack pathogens and ignore harmless stimuli. This could explain why people who have a greater diversity of skin bacteria are less likely to have allergies.Beneficial skin bacteria could also be the key to maintaining a smooth, wrinkle-free appearance. Our skin is like a fortress constructed from layers of skin cells packed together. In between the cells are lipids that keep the skin supple and plump, and certain bacterial species help to replenish those stores.Cutibacterium stimulates the skin to produce sebum, which protects the skin, reduces water loss and increases hydration, says Holly Wilkinson, who studies wound healing at the University of Hull, UK. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus thermophilus

Im moving to Boston in three weeks! At my high school graduation, I had just learned Id been accepted into the Interphase EDGE program, an incredible opportunity to acclimate to life at MIT before the 2022 school year began. I was glad to have that chance, since I faced a big change from life at home in Claremore, on the Cherokee Nation reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. Id been away on my own only once, on a fifth-grade trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, where I first fell in love with aerospace engineering. It didnt take long to find community on campus. To my surprise, out of the dozen students at a welcome event for the Indigenous community, three grad students and an undergrad were in the aero-astro department. As a prospective Course 16 major and a FIRST Robotics alum, I was excited to discover that they planned to start a new team for the First Nations Launch (FNL) rocketry competition, a NASA Artemis Student Challenge. It was the perfect opportunity to merge my technical passion with my cultural roots. That first year, many people questioned the need for our team. MIT already has a Rocket Team, theyd say. But while most build teams are defined by the specific projects they work on, the product is just one aspect of the experience. Yes, Ive learned to design, build, launch, and safely recover a model rocket. But doing that alongside other Indigenous engineers on the team we call MIT Doya (, Cherokee for beaver) has taught me more than engineering skills. Beyond learning how to work with composites or design fins, Ive learned how to navigate classes and connect with professors. Ive learned about grad school. And Ive learned how to celebrate my Indigenous identity and honor my ancestors with my work. For instance, we often hold smudging ceremoniesburning sage to purify ourselves or our rocketsat our team meetings and competitions. Our team emphasizes universal consensus and buy-in on the technical side and pays attention to the success of each team member on a personal level. We call this gadugi () in Cherokee, or everyone helping each other. Ive also learned that embracing my culture can offer a better approach to engineering challenges. While many engineering settings foster top-down decision-making, our team tests and incorporates as many ideas as possible to engage everyone, emphasizing universal consensus and buy-in on the technical side while paying attention to the success of each team member on a personal level. We call this gadugi () in Cherokee, or everyone helping each other. And we find its led to better technical resultsand a better experience for everyone on the team. I feel incredibly fortunate to work closely with other Indigenous students on an engineering project we all deeply care about. Ive looked up to the senior members of the team, seeing in them proof of what an Indigenous student at MIT can be and accomplish. And Ive loved mentoring newer members, passing along what Ive learned to help them excel. Our launch weekends expand our community further, allowing us to work alongside inspiring Indigenous engineers from NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab and Blue Origin. Ive gotten to meet my heroes and seen that its possible to succeed as a Native American in aerospace engineering. In fact, my FNL experiences have already helped me secure an amazing internship. Last summerexactly a decade after setting my heart on aerospace engineering at Space CampI returned to Huntsville as a lunar payloads intern on the Mark I Lunar Lander at Blue Origin. Through the FNL team, Ive significantly advanced my technical skills. As our systems and simulations lead the first year, I integrated all the components of the physical design into a cohesive computer model with accuracy in both geometry and mass distribution. From that model, I can run simulated flights while adjusting for various launch conditions and trying out different motors. A small change on the ground can yield a big change in our final altitude, which must be within a specific rangeso this analysis drives the overall design. In our first year, our challenge was to re-create the design of a kit rocket while making it lighter by fabricating all the parts ourselves, primarily using hand-laid carbon fiber and fiberglass. We finished in second place and were named Rookie Team of the Year. For 202324, our challenge was to build a rocket large enough to carry a deployable drone, leading us to build an airframe 7.5 inches in diameter. We also had to design and fabricate the drones chassis to meet strict specifications: It had to fit inside the rocket on the launchpad, deploy at apogee (ours was 2,136 feet), unfold from a compact stowed configuration to 16 by 16 inches, descend by parachute to 500 feet, and then release the parachute for piloted navigation to a landing pad. To meet FAA requirements, two of our team members studied for and earned Part 107 remote pilot certificates so they could operate the drone. Since this new challenge required us to fabricate a rocket while also designing and building the drone, we broke up into two subteams to work on both in parallel. This approach required precise coordination between the subteams to ensure that everything would integrate well for the final launch. As team captain, I managed this coordination while staying involved on the technical side as systems and simulations lead and airframe lead. And as we worked our way through the project milestones from proposal through flight readiness review, we kept in mind that we needed both an operational drone and a safe flight to the right altitude to meet the challenge. In April our team traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to put our rocket to the test. We loaded the parachutes and payload, blessing it with some medicine before sending our hard work into the sky. But when I went to load our motor, the motor mount fell off in my hand. We quickly proceeded to the range safety officer, who was able to salvage our rocket and our launch with the last-minute addition of an external motor retention device. After that minor (but almost catastrophic) delay, we had a safe launch and successful recoveryand earned the Next Step Award, a $15,000 grant to represent FNL in the University Student Launch Initiative, a NASA-hosted competition open to everyone, for the 202425 season. Six weeks later, when the overall competition winners were announced, we were thrilled to learn we had won the grand prize! Along with bragging rights, we won a VIP trip to Kennedy Space Center in August and got to walk through the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building, explore the shuttle landing strip, see Polaris Dawn on the launchpad, and watch a Starlink launch from the beach in the early morning hours. This year, Im honored to serve as team captain again, leading an expanded team as we tackle the challenges of the new Student Launch Initiative. Im already looking forward to May, when well launch the rocket well be perfecting between now and then. And to honor our Indigenous heritage and send it into the sky with good intentions, Ill make sure we smudge before flight. Hailey Polson 26, an aero-astro major and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is captain of MITs First Nations Launch team.

When I last wrote to you in this magazine, I told you a bit about the MIT Collaboratives, an effort to spark new ideas and modes of inquiry and help the people of MIT solve global problems. Since then, weve launched the first collaborative, grounding it in the human-centered fields represented by our School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). Were calling it the MIT Human Insight Collaborative, or MITHIC. In broad terms, MITHIC is an endorsement of the quality of our faculty in these fields and an expression of how deeply we value the scholarly and artistic practices that expand our understanding of the things that make us human. In a practical sense, its designed to help our scholars in human-centered disciplines go big. MITHIC will give them the resources to pursue their most innovative ideas within their discipline, create opportunities for them to collaborate with colleagues outside it, and enable them to explore fresh approaches to teaching our students. We celebrated the launch of MITHIC with a showcase of creative excellence. MIT faculty shared research that blends the humanistic with the technological, MIT students improvised on jazz saxophone, and in a keynote conversation, the acclaimed novelist Min Jin Lee talked about her dedication to putting the human at the center of her work. Our faculty are wonderfully energized by MITHIC, and more than 100 have already taken part in the collaboratives Meeting of the Minds events, organized to connect researchers across the Institute who work on similar topicsfrom cybersecurity to food security, climate simulations to the bioeconomy. There may never have been a more important time for society to make humane choices about new technologies. And Im thrilled that at MIT weve created a collaborative powered by human insight to support our scholars, students, explorers, and makers in shaping a future of technology in service to humanity.

We need a strategy to deal with a hydra. Its Sunday, January 14, 2024, more than 50 hours since the annual MIT Mystery Hunt kicked off at noon on Friday, and Setec Astronomy is one of more than 200 teams racing to solve hundreds of puzzles over three days. The 60-some members of Setec, many of whom are joining remotely from as far away as Australia, are making good progress, even though many of us are running on limited sleep and questionable nutritional decisions. Several of the chalkboards in the Building 2 classroom weve been assigned for our team headquarters are covered in lists of puzzle solutions or messy diagrams charting out theories about how to crack the various challengesall of them constructed, as Mystery Hunt tradition dictates, by the most recent winner, in this case The Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later. The hydra were dealing with is a metapuzzle: We have to find a way to use the solutions from other puzzles that weve already solved to extract one more answer. If we solve this one, well be rewarded with more puzzles. We know we need to diagram the answers for this round of puzzles as a binary tree. In keeping with the hydra metapuzzles mythological analogue, every time we solve one puzzle, two more branch off until we have a diagram five levels deep. Were still missing answers from several unsolved puzzles that would help us figure out how the diagram works and how to extract an answer to the metapuzzle. The diagram weve drawn, in green chalk, gets more chaotic with every addition, erasure, and annotation we squeeze onto the overcrowded chalkboard. But we can sense that were just one aha! away from a solution. MITs Mystery Hunt has been challenging puzzle enthusiasts every year since Brad Schaefer 78, PhD 83, wrote 12 subclues on a single sheet of paper as a challenge for friends during Independent Activities Period (IAP) in 1981. The answers led solvers to an Indian Head penny he had hidden on campus. Todays Hunts are still built around that basic concept, but what constitutes a challenge has changed over four decades. One of the clues from the original 1981 Hunt is just a missing word in a quote: He that plays the king shall be _____; his majesty shall have tribute of me. Its easy to solve today with Google, but in 1981, even if you knew it was Shakespeare, if you didnt notice the subtle hint that you should look for a character referring to a play within the play, it might have taken a few hours of skimming the Bards collected works to find the answer. The Setec Astronomy team tries to map out whether the human knot theyve gotten themselves into can be untangled.JADE CHONGSATHAPORNPONG 24/MIT TECHNIQUE We add a few more solutions to the hydra diagram over the next few hours. Eventually someone notices that all the answers in the fifth level of the diagram seem to have an odd prevalence of Ls and Rs. This is the aha! moment: They tell us how to navigate the binary tree. From the first node at the top of the tree, we follow the Ls and Rs in the order they appear in each of the 16 solutions on the fifth level. Take the left branch, then right, then left again, landing on a word that starts with H. The second fifth-level answer leads us to a word that starts with E. Repeating the process with all 16 answers spells out an apt way to deal with a hydra: HEADTOHEADBATTLE. (Puzzle solutions are traditionally written in all caps with no spaces or punctuation.) Those of us whove been tackling the puzzle take a moment to enjoy our victory before splitting up to find new puzzles to work on. Some elements of the Mystery Hunt are hard to describe, the kind of must-be-seen ingenuity that also inspires hacks on the Great Dome and any number of above-and-beyond engineering projects showcased around campus every year. Most of the puzzles are utterly unique, although they do often incorporate logic and word problems as well as more mainstream elements like crosswords, sudoku, and Wordle. But almost anything can be turned into a puzzle. For example, chess puzzles might be combined with the card game Magic: The Gathering. Or solvers could be asked to organize a Git repository with 10,000 out-of-order commits (that is, find the correct sequence of 10,000 changes to a file as it was tracked in a version control system), identify duets from musicals, or draw on their knowledge of pop culture trivia. For most of its history, the Mystery Hunt had little official status on campus. By tradition as much as any organizational effort, teams simply showed up in Lobby 7 on the Friday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday for the kickoff. In 2014, the MIT Puzzle Club was formed to help provide year-to-year continuity and other support, such as securing rooms for teams to work in and reserving Kresge Auditorium for the opening ceremonies. Puzzle Club also hosts other events, such as mini puzzle hunts and sudoku and logic puzzle competitionswhich Becca Chang 26, the clubs current president, says has helped a lot with outreach to new students or anyone who might be interested in [puzzles]. Technology has enabled the Mystery Hunt to grow and evolve in significant ways, and not just in terms of the kinds of puzzles that are possible. Through the mid-1990s, a single person could take on the responsibility of writing and running the event. Today its a yearlong commitment for the winning team to design the next years Hunt. Doing so requires managing creative output and technological infrastructure that rival those of a small business. Duties include spending thousands of hours writing and testing puzzles, constructing physical puzzles and props, and building a dynamic website that can withstand the huge influx of puzzle-hungry visitors. Todays Hunts are built around a story. Here John Bromels as the god Neptune checks in on Galactic Trendsetters progress to restore the god Pluto after his planet was demoted.JADE CHONGSATHAPORNPONG 24/MIT TECHNIQUE Just organizing a team of solvers can be a major undertaking, especially now that more and more participants are joining remotely. Anjali Tripathi 09, who started the team Im Not a Planet Either in 2015, got her introduction to puzzle hunts through a miniature Mystery Hunt that Simmons Hall runs for first-years. After tackling the main event with the Simmons team on campus as an undergrad, she participated remotely for the first time in 2010. I was abroad in England and still wanted to do Hunt, and I remember how hard that was, she says. The team had no infrastructure for it. Its about connecting with other humans thats why we do it. Erin Rhode 04, whose team name one year was the entire text of Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged Today, solvers can work together across the room or across a continent. Platforms like Slack and Discord have become indispensable to many teams, which use them for updates and announcements as well as creating separate channels where people can tackle a given puzzle together. Many teams use applications that organize the convoluted deluge of puzzles into a workflow so everyone can see which have been solved, which need attention, and whos working on what. Google Docs and Google Sheets make it easy for multiple people to contribute to progress on the same puzzle whether theyre sitting side by side on campus or are separated by several time zones. I think especially post-2020, there is just the expectation that everything is going to be accessible online, says Tripathi, who still has a Hunt-related Google doc from 2008, just a couple of years after the service launched. But even as the Mystery Hunt has adapted to the internetand to increasingly powerful search engines, smartphones, the Zoom era, and even some machine-learning applicationsat its core it remains a very human experience. Its about connecting with other humansthats why we do it, says Erin Rhode 04, a longtime Mystery Hunter whose team has won twice. She recalls being inducted into the Hunt as a first-year in 2001. An upperclassman came in and was like, Youre coming to the math majors lounge. Were doing this puzzle hunt thing. The name of Rhodes team changes every year, though they might be best known for the year their name was the entire text of Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged. Last year, they were . (Thats not a typo or a missing wordits the zero-width space, a Unicode non-character primarily used in document formatting.) Early Mystery Hunts led solvers to an Indian Head penny hidden on campus. Today, winning teams are awarded coins unique to each years Hunt. Ringed with a repeating MH24, the 2024 coin shows the cities teams visited on their quest.JADE CHONGSATHAPORNPONG 24/MIT TECHNIQUE Like so much of the Hunt, team names are an exercise in creativity. The full name of the team running the 2024 Mystery Hunt was officially The Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later. Some teams keep their name every year, like Setec Astronomy (an anagram for too many secrets, in a reference to the classic 1992 heist film Sneakers). Others change every year or every few years, or when teams merge, as when Death from Above joined forces with Project Electric Mayhem to become Death and Mayhem. Rhode remembers one particular puzzle from her first Hunt that she and her team (known that year as the Vermicious Knids) worked on through the night. They had to figure out that a list of enigmatic phrases were clues to song titles. For example, Of course; you just go north on Highway 101 clued the song Do You Know the Way to San Jose? I think today, we would have solved that puzzle in about an hour, Rhode says. There werent song lyric databases back then. And so it was a lot more sitting around on your own trying to come up with songs as opposed to just finding some master list and then searching it. Writing puzzles with the knowledge that solvers will have a slew of tools at hand is just part of the process. Use whatever technology you have at your disposal to solve the puzzle is the general rule of thumb, says Jon Schneider 13, a machine-learning researcher who hunts with Galactic Trendsetters . (The in their team name is pronounced like a plane taking off and landing, respectively.) Schneider has been hunting since 2010, when it was common for solvers to have to identify clips of songs or other audio. Hes seen that change in the past decade, though: Audio recognition [technology] like Shazam has become a thing, so its harder to create puzzles that require the skill of music recognition. When youre a constructor, you try to figure out: What is my challenge for the solver? says Dan Katz 03. Katz has solved and written a lot of puzzles. (In fact, he created a five-puzzle mini Hunt for this issues Puzzle Corner.) He attended his first Mystery Hunt in 1998, as a junior in high school, before he had even applied to MIT. Hes been part of a winning team eight times (probably a record) and competes in events like the World Sudoku Championship and US Puzzle Championship. In Katzs view, technology should make puzzling more interesting for the solver. While solvers might need to, say, code a program, organize information in a spreadsheet, or navigate a video-game-like interface to arrive at an answer, what he prizes most is the mental challenge of figuring out how to solve a puzzle. During whats known as the Mid-Hunt Runaround, a team follows a set of cryptic instructions that lead them on a subterranean journey across campus.JADE CHONGSATHAPORNPONG 24/MIT TECHNIQUE Rhode misses the days before an app was able to listen to a few seconds of a song and identify it. One of my superpowers in the early days of the Hunt was: Play me a bunch of pop songs and I can identify like 90% of them, she says. Now everybodys got Shazam on their phone. And so as fast as I might be, Shazam was always going to be faster. That doesnt mean puzzles cant be based on song identificationor image identification, another common puzzle element that has been made trivial by tools like Googles image search capabilities. It just means constructors must become more creative. You have to obscure the images or the music in such a way that the technology cant find it quickly, Rhode says. She describes a puzzle she wrote when she wanted solvers to identify songs without using technology: I arranged eight songs a cappella and sang them myself, but buzzing like a bee. And the whole idea was you cant Shazam that. Schneiders team took a similar approach to constructing a puzzle in which solvers had to identify specific visual artistsnot by their work, but by their distinctive style. Solvers were prompted to upload an image of their choosing, and a generative AI tool similar to DALL-E rendered it in the style of the artist they were supposed to name. I mostly justwant to be surprised. Jon Schneider 13 of the team Galactic Trendsetters Thats not the only puzzle to have incorporated some machine-learning elements in the last few years. A few examples have used semantic similarity scoring systems where solvers have to guess words or phrasesa kind of machine-learning-enabled version of hot or cold. Even if machine learning has potential as a tool for puzzle constructors, generative AI is unlikely to solve Mystery Hunt puzzles anytime soon. ChatGPT can answer questions that might be helpful in getting started and maybe even help solve a crossword clue or two, but the puzzles are often so unusual that it doesnt know where to begin. When presented with them, it usually responds by stating that it would need more context or clues in order to proceed. Schneider did find ChatGPT very helpful, though, in solving a nonMystery Hunt puzzle about navigating the byzantine rules of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which he admits hes never played. A few years ago, there would have been no way around spending hours digging through the rulebooks and figuring out each step, but giving the puzzle to ChatGPT worked. It was really good at doing this. I guess it had trained on enough data of people playing Dungeons & Dragons that this was within its capabilities, he says. Schneider is optimistic that new technology will be integrated into Mystery Hunt in creative ways, expanding the scope of what puzzle constructors can come up with to entertain solvers. Ultimately, he says, I mostly just want to be surprised. As the sun sets on Sunday, Setec continues solving puzzles at a steady pace, but were also still unlocking new sections of the Hunta sign that were still some distance from the endgame, though rumors (but never spoilers) from friends on other teams suggest that a few teams might be closing in. As midnight rolls around theres still no announcement, and so we push on. Ultimately, the 2024 Hunt ends up running into Monday morning, one of only a handful of times its taken more than 60 hours to complete. The 2024 Mystery Hunt included what was called the Herc-U-Lease Scavenger Hunt. As part of the scavenger hunt, teams were asked to have as many members as possible look as identical as possible. Death and Mayhem realized that many members were wearing black T-shirts and decided to unify the look with paper hats fashioned from copies of The Tech someone found on campus.MOLLY FREY/DEATH & MAYHEM A little after 5 a.m., team Death and Mayhem solves the final puzzle to win the 2024 Mystery Huntand the responsibility of developing the 2025 Hunt, which kicks off on January 17. In the end, 266 teams have solved at least one of the 2024 Hunts 237 puzzles and Setec Astronomy has solved 174. (Teams typically care less about postgame rankings than about how many puzzles they get to before time runs out.) The Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later sends out an announcement that a wrap-up event, at which theyll give a full overview of the weekend and hand over the reins to Death and Mayhem, will begin at noon in 26-100. Because creating a Mystery Hunt is such a daunting task, Death and Mayhem got to work on this years within hours of winning, says James Douberley 13, who assumed the title of benevolent dictator to orchestrate and oversee the teams puzzle writing. The weight of expectation is not lost on Douberley and his teammates: This is a once-a-year event that holds a lot of meaning for many participants. The Mystery Hunt is about solving puzzles, but its also far more social and immersive than puzzle books and escape rooms. In 2024, nearly 2,000 people representing 91 teams showed up on campus to participateand another 2,450 or so signed up to puzzle from afar. All told, solvers included 52 faculty members, 278 students, and 950 alumni, ranging from recent graduates to those who got their degrees decades ago. For Chang, the Hunt is an opportunity to connect with the broader community, including alumni from her dorm whom she doesnt see often. This is the one time in the year that we get to all just be in one place together and do this thing that we love, she says. Its just a really great bonding experience. Shortly after solving the final puzzles in the 2024 MIT Mystery Hunt, members of Death & Mayhem received the custom coins awarded to the victors and posed for a photo with Aphrodite (of the Team Formerly Known as the Team to Be Named Later), who blew kisses in celebration.COURTESY OF DEATH & MAYHEM The MIT campus plays a special role in the Hunt. Maybe you have to use the walls of the List Visual Arts Center lobby as a grid for a logic puzzle, or find certain names on the memorial plaques in Lobby 10 whose first letters spell out an answer. But its not just that clues can be part of the physical spaceits that campus is the epicenter for the MIT spirit of creativity, inventiveness, and industriousness that makes the Mystery Hunt unique. People talk about New York being a character in movies, Katz says. I feel like MIT is a character in Mystery Hunt. For Douberley, the Mystery Hunt takes him back to his student days, when he tackled hard challenges through marathon work sessions and all-nighters. You fall asleep on the floor, and youre in the dorm lounge and your friend comes and wakes you up and says, Heres a coffeeI need your help with something, he says. And that is something that lives with you for the rest of your life. Editors Note: The 2025 MIT Mystery Hunt kicks off on January 17, 2025. But if youre eager to start puzzling before thenor get a taste of puzzling if youve never taken part beforecheck out theMIT Mystery Heist, a pre-Hunt round of puzzles written by the Mystery Hunt team known as the Providence Crime Syndication. Learn more and solve atmitmysteryheist.com.

The wealthiest taxpayers have many tools at their disposal to pay less tax.Some tactics, like creating 1,000-year trusts to shield assets from creditors, are far-fetched but legal.Lawyers and bankers to ultra-rich explain how 12 of these rarified techniques work.Thanks to tax cuts made during the first Trump administration, Americans can give or hand down about $13 million in assets without paying federal estate tax. Only 0.2% of taxpayers have to worry about this tax, and they hire top-notch accountants and lawyers to pay as little as possible."This is a wealthy person's playground problem," Robert Strauss, partner at the law firm Weinstock Manion, told Business Insider.Some of these tax avoidance techniques might be eyebrow-raising, yet they are perfectly legal. For instance, taxpayers can put homes and country homes in trusts that last decades and any appreciation in the property's value doesn't count toward their taxable estate. Life insurance, probably the least sexy area of financial planning, can be used to save tens of millions of dollars in taxes if bought from issuers in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.Currently, individuals and married couples can gift or bequeath $13.61 million and $27.22 million, respectively, before a 40% federal estate tax kicks in. That exemption is due to expire at the end of 2025, but it looks likely that it will be extended given the Republican Party's total control of Washington.Here are 12 little-known techniques that the richest taxpayers use to pay less to Uncle Sam:Using trusts to give away homes and country housesQualified personal residence trusts, better known as "QPRTs," effectively freeze the value of a real estate property for tax purposes. The homeowner puts the primary residence or vacation home in the trust and retains ownership for however many years they choose. When the trust ends, the property is transferred out of the taxable estate. The estate only has to pay gift tax on the value of the property when the trust was formed even if the home has appreciated by millions in value.QPRTs have become more popular in the past year as interest rate hikes confer another tax benefit. It seems too good to be true, but there are a few strings attached.Passing wealth to future generations with trusts that last up to 1,000 yearsFrom the Wrigley family behind the titular chewing gum brand to Jeff Bezos' mother, an Amazon investor, some of America's wealthiest use generation-skipping trusts to avoid paying wealth transfer taxes and provide for future heirs.These so-called dynasty trusts allow taxpayers to pass along wealth to generations that haven't even been born yet and only be subject to the 40% generation-skipping tax once. Many states have eased trust limits to get the business of the wealthy, with Florida and Wyoming allowing dynasty trusts to last as long as 1,000 years, which spans about 40 generations.The heirs don't own the trust assets but rather have lifetime rights to the trust's income and real estate. These trusts even protect assets from future creditors and shield them in the event of a divorce. iStock; BI Giving to charity via trusts that also yield incomeCharitable remainder trusts (CRTs) allow moneyed Americans to have their cake and eat it too.Plenty of affluent taxpayers deduct charitable donations from their taxable income, but the ultra-rich can parlay their philanthropy into guaranteed income for life.Taxpayers put assets in the trust, collect annual payments for as long as they live, and get a partial tax break. Only 10% of what remains in the CRT has to go to a designated charity to pass muster with the IRS.These trusts can be funded with a wide range of assets, from yachts to property to closely held businesses, making them particularly useful for entrepreneurs looking to cash out and do good.Holding life insurance policies via trusts to save on taxes and protect heirs from lawsuitsRich founders with illiquid assets can take out life insurance policies to cover their estate taxes. They get the most bang for their buck if they put the life insurance policy inside a trust rather than owning it directly. The irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) collects the death benefit, pays the tax bill, and distributes whatever is left according to the insured individual's wishes. Any payout is also protected from estate taxes, even if the insured's estate and death benefit exceed the exemption.There are other perks. If the insured wants to make sure that their heirs are protected from creditors or divorcing spouses, they can use ILITs to be doubly safe. While the law varies by state, trusts and life insurance both have strong legal protections.Using charitable trusts that give the remainder to heirsAlso known as the Jackie O trust since it was used by the late First Lady, a charitable lead trust or CLT makes annual payments to a charity or multiple. Whatever is left when the trust expires goes to a remainder beneficiary picked by the grantor, typically their children.If the assets within the trusts appreciate faster than an interest rate set by the IRS at the time of funding, the beneficiary can even end up with a bigger inheritance. CLTs can also be used to discreetly transfer wealth while being publicly philanthropic."I've seen lawyers use these to plan for mistresses, to plan for children that perhaps the spouse doesn't know about," lawyer Edward Renn told Business Insider. Getty; BI Taking loans to pay estate taxesUnlike QPRTs and CRTs, this technique is highly scrutinized by the IRS and comes with a lot of hoops to jump through.Families that are asset-rich but cash-poor and facing an estate tax bill can either rush to sell those assets to make the nine-month deadline or take a loan.The estate can make an upfront deduction on the interest of these Graegin loans, named after a 1988 Tax Court case. Further, if illiquid assets make up at least 35% of the estate's value, families can defer estate tax for as long as 14 years, paying in installments with interest, and effectively taking a loan from the government.Graegin loans are prime targets for auditors and have led to years-long legal battles, but the savings can be worth it for rich families.Buying offshore life insurance policiesPrivate-placement life insurance, or PPLI, can be used to pass on assets from stocks to yachts to heirs without incurring any estate tax.In short, an attorney sets up a trust for a wealthy client. The trust owns the life-insurance policy that's created offshore. The assets in the trust are treated as premiums, and if structured correctly, the benefit and assets in the policy are bequeathed free of estate tax.It's only relevant to the ultra-wealthy, often requiring $5 million in upfront premiums as well as a small army of professionals to set up and administer, including trust and estate attorneys, asset managers, custodians, and tax advisors.Transferring depressed assets during a market slumpThe down market has one silver lining for high-net-worth individuals. It is an optimal time to create new trusts as people can transfer depressed assets, whether they are stocks or bitcoin, at a lower tax basis.The long-favored grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs) can confer big tax savings during recessions. These trusts pay a fixed annuity during the trust term, which is usually two years, and any appreciation of the assets' value is not subject to estate tax.GRATs have picked up in popularity in the past year as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates, which eat into the returns on these trusts. ivanastar/Getty, akurtz/Getty, DNY59/Getty, Tyler Le/BI Stashing assets in trusts for a spouseThe wealthy can save on taxes by putting their riches in trusts before the Trump tax cuts expire, but some don't feel ready to give their fortunes to their kids yet.Luckily, there is a compromise. Using a spousal lifetime-access trust, also known as a "SLAT," married taxpayers can stash their fortunes in trusts that pay distributions to their spouses rather than giving assets to their kids. The beneficiary spouse can use this cash flow to fund the couple's lifestyle. After this spouse dies, the trust passes to new beneficiaries, typically the couple's children.Buyer beware: divorce can mean losing those dollars forever. But millions in potential tax savings can be worth the gamble.Using trusts that pay cash to spouses but keep the assets for the kidsWhen the wealthy remarry, they often have to balance the needs of their new spouse and their kids from a prior marriage. Trusts can be used to take care of the spouses, but the adult kids want their piece of the pie.There is a way to make everyone happy. With a qualified terminable interest property trust, also known as a "QTIP," married taxpayers can put their fortunes in trusts that pay distributions such as stock dividends to their spouses. The income-producing assets, however, are untouched, and when the beneficiary spouse dies, everything in the trust is transferred to new beneficiaries, who are typically the adult children of the spouse who funds the trust.The main benefit of QTIPs is peace of mind. If the beneficiary spouse remarries, they still get the cash, but they can't gift the assets to their new partner. Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI Transferring business assets to family-limited partnerships at big discountsSam Walton, the founder of Walmart, used a family limited partnership or "FLP" to save his kids and wife from paying any estate taxes on multibillion-dollar family fortune.With an FLP, an individual often a parent or two parents pools their business assets, commonly real estate or stocks. As a general partner, the original individual can name their children as limited partners and give them interest in the partnership. The kids get cash distributions from revenue generated by the trust but do not have control over the actual assets. This control is appealing to parents who want to hold the purse strings.Another sweetener: You can claim a discount on the assets transferred to the FLP and use even less of your estate-tax exemption. Though the IRS scrutinizes these discounts, they can be worth the gamble. The right lawyer can justify a discount of 45% or higher for less liquid assets, such as privately held businesses.Giving stock to parents and inheriting it back when they dieWealthy founders who built their businesses from the ground up face hefty capital gains taxes when they cash out. Instead of selling the shares outright, they can save on taxes by gifting their stock to their parents and waiting to sell the stock until they inherit it after their parents' death. These "upstream transfers" take advantage of a tax loophole for inherited assets that boosts the cost basis to its fair market value at the time of inheritance.This tactic can also be used to save on estate taxes by ultra-rich entrepreneurs who have already used their exemption but have less-wealthy parents who haven't. They can stash the assets in a trust that benefits their parents until their passing and then their children. When the children inherit the assets, the federal estate tax doesn't kick in as long as the grandparents' estate does not exceed $27.22 million.Lawyers warn that upstream planning comes with risks. Individuals can lose their assets for good if their parents decide to share the wealth with a new spouse or other children.

AlabamaAlabama lights a Christmas tree in front of its capitol. Nagel Photography/Shutterstock It's been widely reported that Alabama became the first state to make Christmas a legal holiday in 1836.These days, the state celebrates with a tree outside the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.AlaskaSanta Claud House is located in North Pole, Alaska. Kit Leong/Shutterstock In 1952, Con and Nellie Miller set up a trading post outside Fairbanks, Alaska, and called the town North Pole. The Miller family built Santa Claus House, a general goods store there. ArizonaSome people in Arizona decorate cacti for Christmas. Jeff Greenberg/Contributor/Universal Images Group via Getty Images In the Arizona desert, some people decorate cacti for the Christmas season.In 2018, the Associated Press reported that a family in Phoenix built their Christmas tree from a cactus skeleton. They called it a "Phoenix Christmas tree." ArkansasThe "Lights of the Ozarks" will be on display through January 1, 2025. Gunnar Rathbun/Shutterstock Every year, Fayetteville, Arkansas, hosts the "Lights of the Ozarks" Christmas light display.This year, the display will be up from November 22 to January 1, and according to ExperienceFayetteville.com, it's free to visit every night until 1 a.m. CaliforniaDisneyland is transformed into a winter wonderland for the holiday season. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/Contributor/GC Images/Getty Images California is home to the original Disneyland, which hosts several Christmas-themed events during the holiday season.This year, through January 6, the park will be transformed into a winter wonderland. Even Sleeping Beauty's Castle gets the holiday treatment with wreaths and lights of its own. ColoradoDenver lights up city hall for the holidays. Sean Xu/Shutterstock Every year, Denver turns into a holiday wonderland for an event known as "Mile High Holidays."Throughout November and December, the city is decorated with a 110-foot-tall LED light tree, while the botanical garden and zoo are transformed with lights. ConnecticutThe Setti family decorated their home into a Christmas village for 26 years. Brownie Harris/Contributor/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images In 2021, software company Porch conducted a study that found that people in Connecticut spend the most time decorating the exteriors of their homes, using an average of seven hours and 36 minutes to do so.One of the most popular houses to visit was that of the Setti family in Norwalk, who decorated their home into a Christmas village for 26 years before retiring in 2014. DelawareNemours Estate is decorated for Christmas annually. BigDaveBo/Shutterstock Nemours Estate is typically decked with elaborate Christmas decorations in Wilmington, Delaware.According to theestate's website, visitors can tour the 77-room 20th-century mansion, the Chauffeur's garage, and the gardens, complete with their holiday displays through December 29. FloridaUniversal Studios is decorated for the holidays. pauloalberto82/Shutterstock Universal Studios in Orlando transforms for the holidays every year with holiday lights, Christmas trees, and other festive decor.In the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section, guests can sip hot butterbeer while the Grinch hangs around Seuss Landing. Georgia"Skate the Station" is open until January 15. dgdigital/Shutterstock Every year, Atlanta hosts "Skate the Station," where a large, temporary ice skating rink is installed at Atlantic Station.This year's rink is in operation through January 15. HawaiiShaka Santa and Tutu Mele are holiday staples in Honolulu. Yi-Chen Chiang/Shutterstock Shaka Santa and his wife, Tutu Mele, are fixtures of the holiday season inHonolulu.Every year, the pair of 21-foot statues are placed in front of city hall or Honolulu Hale. The city is also known for the "Honolulu City Lights" celebration. IdahoEvery year, a Christmas tree is lit in front of Idaho's statehouse. Charles Knowles/Shutterstock Every year, Idaho's state Christmas tree is lit in front of the statehouse in Boise.According to a local news station, this year's tree is a 36-foot-tall blue spruce that weighs about 3,750 pounds. IllinoisChristkindlmarket is popular in Chicago. Scott Olson/Getty Images Chicagoand Aurora, Illinois, will host the Christkindlmarket this year.It's the 28th year the market has been held in Chicago, and over those years, it's become a popular attraction for residents looking to buy gifts, ornaments, and food from around the world. IndianaThe Soldiers and Sailors Monument will be decorated until January 12. TheMann00/Shutterstock Indianapolis decorates the Soldiers and Sailors Monument with 4,784 Christmas lights to make it look like a giant Christmas tree in an event known as the "Circle of Lights." IowaThe City of Christmas Display of Lights is located at Rand Park in Keokuk, Iowa. Richard K. Gates/Shutterstock Keokuk, Iowa, hosts the "City of Christmas Display of Lights", a light display in Rand Park that visitors can drive through.About 20,000 cars drive through the park annually to see more than 150 light displays, including the nativity scene, Santa's workshop, reindeer, and elves. KansasThe carousel at Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, is a popular attraction. photojohn830/Shutterstock Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, is a public garden that hosts the holiday light show "Illuminations.""Illuminations" features up to two million lights and has music, carousel rides, treats, and an opportunity to see Santa Claus. This year's display will be available through January 4. KentuckyIce skating is available at Triangle Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Irina Mos/Shutterstock Visitors of Lexington, Kentucky's Triangle Park, can enjoy an ice skating rink through January 20, 2025. LouisianaThe Celebration in the Oaks is a Christmas light display in New Orleans. Elliott Cowand Jr/Shutterstock "Celebration in the Oaks" is an annual tradition where the city of New Orleans covers 25 acres of New Orleans City Park in Christmas lights.The display spans the Park, Botanical Garden, Storyland, and the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park. MaineRockland, Maine, is known for building a Christmas tree from lobster traps. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Since Maine is known for its lobster, it's fitting that residents build special Christmas trees focused on the sea creature.In 2018, Rockland, Maine, residents built the world's largest tree out of lobster traps, reaching 40.5 feet. The tree included 155 lobster traps, 180 lobster buoys, and 2,500 lights, News Center Maine reported. MarylandHouses in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood participate in "Miracle on 34th Street." Patrick Semansky/AP The Hampden neighborhood ofBaltimoreattracts visitors every year thanks to its elaborate Christmas decorations, which are displayed in a display called "Miracle on 34th Street." Almost all the homes on the block are covered in Christmas lights, candy canes, Santa dolls, and other holiday displays. MassachusettsBoston is decorated in Christmas lights. Charles Krupa/AP Boston transforms during the holiday season, with hundreds of Christmas lights covering the trees in the Public Garden, Copley Square, the Prudential Center, and the Common.MichiganThe Detroit Zoo hosts "Wild Lights" throughout the holiday season. Davslens - davslens.com/Shutterstock Millions of lights become the focal point at the Detroit Zoo's "Wild Lights" event. According to its website, the zoo features more than 500 immersive displays. Some of the massive light displays include a lion, whale, fox, and snake. MinnesotaThe Canadian Pacific Holiday Train visits towns in Minnesota. Debra Anderson/Shutterstock Decorated in various Christmas lights, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train stops in more than 20 towns throughoutMinnesotato raise money, awareness, and food donations for local food banks and pantries. Though visitors can't actually ride the train, they're treated to a concert of holiday songs and popular originals. Some of this year's performers include Alana Springsteen, American Authors, Clerel, and Tiera Kennedy. MississippiBiloxi, Mississippi, residents are known to decorate their boats for Christmas. Carmen K. Sisson/Shutterstock While most of the country decorates houses for Christmas, some residents in Mississippi decorate their boats with Christmas lights and other holiday decor.The boaters show off their festive vessels at the Biloxi Beach Water Boat Parade, culminating in a fireworks show over the water. MissouriUnion Station in Kansas City, Missouri, is decorated for Christmas. Logan Bush/Shutterstock Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, is decorated with Christmas lights, falling snowflakes, a Christmas tree, and toy trains for the holiday season.People also come to the station to take in the holiday-themed shows, which include piano recitals, pageants, and caroling. MontanaVolunteers in Bigfork, Montana, decorate the town for the holidays. Scott Wilson Photography/Shutterstock Volunteers in Bigfork, Montana, called the Bigfork Elves, are known for decorating the town yearly.According to Bigfork.com, the volunteers "deck the town with over 10,000 feet of garland and lights" and have been active in the area for over 40 years.Residents also gather for a tree-lighting ceremony and host other festive events. Nebraska"Christmas at the Cody's" is an annual celebration at the mansion of "Buffalo Bill" and Louisa Cody. Kevin Kipper/Shutterstock "Christmas at the Cody's" is an annual celebration at the mansion of "Buffalo Bill" and Louisa Cody in North Platte, Nebraska.The property is part of the Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, and guests can enjoy Christmas lights, carols, and horse-drawn carriage rides. NevadaThe Las Vegas Great Santa Run is held annually. Bryan Steffy/Contributor/Getty Images In 2019, Business Insider named Las Vegas one of the most festive places to spend the holidays, and the annual Las Vegas Great Santa Run might be part of the reason.The event draws thousands of people dressed in Old Saint Nick costumes to the city's downtown area to run or walk the course. New HampshirePeople in New Hampshire spend the most time decorating for Christmas. Andrew Matthews - PA Images/Getty Images Though residents in Connecticut win for most time spent on exterior decorations, New Hampshire residents spend the most time decorating overall, with an average of 17 hours dedicated to the activity, according to Porch. Loudon, New Hampshire, is also home to the Gift of Lights, a 2.5-mile drive with hundreds of light displays. New JerseySome people in New Jersey participated in a re-enactment of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. Mel Evans/AP Christmas Day looks a bit different for some in New Jersey because they re-enact George Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware River.The event starts at the Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania and ends in Trenton, New Jersey, just as the former president did in 1776. New MexicoMesilla, New Mexico, hosts an annual Christmas Eve celebration. TopGum Photography/Shutterstock Every Christmas Eve, the streets leading to the Mesilla town square are lined with paper lanterns.The square is also decorated in lights, as local choirs sing Christmas tunes, visitors enjoy holiday treats, and a vigil is held for fallen service members of the local fire department. New YorkThe Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center is a popular tourist attraction. Selcuk Acar/Contributor/Anadolu via Getty Images Rockefeller Center was completed in 1939 and has since become one of New York City's most popular tourist destinations. Millions of peoplevisit the Christmas tree every year.According to NBC, the tree is completed with a 900-pound Swarovski star with 70 spikes, 3 million crystals, and plenty of lights. North CarolinaNorth Carolina produces the second-most Christmas trees in the country. Chuck Burton/AP According to a 2022 report by the USDA, North Carolina produces the second-most Christmas trees of any state in the US, with more than 3 million trees. North DakotaWilliston, North Dakota, celebrated its 10th Christmas tree lighting. Eric Gay/AP This year, Williston, North Dakota, celebrated its 10th annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony with a 41-foot-tall Colorado Blue Spruce. In addition to the tree lighting, guests enjoyed a bonfire, music, and fireworks. OhioThe house from "A Christmas Story" is still standing in Cleveland. Jason Miller/AP "A Christmas Story" was released in 1983 and quickly became a cult classic during the holidays.The house seen in the movie is still standing in Cleveland, and across the street, there's a museum that houses props, costumes, and other artifacts from the film. OklahomaThe Purcell Christmas Parade is held annually. Kit Leong/Shutterstock Every year, the Heart of Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce hosts the Purcell Christmas Parade in Purcell, Oklahoma.One key detail for parade participants: No one can dress up as Santa Claus that responsibility belongs to the Heart of Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. OregonOregon is the top producer of Christmas trees in the US. Jacquie Klose/Shutterstock Beating out North Carolina for Christmas tree production is Oregon.According to the USDA, the "Beaver State" produced more than 4.5 million Christmas trees in 2022 to earn the top spot in the country.PennsylvaniaLOVE Park hosts Philadelphia's annual Christmas Village. Bo Shen/Shutterstock In Philadelphia's Love Park, you'll find the Christmas Village, an open-air market with small business owners' booths, a Ferris wheel, treats, and the second-annual Festival of Trees fundraiser for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Rhode IslandThe Elms mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, is decorated for Christmas. Dan Hanscom/Shutterstock

I can visit the Disney parks multiple times a week.I absolutely love visiting Disney World. Jenna Clark One great thing about living so close to Disney World is that I can go to the parks whenever I want, as long as reservations are available for annual passholders.I usually visit three or four times a week because the parks bring me so much happiness.I enjoy meeting the characters, so if I'm having a hard day and want to see Mickey Mouse or a princess, I don't have to commute very far. I frequently get to spend time with my friends at the parks.My Florida friends and I hang out in the parks a lot. Jenna Clark Most of the friends I made during my time in the Disney College Program in 2018 now live in Florida.Since moving, I've met with them to watch the parades, visit characters, and eat snacks in the parks.It's nice to go to the parks, enjoy each other's company, and not feel rushed during every experience. I can easily try the new, creative snacks Disney rolls out.Disney World has plenty of adorable, themed snacks. Jenna Clark The creative snacks are one of my favorite parts of visiting Disney World.I love trying the different cupcakes, brownies, and Mickey crisped-rice treats that celebrate holidays like Halloween, Christmas, and Father's Day.I often enjoy the Mickey ice-cream sandwiches and bars, especially when the heat is unbearable. Most of the people I've met in Florida have been friendly.I love meeting Disney characters and interacting with staff members. Jenna Clark I was born and raised in New York City, so I was taught not to make eye contact or say hello to most people when walking on the street.One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Florida was how friendly many people were, especially the staff at Disney World.Whenever I pass by people at my apartment complex or in the parks, a wave or a "hello" is often involved.Though this initially felt strange, I've become more comfortable interacting with strangers. I can see glimpses of Magic Kingdom's fireworks from my apartment.When I moved to Florida, I was excited to learn I could see Disney's fireworks from my apartment. Jenna Clark I never thought I'd be able to see Magic Kingdom's fireworks from my apartment, but now I can.Though I don't have a complete view of the shows, I see at least a couple of magical fireworks each night. On the other hand, Florida has more intense storms than New York.I sheltered Disney World's Wilderness Lodge during Hurricane Ian. Jenna Clark I thought I knew what heavy rain was like living in New York, but I didn't realize how extreme tropical storms and hurricanes could be until I moved to Florida.Although New York has been hit directly by a handful of hurricanes in the past few years, Florida is the most hurricane-prone state in the US.The storms in Florida can get pretty extreme. When I had to evacuate my apartment complex and ride out Hurricane Ian, my first big Florida storm, I chose to stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.It was a frightening experience, but I thought the park employees did a great job ensuring guests were as comfortable as possible.Still, I try to stay on top of extreme weather warnings and upcoming storms more than ever now that I'm in Florida. The heat can be brutal, especially when waiting for outdoor attractions.I wear sunscreen more often now that I live in Florida. Jenna Clark Florida is known for its high temperatures and strong sun rays, so I apply sunscreen much more often than I did in New York.Many of the attractions and shows at the theme parks are outdoors, so if I forget my sunscreen, I get a harsh sunburn that lasts for several days. The tap water doesn't taste as good as it did in NYC.I don't think the Florida tap water tastes as good as the water in NYC. Jenna Clark After living in New York for about 20 years, I grew accustomed to the taste of tap water.Since I made drinking tap water a habit, I usually bring my reusable water bottles with me when I visit the theme parks.However, I find that Florida's tap water doesn't taste as great. I miss my family and often experience homesickness.My parents have visited Florida a few times, but I miss them when they're not here. Jenna Clark I moved to Florida with my sister but often miss my parents and family back in New York.It's hard knowing I can't take a 40-minute train ride to see my parents on the weekends like I did in college.It's nice when my parents do come to visit, though.This story was originally published on January 16, 2024, and most recently updated on December 23, 2024.

After much back-and-forth, the House Ethics Committee released a bombshell report about alleged sexual misconduct by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), stating that he broke multiple state laws and that hes previously paid a minor for sex. Gaetz has categorically denied the allegations and on Monday filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the reports release. The review, which is the culmination of a years-long investigation, contains multiple allegations of wrongdoing, including that Gaetz spent tens of thousands paying women, and in at least one instance a 17-year-old, for sex or drugs, and that hes used illicit drugs like ecstasy and cocaine. Although the Ethics Committee concluded that Gaetz had not violated federal sex trafficking statutes, it found that the lawmaker had broken other state laws.The Committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress, the report reads. There was some question about whether the report would be released, and substantial portions of it leaked before it was formally published. The Ethics Committee, a bipartisan panel that investigates wrongdoing by lawmakers, initially deadlocked when it came to releasing their results in the wake of Gaetzs resignation from Congress. Its uncommon for the panel to share its findings after a member is no longer in Congress, though its not unheard of. Gaetz abruptly resigned following his nomination to be President-elect Donald Trumps attorney general. After he withdrew from consideration for attorney general when it became clear that he wouldnt get sufficient Senate support, the Ethics panel ultimately voted to publicize the report. The report contains detailed documentation of the allegations it levies against Gaetz and is the product of contacting more than two dozen witnesses and reviewing 14,000 documents. Whether the report will lead to additional legal consequences or political ramifications for the bombastic former member of Congress is still an open question, however. Heres what you need to know about the report, and what may come next for Gaetz.What does the report say?The report centers on allegations of Gaetz paying women, and one teenage girl, for sex, his use of illegal drugs, and his acceptance of improper gifts. Commercial sex: The report alleges that Gaetz paid women for sex on numerous occasions between 2017 and 2020, and paid a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017. In the course of its investigation, which included multiple interviews with women who said they had sexual encounters with Gaetz, the Ethics Committees report said there were at least 20 instances when he paid women for sexual activity or drugs. They found such payments were made on platforms including PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp, as well as via check and cash. When given an opportunity to explain the payments he made, Gaetz did not provide any information to the committee. Gaetz allegedly met many of these women via his friend Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax attorney whos now serving 11 years in prison for multiple crimes, including underage sex trafficking and wire fraud. Greenberg connected with the women via a website called SeekingArrangement.com that aims to link older affluent men and younger women. Broadly, the report says there was evidence that women expected payment for their interactions with Gaetz and Greenberg, with the report citing explicit examples including one when a woman noted: I usually do $400 per meet. One of the people who Gaetz allegedly had a sexual encounter with was 17 years old at the time of their meet-up in July 2017, the report notes. He allegedly had sex with her at a party that month; she did not disclose that she was under 18 nor did he ask her age. The committee concluded that he was not aware that that person was a minor, though the report also notes that ignorance of a minors age doesnt shield an offending adult from being charged with statutory rape under Florida law. Gaetz has repeatedly denied that he paid women for sex and denied that he had sex with a minor. In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked, Gaetz previously wrote on X. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.The panel determined that Gaetzs actions were a violation of Florida state laws addressing commercial sex and statutory rape. It also did not find that Gaetz had violated federal sex trafficking laws, claiming that he did transport women across state lines for commercial sex, but that there was no evidence those individuals were under 18 or that they had been induced by force, fraud, or coercion.Illegal drug use: Two women that the committee spoke with also testified to seeing Gaetz repeatedly engage in illegal drug use including that of ecstasy and cocaine, while additional evidence points to his regular use of cannabis. Gaetz has denied allegations of unlawful drug use. The committee found that these actions were a violation of Florida state laws, which bar the use of all three drugs for recreational purposes. Excessive gifts: The panel alleges that Gaetz also accepted gifts in excess of the $250 limit that Congress members are supposed to adhere to (but that lawmakers, in practice, arent always held to). This specifically included a trip to the Bahamas in 2018, during which Gaetz allegedly accepted a flight on a private plane as well as lodgings. Gaetz has denied these allegations, but failed to provide the committee with evidence that he paid for these services himself. The committee determined that his acceptance of these gifts was an ethical violation of the House Gift Rule. Obstruction of Congress: Gaetz did not voluntarily participate in an interview with the committee and also did not respond to a subpoena he faced for testimony. He provided some documents in response to the panels requests, but little relevant information, according to the report. Gaetz has repeatedly cited the lack of charges levied against him by the DOJ inquiry and argued that the Congressional investigation was targeted. The committee, however, stated that Gaetz was required by federal law to cooperate with a congressional investigation regardless of what the DOJ decided to do with its investigation, or how he may have felt about the House inquiry. Failing to answer the committees questions and being unresponsive to its subpoena constitutes obstruction of Congress, according to the report.Why is the Ethics Committee report coming out now?The Ethics Committee first began its investigation into Gaetz in 2021, but put it on pause once the Justice Department started its own investigation later that year. It took up its review once more after the DOJ inquiry ended in 2023. The department did not release any details about its findings or why it declined to continue its probe, though the New York Times reported that federal prosecutors were uncertain about their ability to make the case that Gaetz had broken federal law.The panel was scheduled to release its findings in mid-November, right around when Trump announced Gaetz as his AG pick. Gaetz stepped down from Congress swiftly following that announcement, a surprising move as Congress members who are nominated typically havent given up their jobs before getting confirmed. Gaetzs departure raised questions about whether the committee would still publish the report, with some Republicans arguing that it was no longer in its jurisdiction since the conservative was no longer a lawmaker. While Gaetz was still under consideration for AG, the committee deadlocked about releasing the report. After he withdrew from the role, the majority including at least one Republican member voted on December 10 to release the report. The Committee has typically not released its findings after losing jurisdiction in a matter, the report reads. However, there are a few prior instances where the Committee has determined that it was in the public interest to release its findings even after a Members resignation from Congress.Is the Ethics Committee investigation connected to the DOJs investigation?The two investigations arent connected in any legal way, though the Ethics Committee noted in its report that it tried to use some of the DOJs work in its investigation. DOJ pushed back on that effort and according to the committee, the DOJ failed to comply with a subpoena and FOIA request for information.The Committee hopes to continue to engage with DOJ on the broader issues raised by its failure to recognize the Committees unique mandate, the report states.The committee hoped to work with the DOJ in part because the two investigations covered many of the same allegations, primarily that Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, had sex with a minor, and transported women across state lines for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex.The DOJ investigation, which started in 2020 during Trumps previous term, had a more limited scope than the ethics investigation. Thats because the DOJ looks for proof that a federal crime was committed, while the ethics panel is concerned with as the report put it upholding the integrity of our government institutions. That is, an act can be deemed unethical without being a federal crime. Again, the DOJs investigation did not result in any federal charges against Gaetz and is no longer open. Will the ethics report have any legal repercussions?Although the federal government is no longer investigating Gaetz, the ethics report highlights several acts allegedly taken by Gaetz that lawmakers claim are state crimes. And that could lead to further legal entanglements for Gaetz, Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel for legal advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Vox. Of course, the committee no longer has jurisdiction over Mr. Gaetz, but I would venture to guess that there is some conduct that he engaged in that can and should be investigated by local law enforcement, dependent on state laws, statutes of limitations, and local willingness to launch an investigation, Sherman said. The ethics report finds that Gaetz violated Florida state law by having sex with the 17-year-old, paying for sex, and using illicit drugs. Florida law enforcement officials have yet to announce any investigations into Gaetz related to either allegation. The DOJ has also made no indication it intends to revisit the matter, and given Gaetz is a Trump ally who was once in line to lead that department, it seems unlikely that Trumps DOJ would reopen the case into Gaetz.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: