Sneezing will never be the same, thanks to climate change

As if climate change wasn't bad enough, today's lead story shows how it will make a major seasonal annoyance even worse. But first, today marks a jumbo anniversary for the aerospace industry. Today, in 1969, Boeing established a new metric of measurement when its 747 took its first flight.

Initially, the vision of Pan Am President Juan Trippe, the 747 was commissioned in expectation of a massive increase in the popularity of flight. The project, which began in 1966, pushed Boeing to the limits of engineering at the time. The massive plane required its own new massive plant, the Everett Factory, which could fit 43 football fields inside and instantly put Boeing into debt.

Capable of holding 366 passengers, the 747 changed the possibilities of flight for both airlines and passengers. But times change. In 2020, Boeing announced that production of the plane will end in 2022 due to low customer demand. While trends may move towards greener planes, tours of the massive Everett Factory will still be available.

Our question of the week: Believe it or not, Valentine's Day is coming up. Real life has been harsh lately, so we were wondering: What's your favorite fictional couple? Love, as comic author Tom King recently mentioned in his Inverse interview, is a powerful driver in stories. Leia and Han, Korra and Asami, Wanda and Vision. Love is a battlefield, and we want to hear which fictional couple has you picking up arms.

Respond in our Google form, and we'll post our favorite answers next week!

This is an adapted version of the Inverse Daily newsletter for February 9, 2021. Subscribe for free and earn rewards for reading every day in your inbox.

Free ride — SpaceX Crew Dragon: Super Bowl ad reveals how to enter space competition

If you couldn't make it through another round of Tom Brady's endless dominance during the Super Bowl, you might have missed an announcement that could change your life: the possibility of going up into space on a SpaceX rocket.

Here's what we know about SpaceX's plans to put private citizens into space by the end of this year: Four people are going to travel onboard the company's Crew Dragon for a three-day trip around the world like no other. One will be billionaire Jared Isaacman, and he's bought all four seats. So here's what we don't know: who the other three seats are going to. But, as a 30-second ad aired during Sunday's Super Bowl LV explained, two of them are up for grabs.

The ad for this once-in-a-lifetime competition follows hot on the heels of the mission's announcement by SpaceX on February 1. Now, Elon Musk's firm has put the word out at the annual sporting event, which last year received 99.9 million viewers. That is a lot of competition, so here's everything you need to know in case you missed the clip or just need a recap.

What they're saying: “Up above the world so hiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.” —Celeste, a British soul singer, in her rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” that appears in the ad.

What you need to know about Inspiration 4 →

More like this:

• SpaceX Crew Dragon: First 4 private citizens revealed for trip to space

Glow up — Your personality sucks. Scientists can change it.

We can all stand to improve ourselves, more or less. Having a personality and being a person can come with its share of aches, pains, and struggles. Sometimes we fall into bad behaviors simply because they are most comfortable for us without examining how they are affecting our lives.

In a new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, psychologists outline the design for an app they call PEACH — PErsonality coACH — which they claim can help you tweak your own personality to meet your goals.

Mathias Allemand is a co-author on the study and a professor at the University of Zurich. He talked to Inverse about how the app is designed to be used specifically by people who don't have a clinical personality disorder but who perhaps just want to improve themselves in some way.

What they're saying: “People have to want to change. Without a change goal, they will not work on themselves.” —Mathias Allemand, professor at the University of Zurich, to Inverse.

Could an app help bring about a whole new you? →

More like this:

• Enneagram personality test: Why experts say it is “pseudoscientific at best”

Gut check — 3 health effects influenced by the quality of your gut

You might be familiar with the term “microbiome.” If not, just know there's nothing “micro” about it. Well, actually there is: the trillions of organisms living in your digestive tract are very tiny. But what they can do to your body, well, that is a very major story. Research has linked a more diverse gut microbiome with outgoingness and a less diverse biome with anxiety.

Here's how your microbiome is changing your life all the time.

What they're saying: “Imbalanced gut microbiota or ‘dysbiosis’ weakens our immune defense thereby predisposing to more severe SARS-CoV2 infection and potentially contributing to ‘long COVID.’” —Siew C Ng, a researcher in the division of gastroenterology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, discussing the microbiome with Inverse.

That's right, trillions of organisms →

More like this:

• Microbiome study could change the way doctors diagnose depression

Coming soon ...

If you're enjoying Inverse Daily, and we truly hope you are, you should check out our sibling newsletter, Musk Reads. Helmed by our innovation writer Mike Brown, the newsletter looks at how the industries Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink are shaping and how the competition is reacting. Here's Mike describing what's coming up in the newsletter's paid version, Musk Reads+:

“Axiom Space is planning to send its first crew to space as a natural precursor to building an entire space station. The firm made headlines last month when it announced the four private citizens that will travel to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon as part of the mission ‘AX-1.’ In an Inverse interview, Axiom Space’s director of in-space manufacturing and research, Christian Maender, explains how these missions lead to the space station, how the project could support all-new industries in space, and how it’s ultimately developing the pit stop before the highway to the Solar System.”

Achoo — Climate change really is making your allergies worse

It's been a hard winter all around, but spring is right around the corner. Warmer weather, the Sun staying out later — it would all be so nice if it wasn't for allergies. The coughing, the runny noses, the tears. Pretty much just the worst all around. Well, not quite the worst yet. Because it turns out climate change is making our allergies worse.

Studies have linked climate change to recent increases in seasonal allergies and asthma in adults and children. And new scientific research provides more concrete data to back up this climate change-driven allergy theory.

A study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that climate change-induced temperature warming has lengthened the spring pollen season, exacerbating not only seasonal allergies but other related respiratory issues.

What they're saying: “Climate change isn't something far away and in the future. It's already here in every spring breath we take and increasing human misery.” —William Anderegg, assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah.

More pollen in your future →

More like this:

• Allergic “memory serum” could be the key to solving allergies for good
• Scientists discover a keto diet benefit just in time for allergy season

And that's it for the Daily! If you're looking for more, make sure to check out our recommendations for five great movies and shows leaving Netflix by the end of the month.

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