Table of contents for June 6, 2022 in TIME Magazine

BITCOIN TOOK A BRUTAL FALL IN MAY, with the value of each unit dipping below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is now worth less than half of what it was last autumn. Other cryptocurrencies, like Ether and BNB, have seen similar falls. Some experts are now warning of a “crypto winter,” in which the sector’s astonishing growth is replaced by an extended period of contraction. The current crypto slide is being caused by a combination of short-term and long-term inputs. To start off, Bitcoin rises and falls with the rest of the financial market. While crypto evangelists have long hoped that its independent nature would make it resistant to inflation and crises, the past few years have proved this false. Recently, general financial…

WHEN PEOPLE HEAR THE WORD extinction, they invariably think of dinosaurs. But we are now on the verge of soil extinction—the greatest crisis of our times. Can soil ever turn extinct? Yes, it can. If you remove organic content (in the form of plant litter and animal waste) from soil, it turns into sand. This is called desertification. Conversely, if you add organic content to sand, it becomes soil. Soil extinction may be a relatively new term, but the process it describes has been unfolding over the past 100 to 150 years because of unsustainable agricultural practices. An acre of soil in the world is turning into desert every second. This is a statistic with grave consequences for all life on this planet. The problem is that we treat soil…

Simu Liu Superstar By Sandra Oh As a fellow Ontarioan, I was already excited about Simu Liu when he was having “Canada success” on Kim’s Convenience. But since then, he’s been on a path that no Chinese Canadian has walked before. He’s part of the first generation of Asian Americans and Canadians to reach true stardom. It’s been amazing to see how beautifully he’s balancing representing our community and staying true to himself. I saw Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings three times. I was so pleased to see Simu exercise his comedy chops, his fighting skills, his gravitas. I love his ability to poke fun at himself. And, of course, the guy looks great in a suit. Simu has been working hard to get through closed…

Zendaya Shining star By Denis Villeneuve To me, Zendaya is a thousand years old. She has already lived many lives before this one. And yet, she is as young as springtime. By some inextricable paradox, she also gives the impression of having been born sometime far into the future. She is timeless, and she can do it all. In just the past year or so, Zendaya has radiated like a shooting star captured on celluloid in Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie. She emotionally exploded as her teenage years disintegrated in Levinson’s cultural phenomenon Euphoria. She shone in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a movie that dominated the box office in a year when she became the muse of extremes. But Zendaya is much more than that. She is an autonomous…

HASSAN SHEIKH MOHAMUD WAS ELECTED as Somalia’s President on May 15 in a ballot open only to 328 parliamentarians. Mohamud, 66, a former educator who also ruled the country from 2012 to 2017, pledged to move the embattled nation forward following more than a year of political gridlock that saw his predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi overstay his term as part of a widely condemned bid to hold on to power. But Mohamud faces a difficult road ahead. HUNGER AND WAR Somalia’s worst drought in decades has displaced 760,000 people and left around 40% of the country hungry, and the al-Qaeda-allied insurgent group al-Shabab—viewed by the Pentagon as a threat to U.S. security, and a top concern for Washington—controls large swaths of southern and central Somalia. COUNTERTERROR The Pentagon has confirmed plans…

IN THE INDUS VALLEY STRETCHING FROM India to Pakistan, temperatures hit up to 50°C (122°F) in early May. Together with high humidity, this heat pushes people to the edges of survival, especially those who must be outside or cannot get somewhere cool. We saw the same thing last year: dangerous heat and humidity under the heat dome above the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Elsewhere, high heat and strong hot winds are fanning wildfires from New Mexico to Siberia. The World Meteorological Organization now all too regularly releases statistical firsts that seem to move inexorably up the thermometer. Beyond the headline numbers are the less well understood economic impacts of extreme heat; they range from lower productivity of workers, compromised infrastructure, reduced crop yields, and worsened health outcomes to impacts on tourism…

Candace Parker Committed and conscientious By Dwyane Wade Candace Parker is a force to be reckoned with. Her story came full circle last season after she won her second WNBA championship—her first with her hometown team, the Chicago Sky. She’s a champion (and six-time WNBA All-Star) who has built a legacy by revolutionizing her game. As a fellow athlete and a fellow parent, I admire what she’s accomplished and how she has taken her daughter all over the world while playing to provide for her family. Her commitment is unparalleled, as are her insights: through her work as an NBA commentator, she always offers me a different way to think about the game. She is inspiring not only to the next generation of players but also to all young…

Tim Cook Evolving Apple By Laurene Powell Jobs Apple is Tim Cook’s life’s work, and in this work, Tim displays mastery. Tim has demonstrated more range in his leadership of one of the world’s largest companies than any contemporary CEO. Since Apple’s products and policies affect the very character of contemporary life, Tim’s job demands not only business wisdom but also philosophical wisdom. The intense pressure of setting and executing Apple’s progression with deep precision, and of taking responsibility for the company’s effects on society, is almost unimaginable. Yet Tim does it with compassion and discipline, turning to nature to replenish his spirit. In the summer he can be found hiking in our national parks, buoyed by the majesty of the mountains. After more than a decade at the…

THE GUNMAN ACCUSED OF MURDERING 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket seemed to fit a familiar pattern. Isolated and bored during the pandemic, he had become radicalized by consuming white-supremacist content online. He had previously threatened to commit violence at his high school and been sent for a mental-health evaluation, according to authorities. After he allegedly carried out the violent solo massacre, targeting Black shoppers, police said they believed he acted alone. So it’s no surprise that Payton Gendron, 18, was widely portrayed as a “lone wolf” attacker, like many white-supremacist terrorists before him. But the gunman did not act in a vacuum. He saw himself as part of an engaged community. In lengthy online writings being examined by authorities, he situated his alleged crimes as part of a larger…

Biden boosts baby-formula production On May 18, President Joe Biden responded to a nationwide shortage of baby formula by invoking the Defense Production Act—a Korean War–era law intended to allow the Executive to mobilize companies in wartime—to increase production. The same day, Biden authorized flights to import formula from overseas. Slain Calif. man stopped shooter Dr. John Cheng, a 52-year-old sports-medicine doctor, who was the only person killed in the May 15 shooting at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, Calif., confronted and tackled the gunman, allowing other churchgoers to disarm him, officials said May 16. The attack, which wounded five others, is being investigated as a possible anti-Taiwanese hate crime. FDA approves boosters for kids 5–11 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a COVID-19 booster shot…

WE ARE STANDING AT THE PRECIPICE OF the digital age. The lightning-fast pace of the tech evolution we are experiencing today will seem slow in the not-so-distant future as technology continues to change how we interact. Semiconductors are the brains accelerating this digital revolution. These tiny chips power education, business, health care, and more. They are vital to us today and essential for the world we want to live in tomorrow. But as demand grows, chip supply is tightening. Waves of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and supply-chain shortages have shown us just how fragile our technology ecosystem is—even leaving some industries at a standstill. We need bold new ways to strengthen our industrial capacity if we hope for a future filled with personalized medicine and autonomous cars. Now…

Volodymyr Zelensky Democratic defender By Joe Biden When Vladimir Putin launched his brutal war against Ukraine and Ukrainians needed their leader, Volodymyr Zelensky’s words echoed around the world: “The President is here.” In President Zelensky, the people of Ukraine have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience, as citizens across the country—shopkeepers and soldiers, tailors and truck drivers—fight for their homes and their freedom. Each time we speak, I hear in President Zelensky’s voice the relentless determination of a man who believes profoundly in his duty to his people, and lives up daily to the solemn responsibility of leading his nation through this dark and difficult hour. The nations of the free world, inspired by the example of President Zelensky, are more united, more determined, and more purposeful…

Mary J. Blige In her element By Nas Mary came up the way we all did. She was a voice for us, but she wasn’t like other R&B artists at the time. She became a household name early because she was a hip-hop artist who also sang. The industry needed someone like that. The streets wanted that. Pop culture wanted that. And she was the one for it because she wasn’t made up. She was the girl around the way with the big earrings. She was like a spokesperson for a particular type of girl coming out of New York and coming out of the streets. Every night during our tour together, Mary would have a heartfelt conversation with the audience. There would be tears in people’s eyes; there…

‘I hope we can get it together enough as an entire planet to beat the environmental crisis we’re in.’ —Quinta Brunson ‘STUDENTS AND THE WAY THEY LOOK AT THE WORLD … THEIR EMPATHY AND ALIVENESS TO ONE ANOTHER’S STRUGGLES.’ —Jeremy Strong ‘Organizations are trying to implement more organic approaches to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, leaning forward in the future of work, and encouraging and adopting more innovation in organizations, products, services, and processes.’ —Gregory L. Robinson ‘OPEN-MINDED YOUNG PEOPLE. ONLY THROUGH CURIOSITY, WILLINGNESS TO LEARN, AND KINDNESS CAN WE BRIDGE DIVIDES AND ACHIEVE MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING.’ —Eileen Gu ‘THAT MY VOICE IS INSPIRING A WHOLE COUNTRY OF WORKERS TO LET THEIR VOICE BE HEARD AS WELL AS TO DEMAND MORE BENEFITS, PAY, AND JOB PROTECTION FROM THEIR EMPLOYER.’ —Derrick Palmer…