Marijuana and your memory, Doomsday Clock is ticking, flavor of the year: Catch up on the day’s stories

Editor’s Note: CNN’s 5 Things newsletter is your one-stop shop for the latest headlines and fascinating stories to start and end your busy day. Sign up here.

👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! Scientists created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 as a symbolic gauge of how close humanity is to destroying the world. The clock is now the closest it’s ever been to that marker.

Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day:

5 things

1️⃣ Your brain on pot: Checking your car’s blind spot. Remembering what your boss said. These are examples of your brain’s working memory — and a new study indicates that if you use marijuana more frequently, you could be be damaging it.

2️⃣ Housing prices: Unexpected catastrophes such as wildfires can change the character of a community. When ravaged neighborhoods rebuild, gentrification often follows as smaller homes are replaced by larger and more expensive ones.

3️⃣ Following the buzz: Researchers tracked bees using tiny QR codes glued onto their backs to gain new insights into the insects’ movements and life cycles. The data suggests that bees enjoy longer lives than previously thought.

4️⃣ A room of her own: The Louvre in Paris is about to undergo a major expansion that could take up to 10 years to finish. One upgrade to the world’s most-visited museum: a dedicated space for Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” masterpiece.

5️⃣ Tasty trend: McCormick, the top-selling maker of seasonings and spices, predicts that a flavor combining sweet and spicy will have a breakthrough year. Is your mouth watering yet?

Watch this

🦎 Taking a tumble: When temperatures dip in Florida, it’s not uncommon to see frozen iguanas falling from trees, as they go into a cold-stunned state to protect themselves until it warms up. It just happened in North Miami Beach — and the reptile in question was shown no sympathy from a curious cat.

Top headlines

• Judge temporarily blocks part of Trump’s plans to freeze federal aid after president’s order caused chaos
• Oklahoma Board of Education votes to approve proposal requiring parents to prove citizenship when enrolling students
• Suicidal tendencies and ’80s battlefield tactics: How North Korean soldiers are operating in Russia’s war on Ukraine

2 million

🐗 Wild boars were once a protected species in China. Now the population has exploded, and it’s a growing public menace.

Check this out

📸 Powerful pose: First lady Melania Trump shows that she means business in her new official White House portrait, which has sparked plenty of discussion online.

What’s buzzing

✈️ 844 mph: America’s answer to the Concorde broke the sound barrier for the first time during a test flight in California. Boom Supersonic hopes to build the world’s fastest airliner.

Quiz time

🛸 The White House said drones that caused hysteria in the US last month were “not the enemy.” Which state reported the most sightings?
A. Ohio
B. New York
C. New Jersey
D. Pennsylvania
⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.

Good vibes

🎤 Healing through music: Yuval Raphael, who survived the terrorist attack at the Nova music festival in October 2023, will represent Israel at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. She sang ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall” during the finals and will compete in Switzerland in May.

Thanks for reading

👋 We’ll see you tomorrow.
🧠 Quiz answer: C. The drones — primarily spotted in New Jersey — were authorized to fly by the FAA, the White House said.
📧 Check out all of CNN’s newsletters.

5 Things PM is produced by CNN’s Chris Good, Meghan Pryce and Kimberly Richardson.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.