What Are Smartphones Good For?
Emergency rescue, it turns out.
Welcome to What Could Go Right?, where there’s a new dinosaur in town: the Spinosaurus mirabilis, or “wonderful spine lizard.”
One week ago, at least eight skiers in the backcountry of Lake Tahoe, California, were killed by an avalanche—the deadliest in modern state history, The New York Times informs us.
It could have been even worse: Six others were rescued after employing emergency beacons and a relatively unknown feature embedded in all iPhones, model 14 and later: Emergency SOS, which operates via satellite to connect to emergency services. There’s no need for a cell signal, data, or Wi-Fi connection; all you need is a clear view of the sky.
Longtime readers of this newsletter will know that humanity has gotten dramatically better at surviving natural disasters. Still, avalanches kill so few people each year that they’re hardly even a blip in the data. You’re much more likely to be bitten by a New Yorker.1
That said, I had to do my What Could Go Right? due diligence, and from the information available—a data set from Switzerland—we are in fact more likely to survive avalanches now than we were a few decades ago, despite changing climate conditions and more skiers going off-piste. The study authors believe that better safety training and technology that enables rescuers to find people faster have made the difference.
Which brings me back to the iPhone’s Emergency SOS function. Satellite phones made for outdoor enthusiasts have been available for years, but they’re bulky and expensive, so there’s a real benefit to making the technology part of everyday gadgets. (It’s been free since its rollout in 2022, although as Apple expands its satellite-based offerings, non-emergency use may eventually cost something.)
And it really does save lives.
In Australia, a swimmer who had been pulled out to sea by a rip current was scooped up by helicopter after activating Emergency SOS via his Apple Watch. In Los Angeles, a vehicle tumbled 400 feet down a cliff, but the police were able to rescue the unresponsive driver, who was bleeding from the head, because a combination of Apple’s Crash Detection feature and Emergency SOS had summoned them. Emergency SOS has also saved hikers (and their dogs) from flash floods, and a family trapped in its car during the 2023 Maui wildfires.
Apple users aren’t the only ones who now carry such satellite-based technology in their smartphones. It’s in an assortment of Android models, too, such as Google’s Pixel 9 and the Samsung Galaxy S25, and available through Verizon, Vodafone, T-Mobile, and AT&T—although the exact services, coverage areas, and costs vary. Recent chip advancements have also allowed satellite tech in phones to move beyond one-way communication, powering regular messaging and calls. And what is today installed in pricier cell phones will soon be available in mid-range versions as well.
We perceive the world as being totally wired up, but vast cellular blackspots remain, across deserts, jungles, and, yes, avalanche-prone mountains. With the current progress in satellite communication, though, soon there may truly be no spots on the planet that are unconnected.
That might strike some as decidedly unromantic. Maybe it is.
But last month, my partner, who is a boilermaker, was on a multi-week work trip, repairing an oil tanker sailing from the Bahamas to England. Normally, he’s incommunicado on these long voyages—cell service isn’t great in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This time, however, the crew had access to Starlink’s satellite internet. When he called me, I had a moment of genuine technology-related amazement that I hadn’t felt since I was a kid dialing up to the internet for the first time. There was his voice, bouncing up to a satellite from some remote spot on the high seas and back down to me in Greece—perfectly crisp and clear.
—Emma Varvaloucas
P.S. One more country to add to the list of those on a democratic upswing: South Korea, where its former president was just sentenced to life in prison after an insurrection attempt.
And a correction to last week’s edition, which stated that the Trump administration had “ended its immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.” It should have read that the surge had ended. ICE agents remain in the state, although activity has declined.
By the Numbers
30K: Number of animals rescued from wildlife traffickers last year, a record high
64%: Canada’s five-year survival rate for all cancers, up from 55% in the early 1990s
28: Countries that have eliminated the eye disease trachoma—Libya is the latest
~2X: Rate at which electric car sales grew in India in 2025
55%: Global poverty decline between 1990 and 2024, using a new measure
Quick Hits
📉 Large-scale forced labor exists in only nine countries today, part of a global phase-out that ranks among the biggest social and economic changes in history.
🍄 American doctors may soon be able to prescribe magic mushrooms—or at least their active ingredient—for depression. Late-stage trials have yielded strong mood-boosting results for a synthetic form of psilocybin.
📖 Physical books are making a comeback in Asia. The rapid expansion of the middle class has produced new generations of readers, and owning books has become a mark of upward mobility.
🌲 Deforestation rates in Brazil continue to slow, approaching levels not seen for a decade—and later this year may hit the lowest level on record for the Amazon. (Related: how Costa Rica became one of the only nations in the world to reverse deforestation.)
🔬 This week in early-stage scientific developments: A light-based sensor can detect trace amounts of cancer biomarkers in the blood, potentially making earlier detection possible. And a nasal spray that protects against a host of common respiratory illnesses—including allergens—worked in mice.
💬 Google has launched a data set in 21 African languages—existing AI chatbots don’t “speak” any now—in an attempt to include the continent in the AI boom. Critically, African partners, not Google, own the data.
🚰 The Trump administration will back a Biden-era rule to replace harmful lead pipes within 10 years, a striking departure from the environmental deregulation approach taken on other environmental issues.
👀 What we’re watching: Whether flickering lights and sound could actually slow Alzheimer’s.
💡 Editor’s pick: In striking down Trump’s tariffs, the Supreme Court is performing its core constitutional function.
TPN Member Originals
(Who are our Members? Get to know them.)
Is the US winning the war on authoritarianism? | The Preamble | Sharon McMahon
Take the W | The Edgy Optimist | Zachary Karabell
It took one year for Black MAGA to crater | WaPo ($) | Theodore R. Johnson
The FDA’s Moderna mRNA reversal | Faster, Please! | James Pethokoukis
The algebra of resistance | No Mercy/No Malice | Scott Galloway
How Europe is moving on from Trump’s America | GZERO | Ian Bremmer
Stochastic intimidation | The Renovator | Danielle Allen
Jesse Jackson and the rise of the progressive movement | Slow Boring | Matthew Yglesias
Exercise may be the best medicine for mental health | Flourishing Friday | Clay Routledge
The AI productivity take-off is finally visible | FT | Erik Brynjolfsson
The truth about aliens is hiding in plain sight | TFP ($) | Tyler Cowen
What it means to stay awake while my region holds its breath | Middle East Uncovered | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar
In the ’80s, at least. I can’t claim I have up-to-date data for human-on-human biting attacks occurring in the Big Apple. Forgive me: As a former New Yorker, the sentence was just too funny to resist.