Its not every day that microbial genetics leads to a chic influencer party in Los Angeles. Yet there stood Patrick Torbey, the lone scientist in a plant-filled wine bar, addressing a roomful of stylish guests nibbling artisan crackers topped with melted Brie.
Torbey was there to introduce the first product from Neoplants, the Paris-based startup he cofounded six years ago with Lionel Mora, a former Google product marketing manager. Their debut offering, called Power Drops, promises a biological air filterhence the appeal for wellness influencers. For the science-minded, theyre genetically modified soil bacteria that work with plants to absorb and metabolize toxic chemicals commonly found indoors.
Weve developed a natural air purifier, Torbey says. By pouring in these bacteria, you increase by about 30 times the air pollution efficiency of one plant.
These pollutants, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pass through microscopic pores in plant leaves and exit through their roots. When Power Drops are mixed with water and added to a planter, the bacteria cling to the roots and feed on the VOCsproducing nutrients for the plant in the process. The result: a 30% reduction in airborne toxins in a 160-square-foot room.
[Photo: Neoplants]
Neoplants originally planned to launch Power Drops in January, just as wildfires engulfed parts of Los Angeles. Instead, the company postponed its event and added a new initiative, CleanAirforLA.com, offering a free months supply to support recovery efforts.
We have a technology that can solve a big part of the issue that’s going to linger for a long time, which is that VOCs emitted by these fires will be absorbed by [fabrics and furniture in] every home and continuously reemitted, Torbey says. This is really using nature as the technology to solve that problem in a sustainable way.
[Rendering: Neoplants]
According to the World Health Organization, indoor pollution accounts for an estimated 3 million deaths annually. It can also impact focus and productivity and exacerbate respiratory issues like asthma. Torbey suggests putting the treated plants in bedrooms as a complement to HEPA filters that block particulates larger than VOCs, which are only several atoms in size. It takes much longer, but it’s much more sustainable because there’s no electricity, he says. It’s always on in the background.
Among the event’s attendees was The Good Place star Kristen Bell, who came away smitten with the companys naturaland in her case, foolproofapproach. I have little kids, so Ive been very concerned with educating myself on the air quality post-fires. I thought this was a very smart way to make it easy, affordable, and sustainable for people, she says. I don’t have a green thumb; I have a black thumb. The plants come [in planters] with reservoirs where I don’t have to remember to water [them] more than once a month. Thats extremely helpful for someone like me.
Genetics as a tool
Neoplants grew from Torbeys desire to apply his genetic engineering PhD to something beyond academia, Big Pharma, or agriculture. Everybody has this kind of negative feeling towards genetic modification, he says. But genetics is just a tool, and I wanted to show people how we can use this tool to have a pure, positive impact without any negative consequences.
He met Mora through the Paris division of the global talent incubator Entrepreneur First, which introduces scientists and businesspeople. Theyve since raised $20 million from two fundraising rounds through True Ventures and Heartcore Capital and expanded to a 20-member staff.
Neoplants founder Patrick Torbey (center) with Clean Air Campaign supporters [Photo: Neoplants]
The science, however, didnt come easy. When boosting plants ability to absorb VOCs proved too complex and time-consuming, the team pivoted to microbes. Bacteria, unlike plants, can be modified and tested within a weekand they clear regulatory hurdles faster. Neoplants engineered two bacteria strains that naturally metabolize formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and xylene, turning them into sugars, amino acids, and lipids. Then, using directed evolutonexposing them to increasingly toxic environmentsthey bred super-efficient strains.
Its kind of a boot camp for bacteria, says Torbey, crediting Mora and his Google training for the quick iteration process. We were trying to go at the speed of software using biotechnology.
[Photo: Susan Karlin]
Power Drops contain 10 billion dehydrated bacteria per packet, activated in water for monthly doses. They work best with leafy, soil-based indoor plantsnot succulents, hydroponics, or sandy soil. While theyre not for edible greens, theyre nontoxic to humans and pets. And although the bacteria improve soil quality, the effect on plant growth is minimalfor now. Boosting growth is the next focus for Neoplants.
From the ground to space
Meanwhile, as its bacterial research raced ahead, Neoplants continued modifying plants to metabolize VOCs without the need for bacteria by isolating the microbial genes responsible and inserting them into plant genomes. Having finally achieved that, the company is now awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a process not yet impacted by recent federal layoffs. The company will also avoid import tariffs by keeping its R&D operations in Paris and product production in the U.S.
[Photo: Neoplants]
Down the road, Torbey hopes to apply Neoplants research to other environmental issueshere on Earth and even for future space habitats. One goal is modifying plants to absorb nitrogen from the air instead of using nitrogen fertilizers, which exacerbate the rise in nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Hes also spoken to the European Space Agency about how his research might assist its MELiSSA life support project.
When you pop a piece of gum in your mouth, you might be hoping to freshen your breath, relieve some stress, or just get a bit of flavor. But you could also be getting thousands of microplastics released with every piece you chew.
Thats because most chewing gum itself is made of plastic; gum bases often use synthetic polymers like polyvinyl acetate, a plastic used in adhesives; or styrene-butadiene, a type of plastic rubber used in tires and shoe soles.
Plastic is already everywhere: our bottled water, our soil, even our air. Microplastics can leach into our bodies through all those things, as well as through foods kept or heated up in plastic packaging. But with gum, the exposure is more direct. Here, the food is the plastic, says Sanjay Mohanty, an engineering professor at UCLA.
Mohanty is lead investigator on the pilot study that looked at how microplastics from gum can get into our saliva. He conducted the study with Lisa Lowe, a PhD student in his lab, who is presenting their findings at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society this week.
Mohanty has been studying microplastics for years; hes done research on how wind can blow microplastics from fertilizers through the air, and how childrens playgrounds can contain more microplastics than other areas of urban parks. Lowe, who grew up in Hawaii and has seen the devastating effects of pollution firsthand, came up with the idea to actually quantify the plastic impact of gum. The topic even surprised some of her classmates. People dont really know that gum is plastic, she says. It’s just not something that we think about because it’s like food, so we wouldn’t expect it.
The researchers looked at both synthetic and natural gums, picking five brands of each that are the most readily, commercially available. Lowe herself was the tester: she would rinse her mouth (and take that sample, to see the level of microplastics in her saliva from the start), and then chew a piece of gum for four minutes, spitting out saliva samples every 30 seconds, before a final rinse.
On average, they found that every gram of gum would release 100 microplastics, though some pieces released as many as 600. Most pieces of gum are between 2 and 6 grams, so that means a large piece could release as many as 3,000 microplastics. By some estimates, Americans average one to three pieces a day, but looking at a conservative amount, if someone chewed 160 to 180 small sticks of gum a year, the researchers estimated that could lead to them ingesting 30,000 microplastics.
Before starting the study, Lowe anticipated that the natural gums would have fewer microplasticsbut really they released similar amounts. Its not clear where exactly those plastics are coming from, though; Lowe said it could potentially be from the manufacturing process.
Their study was also limited in terms of exactly which microplastics they could identify in the saliva: They only looked for pieces of plastic bigger than 20 microns, which are visible under a microscope. That means they didnt look for nanoplasticsparticles smaller than 200 nanometers (a human hair, for contrast, is about 80,000 nanometers wide). Previous research has already found that one bottle of water could contain hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics. There could be many, many more plastics [released by chewing gum] that are too small to be visible in our sensor, Mohanty says.
Lowe also tested chewing the pieces for longer, collecting samples of more than 20 minutes, to see how microplastics were released over time. Most of the microplastics were released within the first two minutes of chewing. After 8 minutes, 94% of the plastic particles collected during the tests had been released. If youre looking to reduce your microplastic exposure but arent quite ready to give up gum, Lowe says this indicates that you could try chewing one piece for longer, rather than starting a fresh piece.
Theres not yet a lot of scientific research on how microplastics affect our health, but there are indications that they’re harming our bodies. We know its not something natural, Mohanty says. The reserchers hope their study helps people become more aware of another form of microplastic exposure. When you eat chewing gum, you think you are getting the flavor. You are also getting some plastic with it, he says. And Lowe also hopes this gets people thinking about how they dispose of their chewed-up gum as well. It is a source of plastic, she says, so it should be disposed of properly.
Showing enthusiasm in a job interview can be the make-or-break factor in getting that position. In fact, nearly 47% of hiring managers say a candidates keen interest in the job is the most important factor in determining whether they get the new role.
Enthusiastic candidates are more likely to fit in, stay longer, and do great work. So, here are five ways to project excitement about the role throughout the job interview process:
1. ARRIVE EARLY
First, show up 1015 minutes early for your interview. An early arrival demonstrates enthusiasm, shows respect for the interviewer, and helps you gather your thoughts so that you will come across as poised and prepared.
Coming early has other benefits, too. For an in-person meeting, arriving early gives you time to get settled, use the washroom, and go over your notes. (Just make sure you don’t arrive too early, as the interviewer may not be ready for you.) If the interview is virtual, these 15 minutes will allow you to check your technology, your lighting, and your background.
2. PRAISE THE COMPANY
When speaking to the hiring manager, share two or three things you love about their company. Do your research and write out your talking points.
You might say, I appreciate the way employees are encouraged to collaborate. Or I value your hybrid work policy. It makes sense and its what I am used to. Or you might say, I admire the leadership of this company. . . . I heard your CEO speak at a recent conference and he was inspiring.
You might even ask the interviewer, what attracted you to this firm? This will give her a chance to speak about the company, and you an opportunity to reinforce something positive.
3. GET FIRED UP ABOUT THE JOB
Another important thing to share is why you would love to have the job. Dont wait for the hiring manager to ask you why you are applying. Instead, have a script ready with the reasons you are excited about the position. It could be the leadership role you have been searching for, or the fact that it will draw on your expertise in AI. Whatever turns you on should be written out in advance and delivered as part of your interview narrative. Get these points out right away.
Share with the interviewer how important you understand the position is in the larger scheme of things. You might say I know the critical role this position plays in the department and in the companys communications with key audiences.
Asking smart questions about the role is still another way to show enthusiasm in a job interview. You might say, This is a newly created position. How were its responsibilities handled before? Or you might ask Why has this position been created? Questions like this show that you take the job and its role very seriously.
4. USE POSITIVE LANGUAGE
Throughout your conversation, make sure to be positive with your language. During your preparation, make a list of words and expressions that convey your enthusiasm for the role and show how well your qualifications fit the position. Use them in the interview.
Your list might include, I love the fact that this company is leading the industry. Or I like the scope of the job. Or I know this team has an excellent reputation. Here are other possible expressions: I believe that I have the qualities and experience you are looking for, I feel this is the perfect next step in my career.
Avoid negative or hesitant language, such as Im wondering, or I think, or I guess, or Im not sure. And avoid filler expressions like um, ah, and other nonstarters like thats a good question. Your role is to answer questions, not evaluate them.
5. SHOW OPEN BODY LANGUAGE
Convey enthusiasm in a job interview with open body language. The physical signals you give can matter as much as what you say.
During the conversation your face should have a warm, animated expression, but dont overdo it. When you are talking or when the interviewer responds to what you’ve said, hold your eye contact.
Sit with an upright posture. Keep your shoulders back and your chin up. Slouching suggests a lack of enthusiasm. Having great posture displays confidence, and that’s the image you want to portray during the discussion with your potential employer.
Keep your arms open, and gesture with your full arms, not with smaller hand gestures. And never fold your armsdoing so will look like you are arming yourself (literally), and that comes across as defensive.
Influencers, how many late payments are you waiting on? Odds are, more than one.
Influencer marketing is a booming $10 billion industry, but for creators, inconsistent cash flow remains a major pain point. Brand budgets shift, campaign timelines change, and payments can take months to land. For many influencers who rely on brand deals as their main source of income, financial instability is the norm. According to the Wall Street Journal, fewer than 13% of online influencers earned more than $100,000 last yearwhile nearly half made $15,000 or less.
A fintech startup called Alchemy wants to change that. Founded by Isaac Wagschal, the company has launched a $100 million fund to provide creators with upfront payments based on projected future income. Since January, Alchemy has already distributed millions.
Growing as a creator takes time, money, and the right opportunities landing in your inbox. But unpredictable income is one of the biggest obstacles to scaling. Some months bring multiple sponsorships; others are completely dry. And while traditional financial institutions are slowly warming to the creator economy, access to capital remains limitedespecially for creators still building their brands. (If youve ever tried asking a bank for a loan as a freelancer, you get it.)
Alchemys approach is different. It looks at an influencers full income streambrand deals, Patreon, AdSense, and morethen uses the past six months of earnings to project the next six. Based on that, Alchemy prepurchases a portion of the creators expected revenue, providing a lump-sum payment upfront. A flat fee, typically around 1.15 times the amount advanced, is added.
Say a creator is projected to earn $100,000 in the next six months. Alchemy might advance $30,000 by purchasing 30% of that income. When the full $100,000 eventually comes inwhether it takes six months or a yearAlchemy collects its 30%, plus a $4,500 fee. Theres no loan, no interest, and no fixed repayment schedule. If a creator underperforms, Alchemy takes the hit.
To streamline the process, Alchemy is partnering with top creator agencies, managers, and influencer platforms to embed its financial tools directly into brand deal workflows. The goal: make upfront payments the industry norm.
“The creator economy is booming, yet too many influencers are stuck waiting months for sponsorships and delayed payments to clear,” Wagschal said in a press release. “Creators should have financial access that matches the speed of the digital world.”
Firefighters in North and South Carolina were battling multiple wind-driven wildfires Monday in rugged terrain that complicated containment efforts, officials said.
Millions of trees knocked down by Hurricane Helene last year combined with long stretches of dry weather this spring are making for a long and active fire season in the Carolinas, North Carolina State University forestry and environmental resources professor Robert Scheller said.
Helene just dropped tons of fuel on the ground, Scheller said. Then these flash droughts allow that fuel to dry out very fast.
Both South Carolina and North Carolina have issued statewide bans on outdoor burning.
North Carolina fires
Mandatory evacuations continue for about 165 properties in parts of Polk County in western North Carolina, about 80 miles west of Charlotte, according to county spokesperson Kellie Cannon.
Three fires burned at least 7.5 square miles in the county and the two larger blazes were completely un-contained, Cannon said in a social media update Monday morning. The Black Cove Fire, one of the larger ones, was moving toward neighboring Henderson County, Cannon said.
Kim Callaway, who lives near one of the evacuated areas in Polk County, has prepared her home, WLOS-TV reported.
Weve already actually evacuated everything that we thought that was important, Callaway said. And now were just staying at the house and trying to do what we can to get our house prepared if the firemen need to show up and hold the line.
A downed power line sparked the Black Cove Fire, but the causes of the other two fires in Polk County were under investigation, according to North Carolina Forest Service spokesperson Jeremy Waldrop.
A number of other wildfires burning across the state including one that damaged 500 vehicles at a salvage yard in Burke County, officials said.
South Carolina fires
Two fires in the South Carolina mountains have led Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a state of emergency.
One fire was in Table Rock State Park in Pickens County and the other was on Persimmon Ridge in Greenville County. Winds and difficult mountainous terrain allowed blazes to grow, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said.
The Table Rock Fire expanded to more than 2 square miles, including several hundred acres that firefighters intentionally burned to try to contain the flames, officials said.
The Persimmon Ridge Fire, which started Saturday, spread to more than 1.25 square miles despite many dozens of water drops, the commission said.
Human activity ignited both the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires. No injuries had been reported, and while no structures were imminently threatened, voluntary evacuations of about 100 homes remained in place.
How a September hurricane is creating March fires
Scheller, the North Carolina State University professor, predicted this busy fire season if the region saw dry weather following Helene.
Scientists saw something similar in 2022 when a fire burned more than 51 square miles of timberland in the Florida Panhandle. The Bertha Swamp Road Fire almost directly followed the eye pattern from 2018’s Hurricane Michael and the fallen pine trees left behind.
Pines and their waxy needles dry out and become very flammable, Scheller said. The fallen trunks can also block roads and paths used to fight fires, experts said.
The last ingredient to fuel wildfires is dry weather. Despite recent rain, the Carolinas are undergoing an extreme drought, according to federal monitors.
The common denominator for many fires on the East Coast is human activity, whether people burn debris, light a campfire that isnt well watched or toss out cigarette, Scheller said.
And more people living next to areas that can burn make fires a bigger threat, he said.
New Jersey fire
A forest fire burning in New Jerseys million-acre Pinelands region was 100% contained on Monday morning, the New Jersey Forest Fire Services said in a post on X. The fire was first spotted Saturday and burned through about 3.5 square miles.
That blaze led authorities to evacuate two campgrounds in Wharton State Forest, officials said. The cause was under investigation.
Fire forecast
A front moving off the East Coast brought rain and more humidity to the area, helping firefighters Monday.
But not much rain fell and temperatures are expected to get warmer and the air drier as the week goes on, likely meaning another round of wildfires unless people follow burn bans and fire safety.
It is absolutely paramount that folks respect the statewide ban on all open burning, North Carolina Forest Service spokesperson Philip Jackson said.
War is raging in the Middle East, peace is uncertain in Europe, and investors and consumers are responding to threats of tariffs with sell-offs and boycotts. But President Donald Trump is focused on what matters to him: his self-image.
Like a friend asking you to untag them from a photo on social media that they find unflattering, Trump isn’t happy with an artist’s depiction of himand wants the painting taken down.
Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday about the painting, which was added in 2019 to a collection of presidential portraits at the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver. He claimed the portrait was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.
The portrait was painted by Sarah Boardman, a Colorado Springs artist who told the Denver Post in 2019 that she painted both Trump’s and former President Barack Obama’s portraits to appear intentionally apolitical. Boardman did not respond to a request for comment.
In todays environment, its all very upfront; but in another five, 10, 15 years, he will be another president on the wall, Boardman said at the time. And he needs to look neutral.
The psychology behind the portrait
It’s unclear why Trump is complaining about the portrait now, six years after it was first displayed. But Trump’s aversion to his portrait is actually human nature. Scientists have found that humans tend to dislike photographs of themselves for two primary reasons: One, humans prefer images of themselves that they see oftensay, their face in a mirror. A portrait or a photograph that depicts a person from an unfamiliar perspective can lead to feelings of discomfort.
Then there’s the phenomenon of self-enhancement, which describes the tendency to evaluate our own traits and abilities more favorably than is objectively warranted. According to a paper published in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, when presented with two imagesone untouched photograph and one enhanced for attractivenessrespondents tended to identify with the enhanced photo. In other words, we tend to think we look better than we actually do.
This is almost certainly what’s going on in this case. After working in the public eye for decades as a celebrity, reality-TV-show host, and politician, Trump is particularly attuned to his appearance. But he also takes great pains to control his image. Heand his supportersare not shy about altering imagery to depict him in an artificially flattering light. Trump likes images of himself that show him as strong. And he likes images that he can approve (see his official White House portraits).
Boardman’s painting violates all of Trump’s preferences: the soft-focused lighting, the jawline, the swept-over hair. Boardman’s portrait makes Trump look like just another guy in a blue suitand he can’t stand that.
President Donald Trump has said a lot of alarming things, but one comment that is sounding alarm bells across the Atlantic, from U.S. shores to Denmark, is his statement: “One way or another, we’re going to get [Greenland].”
Now the Trump administration is sending an uninvited delegation to the autonomous Danish territory on Thursday, a move that Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has criticized, calling it “highly aggressive” and a “provocation.”
Greenland’s people are bracing for the visit from second lady Usha Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Vance is set to watch Greenland’s national dogsled race and “celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” while Waltz and Wright will see the Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. military facility in remote northern Greenland.
Meanwhile, as the Trump administration closes in on Greenland, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has previously stated emphatically: “We seriously mean . . . that Greenland is not for sale. Denmark is responsible for the defense and security of the island’s 57,000 residents, and opinion polls show that while Greenland’s people prefer a looser relationship with Denmark, they are against becoming a United States territory.
Nevertheless, Trump’s persistence raises an important question: Why is he so fixated on Greenland, anyway?
Trump claims Greenland is a national security asset
Greenland is attractive to Trump for two reasons: It has a wealth of natural resources and is strategically located on the shortest route between the U.S. and Europe.
“The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region, and it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get firsthand briefings from our service members on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told the Associated Press.
According to the BBC, the U.S. has had its eye on the territory as far back as the 1860s, when President Andrew Johnson first wanted to buy Greenland. Much later, during World War II, the U.S. invaded Greenland and established military and radio stations across the territory. After the war, American forces remained in Greenland at what is now known as Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base).
“If Russia were to send missiles toward the U.S., the shortest route for nuclear weapons would be via the North Pole and Greenland,” Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defense College told the BBC. “That’s why the Pituffik Space Base is immensely important in defending the U.S.”
The Trump delegation’s visit also comes as both China and Russia are increasing their activity in the Arctic.
The other reason Trump has his sights set on Greenland: It has large deposits of rare earth minerals needed to make computers, smartphones, and batteries, as well as its potential offshore deposits of oil and natural gas.
BYD, Chinas largest maker of electronic vehicles, surpassed $100 billion in sales last year, beating out its beleaguered American competitor Tesla.
Per an earnings release on Monday, BYD notched $107 billion in sales last year. That’s decisively above the $97.7 billion that Tesla made in 2024. And in terms of vehicles delivered, BYD shipped 4.27 million hybrid and battery electric vehicles, while Tesla shipped 1.79 million EVs.
Last year marked Teslas first sales decline in over a dozen years. As of this writing, shares in BYD Company ADR have risen around 5% today, bringing its stock up more than 55% since the start of the year.
News of BYDs big year dominating Chinas EV marketboth in sales numbers and new innovationscomes as Teslas brand is being increasingly battered because of a plummeting stock price in 2025, massive recalls, and protests against company billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s over-involvement in the U.S. government.
BYD is a BFD
Aside from its record-breaking sales numbers, BYD has most recently made headlines for designing a new ultrafast charging system, an innovation that could be a game changer for the greater EV market.
Earlier this month, the company announced that its flash chargers will be able to provide power for 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) in five minutes, or about the same amount of time it takes to fill the gas tank of an SUV. BYD plans to roll out 4,000 of the new chargers in China, where building EV infrastructure tends to be a much faster process than it is in the United States.
Meanwhile, as climate reporter Dan Gearino writes for Inside Climate News, Tesla is in the midst of a corporate self-destruction unlike any Ive seen.
The brands problems range from increasingly wide-scale backlash against CEO Muskwhose fund-slashing in the federal government has cut tens of thousands of jobsto a recall last week of nearly every Cybertruck ever made.
Teslas woes have caused its stock to plummet 32% since the start of the year, and Tesla trade-ins recently hit an all-time high.
Despite a rough few months, Teslas market valuation remains impressive, landing at around $800 billion compared to BYDs $157 billion, according to Bloomberg. And President Trump continues to implement new tariffs on Chinese imports and roll back EV subsidies.
While Tesla stock had been falling since the beginning of 2025, it has been enjoying a rebound more recently, with shares up more than 15% over the past five days, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
Finally, some good news from The Social Security Administration (SSA): Over three million retirees and their spouses, including some teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal employees, will see bump in their Social Security benefits by the end of the month, thanks to a law President Joe Biden signed before leaving office in January, called the Social Security Fairness Act.
Here’s what to know about the update to Social Security benefits.
What is the Social Security Fairness Act?
The Social Security Fairness Act increases monthly Social Security benefits to 3.2 million Americans workers because it repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which will trigger retroactive payments and monthly increases to a select group of retirees.
According to Yahoo Finance, this benefit is mostly for retirees who receive a government or state pension based on work not covered by Social Security, like a second part-time job or side hustle. For example, this would apply to a teacher who got summers off and worked at a camp each summer. Previously, if that teacher had a pension, it meant they weren’t getting Social Security benefits from that second job. This new rule changes that.
However, as Forbes noted, the bad news is: By reversing the policy, the SSA will now resume withholding 100% of benefits to recover overpayments starting at the end of March.
Who is eligible for the updated Social Security benefits?
Who exactly is eligible? As noted above, this law applies to Americans who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
Those Americans could include some but not all of these types of workers:
Teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states
Federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System
People whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system
How much will Social Security payments increase?
Beneficiaries will start receiving their new monthly benefit amount, which could range from a few hundred to over $1,000 larger, based on an average Social Security check of $1,900, in April 2025, for March 2025 benefits. (Social Security benefits are paid one month behind.)
Additionally, the SSA increased payments are retroactive back to January 2024, and those who are eligible will get a one-time payment for a lump sum, via direct deposit, by the end of March. (For those who don’t have their Social Security direct deposit set up yet, now is the time to do it.)
How has Social Security changed in the Trump era?
President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have attacked the Social Security program, claiming that the Social Security Administration is plagued by immense waste and “fraud.” Those claims have been repeatedly debunked, and a report from the agency’s Inspector General found “less than 1% of payments in recent years were determined to be improper.”
The new benefit from the Biden administration also comes as the Trump administration’s SSA is about to require millions of Americans to potentially verify their identity in person, even as the federal government plans on closing offices nationwide and has cut thousands of jobs at the agency as part of the Department of Government Efficiencys (DOGE) slashing of the federal workforce.
Many older Americans rely on Social Security as their monthly income, for housing, food, and healthcare.
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Lennarthe nation’s second-largest homebuildertold investors on Friday that their spring selling season is off to a soft start.
We do not see the seasonal pickup typically associated with the beginning of the spring selling season. So we continue to lean into our machine focusing on converting leads and appointments and adjusting incentives as needed to maintain sales pace. These adjustments came in the form of mortgage rate buydowns, price reductions, and closing cost assistance, Jon Jaffe, co-CEO of Lennar, said on the Friday earnings call.
In addition to Lennar acknowledging a soft start to the spring season, here are six other key takeaways from its Q1 2025 earnings report, covering the period from December 1 to February 28.
1. Lennar continues to see weakness in Florida and Texas
As ResiClub as reported, many markets in those states, particularly San Antonio in Texas and Cape Coral and Punta Gorda in Southwest Florida, have seen active inventory rise well above pre-pandemic levels and home prices decline amid weakened housing demand.
“In general, homebuyers in Florida and Texas, our two highest volume states, needed more help than most other markets around the country,” Jon Jaffe, co-CEO of Lennar, said on the Friday earnings call. “We needed more incentives in Florida and Texas markets to assist buyers achieve mortgage payments they can afford as well as to offset both a slowing in migration environment and increased inventory. All markets around the country require incentives to assist buyers in the current home buying environment.
2. Lennar is deploying bigger sales incentivesespecially in Florida and Texas
Lennar’s average sales price, net of incentives, declined 1% from $413,000 in Q1 2024 to $408,000 in Q1 2025.
Last quarter, Lennar spent the equivalent of 13% of the final sales price on sales incentives, such as mortgage rate buydowns. For a $400,000 home, that translates to $52,000 in incentives.
According to John Burns Research and Consulting, thats the highest incentive level Lennar has offered since 2009and its significantly higher than Lennars cycle low in Q2 2022, when it spent 1.5% of the final sales price on sales incentives. (See historical chart here.)
Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller said on Friday that: “These are outsized [incentives] for the moment and normalized incentives should be around 5% to 6%.
In other words, where and when neededlike pockets of Florida and Texas where active housing inventory has bounced back and buyers have gained leverageLennar is cutting net effective prices through larger incentives to find the market and keep sales rolling.
That said, a homebuilder’s average sales price can also be skewed by changes in home size. To at least some degree, this is the case for Lennar, which has introduced more smaller home offerings over the past few years.
3. More margin compression
During the pandemic housing boom, publicly-traded homebuilders achieved record profit margins as home prices soared and buyer demand ran red hot. Once the national housing demand boom fizzled out in the summer of 2022, many large homebuilders made affordability adjustments where and when needed to maintain their sales pace. Despite some profit margin compression, almost every major homebuilder entered 2024 with gross margins still above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. However, in recent quarters, margin compression has returned.
During Lennar’s December 2024 earnings call, CFO Diane Bessette stated that they anticipate further margin compression, with gross margins expected to range between 19% and 19.25% for Q1 2025. Lennars Q1 2025 gross margin ended up being 18.7%its lowest in over a decade.
On the March 2025 earnings call, Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller said he expects the company’s Q2 2025 gross margin to be 18% and that they expect to continue to see margin pressure on deliveries that will be sold during the quarter.
4. Lennar chooses volume over margins
Last year, when it became clear that Lennar would have to choose between offering greater incentives in 2025 (i.e., smaller margins) or lower volume, the builder made it clear it would choose the former.
We’re going to adjust to market. We’re going to maintain [sales] volume, Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller said in December.
Thats exactly what it did. Its also why net new orders in Q1 2025 (18,355) were essentially flat compared to Q1 2024 (18,130) despite the choppier sales environment.
5. No impact from tariffsyet
Given that Lennar is Americas second-largest homebuilder, it serves as a good proxy to figure out how Trump administration policy could be impacting homebuilders.
On Friday, Lennar executives stated that tariff policy has not yet impacted their business.
“We’ve been in discussions regarding the potential impacts of tariffs with our supply chain,” Lennar co-CEO Jon Jaffe told investors on Friday. “These discussions all start with a review of margin reductions Lennar has already taken. This leads to a constructive effort to identify alternative sourcing and material strategies. Additionally, we prepare our trade partners to absorb potential increases to their supply chain costs in the event of tariffs To date, we have had no impact to our cost from tariffs and we will work closely with all our trade partners that further tariffs present themselves to mitigate offset cost impacts.”
6. No impact from immigration policyyet
While it’s unclear how many undocumented immigrants work in construction, we know its a chunk. In 2016, Pew Research Center estimated that 13% of the U.S. construction workforce is undocumented. In 2021, the Center for American Progress estimated that 23% of construction laborers are undocumented (see the full breakdown above).
While undocumented workers are more likely to be employed by subcontractors rather than the builder, business disruptions due to deportations, if they are to occur, would still be noticed by general contractors and homebuilders.
So far, Lennar hasnt seen disruptions caused by changes in immigration policy.
“With respect to potential labor disruptions that could derive from immigration policy enforcement, our consistent high volume makes our construction a priority for our trade partners,” Lennar co-CEO Jon Jaffe told investors on Friday. “To date, there has been no shortage of labor or impact to cycle time. Again, our strategic trade partners appreciate the financial impact to our margins of maintaining our consistent high volume and we expect to be as well-positioned as possible should any disruptions present themselves.”
