Blame Sweating Corn for Toronto’s Latest Heat Wave: Here’s What We’re Reading

The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.

Here’s what’s happening today:

1. Toronto will feel warmer than Cairo and Kabul this week

Part of the problem, the Globe and Mail explains, is sweating crops in nearby farmland. “Air streams move north and as they travel, they gather the moisture released from plants such as corn and soybeans. This ‘sweating’ is part of the natural process of evapotranspiration – when moisture is drawn from the soil and released by plants into the air, increasing humidity.”

2. It’s really hard to make money as an Olympian

“The Olympics drive athletes to get ever faster, higher, and stronger, to quote its Latin motto: ‘Citius, altius, fortius.’ But while the Games show athletes at the peak of human potential, it rarely does much for their earning potential.”

+1: Is hosting the Olympics ever really worth it?

+1: Rio’s diving pool turned a nasty shade of green today.

3. Proof that the world isn’t the hellhole it feels like

Life expectancy around the world is up dramatically. The number of people living in poverty is down to about 10 per cent of the global population. Income levels are on the rise and people are more educated because of it. While the state of U.S. politics might have you thinking otherwise, planet Earth just might actually be in pretty good shape.

+1: Tanzania is about to connect one million rural households to electricity.

4. The U.S. Secret Service interviews Trump Campaign over ‘Second Amendment’ comments

“In the wake of outrage over the comments by Trump, which have widely been interpreted as insinuating the encouragement of violence against the Democratic presidential nominee, Trump’s campaign reportedly told the Secret Service that the presidential hopeful did ‘not intend to incite violence.'”

5. Apparently the Microsoft Office World Championships are on right now, are a real thing

“During the competition, students are given a complex printed document and asked to recreate it, pixel for pixel, in their chosen program. They’re judged on accuracy and speed. ‘It’s kind of like the nerd Olympics,’ says Craig Bushman, who has run the event for six years, and is Vice President of Marketing at Certiport, the company that runs Microsoft’s certification tests. ‘It’s very intellectual. But the same emotions that the Olympic athletes go through—anticipation, sizing up the competition—are there.'” Sure.