The bottom line
The U.S. is building a $500 million supercomputer that can reach “exascale” performance. That’s a quintrillion calculations per second, seven times faster than today’s fastest system. China has 227 machines on the top 500 list of the world’s most powerful computers, compared with 109 for the United States. The New York Times
Thanks to genetic selection, the U.S. chicken industry can now produce a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago. Meat processors such as Tyson Foods produced a record 42 billion pounds of chicken in 2018, but suspect that the intensive breeding has given some chickens “woody” or stringy meat. The Wall Street Journal

Baseball player Mike Trout is finalizing a 10-year, $360 million extension with the Los Angeles Angels that would give him the largest contract in professional sports history. His deal would be worth a total of $426.5 million and raise his annual salary to $36 million until 2030, eclipsing the 13-year, $330 million contract that Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. Los Angeles Times
The U.S. will account for 70 percent of growth in the world’s oil production over the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency. Production is expected rise to 19.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2024—4 million barrels per day more than in 2018. Most of the increase is expected to come from shale fields, which will account for almost half of U.S. oil output. Axios.com
Four companies—Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestlé, and Danone—produce 6 million tons of plastic waste every year. Coca-Cola alone produces 3 million tons, but plans to make all of its packaging recyclable within six years. CBSNews.com