• Shamima Begum fled the UK four years ago to join ISIS in Syria. She is now trying to return.
• The UK government does not want her back, and on Wednesday told her parents that it would strip her of British citizenship.
• But the process is harder than it seems. Under British law, the government can strip someone's nationality only if they are also a citizen of another country.
• Begum is not a citizen of another country. The countries her parents and husband come from — Bangladesh and the Netherlands — have reportedly refused to let her in.
• This means the UK would likely have to take her back, even though it thinks she's a national security threat.

Britain may have to take back Shamima Begum, the teenager who fled her London home to join ISIS, due to a law which makes it illegal to leave somebody without citizenship of any country.

The UK government told Begum's family this week it would strip her of British citizenship. But the plan may fall apart because no other country appears willing to accept responsibility for her.

Begum, 19, escaped the Syrian village of Baghouz about three weeks ago as ISIS continued to collapse under military pressure. She was nine months pregnant when she escaped, and gave birth to a boy last Saturday.

She has been trying to come home to Britain. But UK officials see her as a national security threat, and have worked to prevent her return.

Britain's Home Office on Tuesday told Begum's mother via letter that it had decided "to deprive your daughter, Shamima Begum, of her British citizenship."

Read more:Britain is stripping a teen ISIS bride of her citizenship, and she could end up in a country she says she's never been to

Why Britain can't remove Begum so quickly

Under the British Nationality Act, the UK can only remove a British person's citizenship if they are a national of another country.

Sajid Javid, the British home secretary, confirmed to the House of Commons on Tuesday: "We would need to satisfy ourselves that they do genuinely have the nationality of another country before they can be deprived of their British nationality."

The problem with the UK's plan is that Begum is not a citizen of any other country.

Javid reportedly told Begum's parents that because they are of Bangladeshi heritage, their daughter could be eligible to apply for citizenship in that country. Begum said she had never even been to Bangladesh before.

Read more:A British teen who fled with friends to join ISIS four years ago is now pregnant and living in a Syrian refugee camp. Here's how her journey unfolded.

If Begum fails to secure citizenship in another country, the UK would not be allowed to revoke her nationality and would have to let her return.

British officials have repeatedly said that someone in Begum's position would be investigated and potentially prosecuted. Javid also last week told Begum he "will not hesitate to prevent your return."

Upon learning that the British government was stripping her of her citizenship, Begum suggested that she could move to The Netherlands, the home country of her husband, who also left his home to join ISIS.

Begum told ITV News on Tuesday: "My husband is from Holland [part of The Netherlands] and he has family in Holland. Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland. If he [my husband] gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison."

Nowhere to go

The Bangladeshi government on Tuesday night refused to take responsibility for Begum. In a statement it said that she is "not a Bangladeshi citizen" and "has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh."

The government added that it was "deeply concerned that she has been erroneously identified" as a British-Bangladeshi dual citizen.

The Netherlands has also reportedly refused to take Begum in, either as a citizen or resident. A Dutch government spokesman told the Sun Online that in order to live in The Netherlands, a person would need a residence permit, which Begum does not have.

INSIDER has contacted the Dutch embassy in London for comment.

Begum left her home in Bethnal Green, east London, for Raqqa, Syria, with two school friends in 2015.

All three of them went on to marry ISIS fighters. Begum told The Times of London last week that she lost touch with both of them.

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NOW WATCH: Michael D'Antonio reveals Donald Trump's 'strange' morning ritual that boosts his ego

• It's often thought that men are always in the mood for sex.
• According to a relationship therapist this isn't true.
• Life can get in the way when men get older, and sex can feel like less of a top priority — just like it can for women. 
• If men feel emotionally distant from their partner, they might not be in the mood either.

A common stereotype is that in a heterosexual relationship, men are always initiating sex. According to relationship therapist Sarah Hunter Murray, this isn't true.

In an interview on TODAY, discussing her book "Not Always in the Mood: The New Science of Men, Sex, and Relationships," Murray said it's a myth that men are "always in the mood."

"Men sometimes don't want to have sex," she said. "'Not tonight dear, I have a headache' — we think about that as something the wife says. We don't have the same vernacular for talking about men's low sexual desire."

Murray interviewed and surveyed 200 heterosexual men in relationships, aged 18 to 65, and talked about her findings in the article.

While it's normal to talk about how it's hard for women to find time for sex when they have work, caring for children, paying bills, and taking on more responsibilities, we don't tend to do the same for men.

Men who took part in the research said sex stopped being a priority once they hit 40, when they generally had to focus more on getting a good night's sleep to get up in the morning and take the kids to school. 

Read more: We evolved to find sex disgusting, according to a new study — and women may feel it more than men

Another finding Murray found surprising was that if men feel emotionally distant from their partner, they might not be in the mood either — squashing the misconception that sex is "just an act."

"Men were telling me that if they had been having a fight with their partner that hadn't been resolved or if they just didn't feel so close and connected, even if she was interested in sex, sometimes, they just wouldn't be," she said. "He just wouldn't feel sexual desire — it was dependent on feeling that emotional closeness first."

She added that it's important to realise sex is emotional and vulnerable, and may be initiated because one partner just wants to feel close. 

"It's a way for men to bring those walls down; to feel they can just be themselves," she said. "It really is this opportunity to be open, vulnerable, close, connected, and emotional."

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NOW WATCH: Earth's north magnetic pole is on the move — here's what will happen when our poles flip

• Juventus' shares were tumbling after the club's 2-0 away loss to Atletico Madrid dented their hopes of winning this season's Champions League. 
• Cristiano Ronaldo, signed for big money in the summer, had a difficult game with investors seemingly negative on the club's chances with Juventus stock down 9.3% as of 12.25 in London (7.25 ET). 
• Juventus had big hopes for this season's competition, but a potential knockout in the last-16 would be a major blow to the club. 

It was more than Juventus' players that came unstuck after a difficult night in Madrid translated into a major issue for the club's share price. 

Juventus' shares were falling more than 9% after the club's disappointing result against Atletico Madrid Wednesday night may have dashed the Italian champion's hopes of winning Europe's biggest club competition. 

The club's shares rose a massive 95% in the days following the signing of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo last summer on hopes the former Real Madrid man could fire the "Bianconeri" to Champions League success. However, the club's shares are currently trading at €1.31 ($1.49), down from around €1.57 last September when his signing was announced. 

Juventus lost 2-0 at Atletico's Wanda Metropolitano stadium after second half goals from Jose Maria Gimenez and club captain Diego Godin.

Ronaldo's involvement sparked real confidence that Italy's most successful domestic club could cut it in Europe having lost five European cup finals in their history. According to reports, 520,000 shirts were sold in just 24 hours after his signing — approximately $62.4 million worth of trade. 

Juventus also recently sold €150 million of bonds ($169 million) to cash in on its new star whose value to the club may well fade unless they can turn things around in the tie's second leg. 

SEE ALSO: Nike shares slide in pre-market trading after Zion Williamson's sneaker malfunction

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NOW WATCH: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is 35 — here's how he became one of the world's scariest dictators

• IEX published a video on its YouTube channel mocking the high fees other exchanges charge. The video is set to run as an ad on CNBC on February 26 and February 27, according to a spokesman. 
• The video, which was shot in the style of an infomercial, is the latest punch thrown by the startup exchange in its fight against the three large exchange groups: Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange, and Cboe Global Markets. 
• In January, IEX published a whitepaper outlining market data fees at all the exchanges. 

Wall Street firms are known for filing detailed comment letters and publishing lengthy white papers when voicing their opinion on complex market issues. But in today's day and age, sometimes the best way to get your point across is an infomercial. 

That's the latest approach IEX has taken in its ongoing fight over exchange fees. The lone independent stock exchange published a video on its YouTube page mocking the fees some of its competitors charge to access the markets they run.

The video is set to run as an ad on CNBC on February 26 and February 27, according to a spokesman. Given CNBC often films from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and that TV screens tuned in to CNBC are common on Wall Street trading floors, the ad's designed to get traders' attention. 

The three major exchange groups — Intercontinental Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets — faced significant pushback at the end of 2018 against their fees. Exchange fees have long been criticized by market participants, but regulators stepped in for the first time in October 2018 when the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled against fee increases by NYSE and Nasdaq on certain market data.

The video, which runs just under a minute and a half, features a salesman pitching the importance of what appears to be a simple ethernet cord to obtain trading access to the stock market.

"Are you one of those folks that wants to connect to the traditional stock exchanges? Then I am about to show you something you cannot succeed without, literally," the salesperson in the video says, speaking to the camera and a studio audience. "This cable looks ordinary right? And it is. But plug it into your trading systems and woah, you open a whole new world of shockingly basic access to those fusty old exchanges and the data they distribute."

Read more:The Wall Street battle over skyrocketing market data fees could reach a boiling point in 2019

With the enthusiasm and style similar to that of a late-night infomercial, the sales person goes on to outline the importance of the cable, with its ability to offer access to a "pay-to-play system that is anti-competitive". He finishes the video by saying regardless of whether you want the product or not, you have to buy it. 

The video's also set to appear as a commercial on CNBC. 

The Intercontinental Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets, the three major exchange groups, were not named in the video. However, IEX's criticism of the fees charged by those firms has been well documented. IEX does not charge members for market data or co-location. 

In late January, Brad Katsuyama, the exchange's co-founder and CEO, published a letter on LinkedIn he sent to the SEC outlining the costs IEX charges its members for connectivity and market data compared to Ice, Nasdaq and Cboe. The exchange also published a whitepaper, which found market data fees at other exchanges were as high as 1,800% more than what it cost IEX to offer its market data to members.

On the same day the whitepaper was released, Nasdaq published data of its own criticizing IEX's analysis. Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq's chief economist, argued that IEX's policy of not charging for market data and co-location actually is more detrimental to the market, as the cost of other services is used to subsidize those which are provided for free. Others have also argued that it's not fair to compare fees when considering IEX's smaller size. The exchange, which received regulatory approval in 2017, holds roughly 2.788% market share in stock trading. 

The traditional exchanges have also shown their willingness to fight back. On February 14, NYSE, which is owned by ICE, filed a suit against the SEC for its Transaction Fee Pilot, which was approved in December and is meant to examine how exchange's transaction fees and rebates impact where brokers choose to route clients' orders. Nasdaq and Cboe followed with suits of their own the following day. 

You can watch the entire video here:

ALSO READ: 

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NOW WATCH: Wall Street heavyweights set the record straight on the proposed 70% super-rich tax they say is wildly misunderstood

• Dublin Airport was shut down briefly on Thursday because of a drone flying over the airfield.
• The airport tweeted at 11:56 a.m. local time saying they had suspended all flights due to a "confirmed sighting of a drone over the airfield."
• Eight minutes later they re-opened the runway and flights resumed.
• The disruption is the latest in a string of drone sightings causing disruption at major airports.
• Gatwick Airport was closed for 32 hours in December 2018. London Heathrow and Dubai airports were also affected, but not for as long.

Dublin Airport briefly shut down its runway on Thursday after a drone was sighted hovering over the airfield.

Ireland's largest airport sent a tweeted at 11:56 a.m. local time to say: "For safety reasons we are temporarily suspending flight operations @DublinAirport due the confirmed sighting of a drone over the airfield."

Shortly after, at 12:04 p.m. (7:04 a.m. ET,) they said: "Flight operations have now resumed @DublinAirport following an earlier drone sighting. We apologise for any inconvenience."

"The safety and security of passengers is always our key priority."

The UK's two busiest airports were also hit by drone delays in late 2018 and early 2019.

A drone over a runway at Gatwick Airport forced the airport to close for more than 32 hours in late December, and it happened again two days later.

Read more:Video shows the damage a drone can do to a plane, as British airport shut down for more than 32 hours over rogue drones on the runway

Gatwick is the second-busiest airport in the UK, handling over 45 million passengers each year. British police later said that some drone sightings during the Gatwick closure crisis may have been of their own surveillance drones.

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NOW WATCH: Airports are dealing with massive lines during the government shutdown as TSA employees are working without pay

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

The US smart home market has still yet to meet the expectations many observers had in the early part of this decade.

The same issues Business Insider Intelligence first identified back in 2015 still plague the space — persistently high prices, technological fragmentation, and consumers' lack of a perceived benefit from the devices.

But the newfound popularity of smart home voice control has revolutionized smart home ecosystems across the country, and convinces more consumers to equip their homes with smart devices on a daily basis. The Amazon Echo, released in 2014, has become immensely popular and capable, awakening users to the utility of both voice control and smart home devices. This has prompted companies to rush to release competing devices and integrate voice control into their smart home ecosystems.

In a new report from Business Insider Intelligence, we examine the overall state of the US smart home market — both the professionally and self-installed markets. We analyze the factors driving demand for smart home devices and smart home voice speakers, and discuss the future of voice control in the home.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Voice control is becoming a key remote interface within the home, a trend that began with the introduction of the Amazon Echo in 2014. Since then, Google, Samsung, and Apple have all integrated voice control into their smart home ecosystems.
• While progress has been made, prices are still too high and consumers still have yet to show strong demand for smart home devices.
• The US smart home market is only now entering the mass market phase of consumer adoption and overcoming the chasm that it sat in back in 2015.

In full, the report:

• Analyzes current consumer demand for smart home devices based off results from Business Insider Intelligence's proprietary survey.
• Forecasts future growth in the number of smart home devices installed in American homes.
• Analyzes the factors influencing the proliferation of voice control devices in the homes.
• Identifies and analyzes the market strategies of various companies that have integrated voice control into their smart home ecosystems.

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• Betty Liu, the executive vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, says she changes her daily commute to work almost every day.
• The lack of habit forces her to see new people and new scenery every day, something she first noticed when she started traveling the world.
• There are scientific benefits to changing your daily commute — research has shown it leads to increased focus, improved memory, and higher levels of creativity.

A lot of successful people have daily routines that they follow religiously, from Apple CEO Tim Cook's 3:45 a.m. wakeup call to Birchbox CEO Katia Beauchamp's afternoon meditation sessions.

On the other hand, Betty Liu, the executive vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, prides herself on what she does differently every day.

Liu told Business Insider that she almost never takes the same commute to work on consecutive days. Sometimes, that means driving the one-hour trip from her New Jersey home to the NYSE headquarters in Downtown Manhattan. Other times, she takes the train, and she'll get off at different stops each day for no other reason than to vary up the journey.

A bonus just for you: Click here to claim 30 days of access to Business Insider PRIME

"I make sure to vary it up as much as possible. You will not see me day in and day out take the same train every morning for 20 years," Liu told Business Insider. "I would drive myself nuts if I always took the same route every day."

For Liu, the lack of routine is a reminder "not to get too ingrained in habit," she said. It's a lesson inspired by her experiences traveling around the world, like when she was a correspondent for CNBC in Hong Kong and Dow Jones Newswires in Taiwan.

"You go somewhere completely foreign and different and your mind is blown, and you grow so much," Liu said. "That's just something I try to preserve, but on a daily basis."

She continued: "It's the idea that change is OK and change actually helps you grow. It's easy to continue to do the same thing over and over again and get in a rut. Seeing different faces and being in a different place just gives you a different perspective."

Read more:A New York Stock Exchange exec uses the '1-3-5 rule' to eliminate lingering guilt over an unfinished to-do list

There are some scientific benefits to Liu's thinking, too. Deviating from your daily routine can increase focus and improve your memory, as well as stimulate creativity, according to Brigid Schulte, director of the Better Life Lab and author of "Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time."

"When we change locations  —  work in a different spot, take a walk at lunch, mix up the commute  —  that actually stimulates our hippocampus, where we store long-term memories," Schulte told the software company Wrike in a Medium post. "So, we'll also remember our lives more with greater emotional depth and connection."

New York Times science reporter Benedict Carey agreed, saying in the Medium post that changes of scenery make us more productive.

"Changing your work environment and daily movements  —  taking a different route to work, for example  —  can maximize the brain's effectiveness, allowing you to retain more information and be more successful," he said.

SEE ALSO: A New York Stock Exchange exec uses the '1-3-5 rule' to eliminate lingering guilt over an unfinished to-do list

DON'T MISS: The CEO of the 'Costco for millennials' asks every potential hire 3 questions to weed out the jerks

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NOW WATCH: Understanding this one cognitive bias may help you better negotiate a pay raise

• Stock buybacks are on track to set an annual record for a second-straight year, according to data compiled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  
• The unprecedented fervor with which companies are still repurchasing their shares sends a number of key messages about the market — contradicting what some strategists have forecast.  

It's only February, but one stock-market trend that shattered records in 2018 is already on track to set a new milestone.

Publicly traded companies are poised to spend a record amount of cash on share buybacks this year, according to equity strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Last year, corporations announced more than $1.1 trillion in share repurchases. The breakneck pace of stock buying was largely thanks to the cash windfall that companies received from tax reform, and their newfound incentive to repatriate profits that had been held overseas. 

No sectors contributed more to this unprecedented feat than technology and financials. 

Apple, which already had a strong track record of returning capital to shareholders, announced its largest-ever buyback program worth $100 billion last year. And Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which rarely buys its own shares, made a stunning change to its buyback policy and agreed to repurchase shares when prices fell below their "intrinsic value."

Companies in sectors beyond tech and financials are now joining in the bonanza and are on track to set their own records. According to BAML data, buyback authorizations in the staples and materials sectors have easily topped the levels they reached in 2018 (on an annualized basis) and could be at all-time highs by year-end. 

As overall buybacks head for another record, they are in a position to challenge various assumptions that some investors have made about the future of the stock market. 

The first is that the bull market in stocks has little room left to run. After all, it's unlikely that companies would be rushing to buy back their shares — instead of using the cash for other pressing needs — if they do not see any upside to stock prices. Before last year's record was set, buybacks hit cycle highs in 2015 — and that didn't mark the top tick for this bull market. 

Read more: The chairman of a $275 billion dynasty unveils what he calls the best investment opportunity of the past 25 years — and explains how you can get in on the action

However, buybacks can also be seen as a double-edged sword. The frenzy in repurchases, like euphoria among investors, can serve as a signal that the cycle is nearing its end. That was exactly the case in 2007, with the caveat that the financial crisis that followed was unlike any ever witnessed before. 

At the end of the day, buybacks do engineer stock-market gains by reducing the count of outstanding shares, and in turn, increasing the earnings that accrue to each existing share. This simple mathematical tweak, combined with the bullishness that companies display by investing in their own shares, is what lifts stock prices.  

It's why fears of an earnings recession in some corners may be overblown, even with the emerging evidence that the economy is slowing down. 

"We expect S&P 500 earnings per share to get at least a 2% boost in 2019 from buybacks, despite being somewhat politically unpopular," said John Lynch, the chief investment strategist at LPL Financial, which oversees $628 billion in assets. 

That leads us to the next cold truth about buybacks: political pressure is not deterring companies from authorizing them. 

The failure of the tax cut to meaningfully ramp up capital expenditure has led to criticism of how companies are using their cash. Sen. Bernie Sanders, for example, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that profitable companies were using buybacks to enrich the wealthy few while laying off workers. This backlash even caused a Twitter spat between Sanders and former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. 

Even Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, has proposed taxing stock buybacks and simultaneously making it more attractive for companies to invest their cash elsewhere in the economy. 

It's still anyone's guess whether any of these proposals — which are indicative of longstanding disputes — will come to fruition. For now, companies are free to ignore the naysayers and continue the buyback frenzy.

SEE ALSO: A record-setting trend in tech and finance is fast spreading to other industries — and it’s poised to dispel big myths investors hold about the stock market/corporate America

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NOW WATCH: There are serious health reasons why you shouldn't eat your boogers

• Domino's Pizza posted same-store sales that fell short of expectations.
• The pizza chain also missed on both the top and bottom lines. 
• Shares fell 7.3% early Thursday.
• Watch Domino's Pizza trade live.

Domino's Pizza sank more than 7% Thursday morning after delivering disappointing same-store sales for the fourth quarter. 

The pizza chain said domestic same-store sales jumped 5.6% versus a year ago, falling short of the 7.2% gain that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting. 

The company also missed on the top and bottom lines, posting adjusted earnings of $2.62 a share on revenue of $397.8 million. Analysts were looking for $2.69 and $399.9 million. 

During the quarter, Domino's opened a total of 1,058 net new stores, 258 in the US and 800 internationally. 

CEO Ritch Allison was optimistic despite missing Wall Street estimates. 

"I am pleased with our fourth quarter, which capped a very strong 2018 for Domino's," he said. "Our long-game approach, driven by fundamentals and the finest franchisee base in QSR across the globe, continues to pace the industry – and we are excited to execute our global strategy in 2019 and beyond."

Looking ahead, the company reaffirmed its outlook for the next three to five years, saying it expects both US and international same-store-sales growth of between 3% and 6%. Domino's does not give quarterly guidance. 

On Wednesday, Domino's board of directors declared a quarterly divided of $0.65 a share, up 18% from the previous quarter. 

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NOW WATCH: Roger Stone explains what Trump has in common with Richard Nixon

• The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is investing millions of dollars in new strategies to create consumable gut-microbe therapies that could change the way our stomachs process food.
• The hope is that new probiotics (which would be far more complex and microbe-rich than yogurt or fermented food) will help both undernourished and obese children live healthier lives.
• Gates has been investing in this kind of microbial bio-therapy for about 10 years, and predicts "we will get a breakthrough" in nutrition in the coming decade.

Bill Gates readily admits: he's always been "kind of a weirdo." That's what got the Microsoft co-founder into computers in the first place, he says.

But these days, Gates' odd streak is perhaps most apparent when it comes to his fascination with the human gut.

In November, Gates brought a jar of poop on stage with him at an event in Beijing, just to demonstrate that there could be trillions of virus particles, bacteria, and parasitic worm eggs inside.

Read More: Bill Gates is so obsessed with redesigning the world's toilets, he brought a jar of poop onstage in Beijing to prove it

Gates' interest in digestion goes beyond the disgusting and debilitating kinds of bacteria in our systems. The billionaire investor recently said that he believes we can re-vamp the inner workings of our guts by seeding the microbial colonies that live inside us.

"One thing that people are not expecting a breakthrough in that I'm quite optimistic we will get a breakthrough in is understanding nutrition," Gates said during a conversation last week at the 92nd Street Y in New York. He thinks hacking the microbiome is the way to do it. 

A robust, diverse microbiome sets us up for healthy development 

Good nutrition is a growing problem in countries both rich and poor.

While 22.2% of kids under 5 worldwide are stunted — meaning they aren't growing and developing in a healthy way because of poor nutrition and infections — another 38 million children under 5 around the globe (5.6% of all kids) are overweight.

Part of the reason kids are not developing as they should is that their microbiomes aren't robust. A person's microbiome is the complex mix of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live inside the gut; it's more than 2 million genes strong — more numerous than the human genome.

Starting at birth, when a baby's sterile intestine is first exposed to a mother's microbes, 300 to 500 different bacterial species begin to colonize this environment. Normally, this colonization is helped along by a mother's nutrient-rich breast milk, as well as all the other things babies happen to put in their mouths.

But if a baby's microbiome doesn't develop properly, it can have serious long-term consequences for the way they process food, leading to stunted growth on one end of the spectrum or to obesity on the other. After babies are about a year old, their microbial colonies stabilize, which means the first months of life are the essential time to develop a rich microbiome.  

Our microbiome determines how much nutrition we can get from the food we eat

Take the case of Madagascar, where stunting (low height for a kid's age) is a problem for 53% of the country's children under 5. Because kids there are not getting enough of key nutrients like iron, Vitamin A, zinc, and iodine  — which are critical to healthy development — they can't grow up to achieve their full potential.

"They don't develop physically, they don't develop mentally," Gates said.

Similarly, in Bangladesh, scientists have discovered that severely malnourished babies tend to have more "immature" microbiomes than other infants, suggesting that the first months of life are critical to how well nourished we can be throughout our lives. 

"Even if they're getting enough food, there's something about inflammation in their gut that their body isn't able to grow properly," Gates said. 

That has long-term impacts on the economy. The World Bank estimates that Madagascar misses out on $720 million in GDP every year because of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. 

On the other end of the spectrum, rich nations like Germany, Australia, and the US are missing out on billions because of poor nutrition as well. One study looked at the impacts of obesity in three US states — California, North Carolina, and Massachusetts — and estimated that those economies lose a total of $41 billion a year in indirect obesity costs like sick time, early death, and insurance payouts. 

A microbiome treatment could help guts grow up strong

Gates thinks one day, a probiotic powder, food, or other kind of microbial therapy could address these nutritional problems by introducing some missing bacteria into our guts. 

"We're actually trying to intervene with that, so that [children's] guts aren't complaining, so they're able to grow," Gates said.  

The Gates Foundation is hoping that scientists can soon come up with a cheap microbiome treatment that's far more complex than just eating a yogurt. New probiotic therapies would include “a substantially larger number of difficult-to-grow commensal strains” of bacteria, the Gates Foundation said in its latest call for gut-therapy research.

Teams that receive phase-one funding for these projects will get $100,000 from the Gates Foundation. If they're successful with that, researchers could get a second round of up to $1 million in cash to develop their new gut therapies. 

Already, the Gates Foundation has invested in a probiotic powder for babies called Evivo. Mothers mix the powder into breast milk to help babies repair and improve their gut microbiome. In theory, that could help malnourished babies boost their metabolism and develop a more robust immune system.

Trials of Evivo in severely malnourished kids under 6 months of age started in Bangladesh last year. Another Gates-funded project at the Washington University School of Medicine is feeding special "microbiota-directed foods" to undernourished kids in Bangladesh, too. 

Ideally, the Gates Foundation says, these fixes will one day be sold around the world for less than 10 cents per dose. 

That could create long-term diet solutions, both in poor places where the Gates Foundation works and in rich countries facing obesity epidemics. Gut bacteria play a role in obesity, too, since they send signals to the brain to tell us when we're full. 

"Why is it that it's not easy to have some sort of broader approach that lets us control our appetite?" Gates said. "The microbiome looks like it will give us a solution there."

Nutritionists are increasingly recognizing that there are no hard-and-fast rules that apply to everyone when it comes to diet, since each person's body (and microbiome) is different.

"We now know there is no diet or dietary intervention that is right for everyone, or even for an individual throughout their lifespan," a group of researchers wrote in a Lancet article published in January.

But Gates is convinced that if we can keep the microbes in our guts humming along happily, that'll be a good start. 

"Nutrition has always been a great mystery," Gates said. "A lot of myths — 'try this, try that.' But in this decade, I think that we can solve that."

SEE ALSO: Bill and Melinda Gates say the best way to put 'America first' is to invest in foreign aid — a not-so-subtle nudge at Trump

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NOW WATCH: Bill Gates has a net worth of over $96 billion — here's how he makes and spends his money

• Think carefully about your job search, says Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait.
• If you want two offers to choose from, for example, how many interviews should you go through and how many applications should you submit?
• Even if you're applying to dozens of roles, you should still make an effort to distinguish each application.

Daniel Chait recently chatted with a friend who was in the throes of job hunting. This person had applied to two companies: Netflix and Facebook.

"They're two of the most sought-after employers in the whole country," Chait remembers telling his friend. "What do you think the chances are that you're going to get a job offer from both of those companies? Do you think this is setting you up for success? Let's do the math."

Chait is the CEO of Greenhouse, a recruiting-software company whose clients include Slack, Airbnb, Venmo, Pinterest, and HubSpot. He said that, when one of these companies posts a job opening, they're typically flooded with hundreds or even thousands of applications.

Read more: The CEO of a recruiting-software company that works with Slack, Airbnb, and Venmo says there's a simple way to stand out among a sea of talented applicants

Chait's advice to job-seekers isn't not to apply to these selective employers, but to be more thoughtful about their search. If you know you want to land two job offers, the next step is to work backward and figure out how many interviews you'll have to go through and how many applications you'll realistically have to submit.

In the case of Chait's friend, he realized that instead of applying to two roles, he'd need to apply to 50.

Make an effort to distinguish each application you submit

To be sure, every job candidate's circumstance is different.

But on the blog Ask a Manager, Alison Green writes that a 10% interview rate is standard for a recent graduate: "If you're getting fewer than one interview request (including phone interviews) per 10 applications, it's time to take a look at your résumé and cover letter, as well as at how strongly qualified you really are for the jobs you're applying for," she writes. And the National Association of Colleges and Employers' website indicates that 46% of college graduates who interviewed for a job in 2017 received an offer.

Taken together, those statistics suggest that if you apply to 50 jobs, you'll presumably end up with two offers.

Read More:A former Google exec who asks job candidates about the chapters of their life story is listening closely for a common red flag

Yes, 50 applications is a lot, and it can be tempting to approach some of them carelessly. But Chait was careful to note that the "spray-and-pray" strategy — sending the exact same application to dozens of employers — typically doesn't work either. You'll be more successful if you specialize your search, Chait said.

For example, if you're applying to a creative role and a project-manager role, you may submit two different versions of your résumé.

Other experts recommend going even further to distinguish your application at the companies you really want to work for.

Personal-finance expert Ramit Sethi previously shared a tip he learned from BJ Fogg, a psychologist and the director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford: "Find the one person who does what you want to do there. Every week send them some kind of report or analysis and just say, 'Look, I thought you might find this interesting. I'll write you back next Wednesday with the next analysis.'" Sethi remembered Fogg saying, "How long can they ignore you?"

As for that friend who initially planned to apply to just Netflix and Facebook, "he's a smart guy," Chait said. "But he hadn't thought about the funnel."

SEE ALSO: Think carefully about your job search, says Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait. If you want two offers in the end, how many applications should you submit?

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Brushing your teeth is as much about dental health as it is about keeping your mouth clean. We've all heard the urban myth that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's, and most of us like to feel a measure of control over something as unappetizing as that. 

But more than a few of us have probably noticed the little flaw in logic to brushing our teeth with a brush, only to put it back in our cupboard until the next time we need it to clean our teeth. We wash our towels when they're dirty, but we keep putting the same thing into our mouths to clean it, and then put that and whatever is on it back into the cupboard? Something isn't quite right there.

In search of a more sanitary approach to dental hygiene, I came across Boie USA.

They started out on Kickstarter and have graduated to a full-fledged e-commerce marketplace. They make toothbrushes out of a rubber-like material that's less abrasive on your enamel and gums, is BPA and Phthalate-free, and best of all, has silver embedded into the bristles and toothbrush head so it will kill bacteria on contact and keep it out of your mouth.

Not surprisingly, the most sanitary approach to oral care isn't having a toothbrush where bacteria have been able to breed for months. For $10, Boie's brush is a no-brainer.

Depending on how you brush, the toothbrush you own right now probably won't (and shouldn't) last more than a few months. Every time you replace it, you add to the 50 million pounds of plastic that discarded brushes add to landfills each year. Instead of contributing however-many-more millions of pounds, Boie has designed their toothbrushes to have detachable heads, so instead of throwing the whole thing out, you can just replace the toothbrush head.

This means lower costs to replace and less waste on earth. And because the heads are made out of a rubber-like material, they won't break down and need to be replaced as often, so you'll save money there, too. As a part of their community-central business model, all of their materials and manufacturing happen within the US, too.

Since first reading about them, I tried one out and subsequently gave one to a friend as well.

The brush heads may look like they'll be too harsh against your gums and teeth, but somehow it's the best and gentlest cleaning I've had.

My electric toothbrush can be a hassle I forget to charge or too harsh on my teeth and my traditional drugstore toothbrush doesn't do as good of a job. The Boie toothbrush has pretty much replaced both for me.

My gums have never bled while using it, despite the thicker, firmer bristles, and my teeth feel cleaner after using it. I'll keep my electric toothbrush around (those things are expensive), and I haven't gotten to try newer variations of that myself, admittedly, but I'm more than happy with my $10 fix. Plus, it's much nicer to know that when I want to brush my teeth, I won't be putting anything back in my mouth that I want to keep out.

Buy the Boie USA Antimicrobial Toothbrush for $10

This article was originally published on 5/31/2017.

SEE ALSO: I tried the best-selling teeth whitener on Amazon, and it really worked

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• Goldman Sachs is reportedly partnering with Apple to launch a new credit card paired with fresh iPhone features, according to a story from the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
• It will be the first consumer credit card launched by Goldman Sachs, which has only been active in the retail-banking space for around two years.
• The card will reportedly give customers additional features in Apple's pre-existing wallet app, and allow them to "set spending goals, track their rewards and manage their balances."
• The move comes as both business giants look to diversify their revenue streams amid challenges for their core businesses.

Goldman Sachs is reportedly partnering with Apple to launch a new credit card paired with fresh iPhone features, according to a story from the Wall Street Journal Thursday.

The Journal says the card, which was first reported to be in the works in May last year, will launch to employees in the coming weeks, before a wider rollout later this year.

The card will reportedly give customers additional features in Apple's pre-existing wallet app, which allows iPhone users to link bank cards to their phone and use Apple Pay to pay for goods and services.

Those features will allow customers to "set spending goals, track their rewards and manage their balances," the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

It will be the first consumer credit card launched by Goldman Sachs, which has only been active in the retail banking space for around two years.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: Goldman Sachs is trying to build the ultimate financial destination for the masses

Goldman's pairing with Apple comes just over two years after it launched its first consumer-facing product, Marcus. Marcus offers savings accounts and loans to regular consumers, moving away from the bank's traditional client base of the ultra-rich and major corporations.

Marcus has been an unqualified success, taking over $35 billion of deposits since launching in 2016, and expanding into the UK in 2018. The bank signed up 50,000 UK customers in the two weeks after its launch last October.

The bank is also reportedly working on a robo-advisor service — another product geared toward the general public — and is rumored to be tying up with Apple to provide financing for the iPhone.

Goldman's diversification towards the general consumer comes at a time when the bank is scrambling to increase revenues after years of lackluster performance in traditional areas of its business.

Similarly, Apple faces challenges to its key iPhone business, with the company seeing disappointing sales in the fourth quarter last year and blaming depressed demand in China for the results.

You can read the Wall Street Journal's full story here.

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• Johnson & Johnson was subpoenaed by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission to produce documents relating to the safety of the company's baby powder and other products containing talc.
• The inquiries were disclosed in a filing with the SEC on Wednesday.
• Johnson & Johnson was cooperating with the inquiries and would produce documents in response, the filing said.
• The inquiries were related to December press reports about product-liability lawsuits against the company, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal, which also reported the company would "continue to defend itself in the product-liability litigation."
• Johnson & Johnson shares were down 2.1% early Thursday.  
• Watch Johnson & Johnson trade live.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell 2.1% early Thursday after the company disclosed it had received preliminary inquiries and subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice to produce documents relating to the safety of the company's baby powder and other talc-containing products.

The pharmaceutical company disclosed the inquiries in a filing with the SEC on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson was cooperating with these inquiries and would produce documents in response, the filing said. 

The inquiries were related to December press reports about product-liability lawsuits against the company, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal, which also reported the company would "continue to defend itself in the product-liability litigation."

Shares plunged in mid-December after Reuters reported the company knew for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos.

Read more: Johnson & Johnson tumbles after report says it knew for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos

At the time, Reuters said it had reviewed documents, deposition, and trial testimony from at least 1971 to the early 2000s that showed powders and raw talc sometimes tested positive for small traces of asbestos.

Wall Street analysts covering the stock had largely viewed the its dramatic decline as an overreaction, but acknowledged the company could face headwinds from investors' concerns over the products.

Johnson & Johnson shares gained 7% this year through Wednesday.

Now read:

• Trendy startup Hims wants to shake up men's health by prescribing generic Viagra online and is nearing a $1 billion valuation. But a move to relax guidelines has raised concerns among some of its doctor partners.
• Healthcare is now commanding an even a bigger chunk of the market, and history suggests it means stocks are bottoming

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• Wireless charging sounds convenient in theory, but in practicality, it hasn't taken off for most phone users. 
• One research report showed that only 29% of people use wireless chargers.
• Phones that support Qi are mainly newer phones from Apple, Samsung, Google, and LG.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Wireless charging sounds great, right? Just plop your phone on a stand, a pad, or even furniture with built-in wireless charging, and voila, it starts charging. No cables, no fuss.

Even though most newer phones have wireless charging, one research report showed that only 29% of people use it. Why hasn't it taken off?

Well, first of all, you need a phone or a phone case that's capable of wireless charging, and not everyone has one. Qi is the standard for almost all wireless chargers. Phones that support Qi are mainly newer phones from Apple, Samsung, Google, and LG.

Secondly, wireless chargers are slower than wired chargers. The thing about wireless charging is it uses something called electromagnetic induction, basically transferring energy from one place, like your charging mat, for example, to another, your phone.

Wireless charging uses two physical coils. The induction coil in the charger and the receiver coil in the phone. If you don't align the two coils on top of each other, your device won't charge correctly. This method of charging is slower than plugging your phone straight into an outlet, which lets the power flow from the outlet through the wired charger to your phone.

Most wired chargers have a rating of at least 12 watts, while most wireless chargers only reach about 7.5 or 10 watts. Basically, the smaller the number, the longer it'll take to charge your phone. And if you have a case for your phone, it'll charge even slower, or might not even work at all.

Some wireless chargers do have a fast-charge mode, but it'll only work with phones from the same manufacturer. So a Google Qi charger might fast-charge a Pixel but not a Galaxy. Yes, if you're not looking for a fast charger, or if you're only charging your phone at night while you sleep, then a wireless charger could work for you.

But for the most part, you can't use your phone while it charges wirelessly. If you take your phone off the wireless charger to do anything, it'll stop charging. You can't text comfortably without lifting your phone off the charger, you can't sit on the couch and scroll through Instagram, and you can't even take a phone call properly. But with a cord, you can do all those tasks while staying plugged in.

Also, these wireless chargers are technically not wireless. They still have to be plugged into an outlet. The only wireless part about it is eliminating the wire between your phone and the charger.

The price of these chargers is another issue. The more affordable chargers range from $15 to $30, while the fancier ones cost anywhere from $60 to $100. But it doesn't look like wireless charging is disappearing anytime soon. One report is expecting that by 2023, there will be a cumulative shipment of 2.7 billion wireless chargers and 6 billion devices with wireless charging capabilities.

But for wireless charging to become the norm, companies will need to figure out ways to make it more practical and frictionless. Companies like Pi, Energous, and Ossia are getting there with their truly wireless charging products. They claim that their products can charge multiple devices wirelessly when you bring them within a short range, kind of like how WiFi works.

Basically, if you hold or place your wireless charging phone, tablet, and headphones around the wireless charger, it'll begin to charge your devices, which sounds pretty cool and is a great step forward. But the thing is, none of these companies have released their product yet. It's just all talk. Just like Apple with their AirPower. So, I'll believe it when I'm scrolling through Instagram on my couch while truly charging my phone wirelessly.

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Generation Z, also known as iGen or Centennials, is arguably the most pivotal generation to the future of retail. By 2026, the majority of Gen Zers will reach adulthood, and their spending power will reach new heights. Retailers and brands need to start establishing relationships with Gen Zers now to ensure success in the years to come. 

But Gen Zers, who we define as those born between 1996 and 2010, are different from older generations, and understanding their characteristics and preferences is essential to capturing their attention — and their dollars. Though members of older generations have grown accustomed to using the internet, Gen Zers are the first consumers to have grown up wholly in the digital era. They're tech-savvy, heavy internet users, and mobile-first — and, most importantly, they have high standards for how they spend their time online. Retailers and brands — which have spent more than a decade trying to catch up to millennials' interests and habits after ignoring them and the digital revolution for too long — must leverage Gen Z's tendency to be online at all times, and make sure to meet the generation's heightened digital expectations.

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence explores Gen Z's current shopping habits — both online and in-store — and how those habits might evolve over time. It looks at their spending power, both now and in the years to come, and the drivers that lead them to complete a purchase. It also assesses Gen Zers' unique traits, and the ways that retailers and brands can leverage those characteristics to make them loyal customers.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Gen Zers are young and only beginning to flex their muscles as consumers, but they're already an extremely valuable generation to retailers and brands. They hold billions in spending power right now, which will skyrocket as they get older.
• Gen Z currently likes shopping at physical stores, but retailers will need to capitalize on Gen Zers’ interests in retail innovations and their digital expertise to keep them coming back through adulthood.
• These young consumers have higher expectations for their online shopping experiences than any generation before them. Most won’t use slow-loading websites and apps, or hard-to-navigate ones.
• Quality is more likely to be a driver of loyalty for Gen Z, and it also provides motivation to complete a purchase. A retailer or brand trying to connect with Gen Z should look to curate an image of quality in a way that resonates with the young generation.

In full, the report:

• Explores the current and future spending power of Gen Z. 
• Examines Gen Zers' interest in brick-and-mortar shopping, and identifies how retailers and brands can capitalize on it.
• Provides insight into the generation's digital expectations, and analyzes what they mean for selling to Gen Zers online.
• Discusses the influence of quality and social media on Gen Z's purchase behavior, and considers potential courses of action for retailers and brands.

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Robotics could become cheaper and easier in the near future: A new object tracking system for robots from researchers at MIT enables these units to employ radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to orient themselves, according to Engadget.

Using this technique, companies could create robots that are better able to find and grasp objects near them, which can have major cost savings and create more efficient operations in manufacturing as well as logistics and warehouse management.

The new, RFID-based technique could provide a cheap and effective alternative to the computer vision model currently in use. Most existing robotic systems use computer vision to track where moving objects are located at any given point. 

This requires them to use capable — and thus expensive — cameras paired with powerful computer hardware that can interpret video data in real time, allowing the robot’s AI to make decisions around the movement of its arms or graspers.

The new system does away with expensive cameras, using relatively cheap RFID tags to communicate with a sensor built into the robot, which then determines the location of the item affixed with that tag. In addition to being inexpensive, the system is also accurate and quick: According to the researchers, it has an error range of about one centimeter and can locate an object in 7.5 milliseconds.

Using RFID rather than computer vision is a novel approach that takes advantage of a technology that is already used for a number of enterprise applications. RFID is commonly used throughout the supply chain; it's how a company such as Citizens Reserveis implementing its blockchain-based logistics tracking solution, for instance.

That would make it relatively easy for a company that’s also interested in using robotics in distribution centers and warehouses, for instance, to tap into the same hardware that’s already included in goods moving through the facility in that robotic solution while also using less expensive hardware.

The downside is that most of the commonly used types of RFID tags have a very low range — around three feet — meaning that a robots’ sensor would need to be close to the object they’re working with in order to use this method. But there are sufficient use cases in fields such as manufacturing and logistics that fit the bill.

This RFID-based system, once further developed and commercialized, could help boost the number of enterprise robots in use, which Business Insider Intelligence forecasts will approach 6 million by 2023.

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• Nike is facing backlash after Zion Williamson's shoe exploded during a highly anticipated matchup between Duke and North Carolina. 
• Many people are blaming Nike for the incident, which forced Williamson to sit out the rest of the game with a knee injury. 
• Nike shares were down 1.4% in premarket trading at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Nike is facing backlash after Duke star basketball player Zion Williamson's shoe exploded in a highly anticipated matchup against rival North Carolina. 

Less than a minute into the game, Williamson's shoe completely split open as he attempted to make a cut. Williamson was out the rest of the game with a knee injury. 

Read more: Wild photos show Zion Williamson's shoe after it exploded and he injured his knee

People were quick to blame Nike for the incident on social media. 

Others imagined the panic in Nike headquarters after the incident. 

Then there were those who were more interested in how this could impact Nike's rivals, such as Adidas and Under Armour. 

Pumas tweeted, then deleted: "Wouldn't have happened in the pumas." 

Even restaurant chains had something to say to Nike. 

"We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery," Nike said in a statement. "The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue."

Nike shares were down 1.4% in premarket trading at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday.

SEE ALSO: Nike shares slide in premarket trading after Zion Williamson's sneaker malfunction

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Major UK-based bank Lloyds is partnering with Visa to pilot a program that will increase cash accessibility through cash back at registers at local retailers.

The firms will pay retailers a fee to support cash back to incentivize participation, which can increase the number of locations where customers can access cash and promote shopping locally. For context, prior to this program, retailers wouldn’t normally collect a fee for offering cash back. 

This pilot comes as rapid ATM and bank branch closures in the UK are causing outcry from authorities and consumer advocacy groups.  

Cash accessibility in the UK has been shrinking as more banks tighten their physical networks. Lloyds highlighted that this pilot is not meant to act as a substitute for ATMs or branches, but rather is intended to create more cash availability in areas where it hasn't been as accessible.

However, the service is being introduced at a time when cash access is lowering throughout the UK, so it's likely that Lloyds could be using this pilot as a way to compensate for its own ATM and branch closures — it's shuttered more than 400 branches since 2014 — in a way that's more cost-effective than operating its own ATMs.

Beyond Lloyds, the UK’s ATM network shrunk 5% in the last six months of 2018, with 488 ATMs closing monthly, including more than 250 fee-free ATMs, in addition to 3,300 bank branches closing since the beginning of 2015. 

But ensuring cash accessibility is still necessary — and this service can be an effective strategy in doing so. Several factors like a lower reliance on cash among many consumers — cash makes up only 3 in 10 transactions in the UK and is expected to account for just 1 in 10 transactions by 2026 — and a higher uptake in digital banking were influential in banks' decisions to shutter many of their ATMs and branches.

And UK consumers have been abandoning cash in favor of other payment methods — primarily contactless cards, which made up 51% of transactions in June 2018 to become the most popular payment method. But rapid ATM and branch closures have sparked both regulatory and consumer intervention: This month alone, members of UK parliament and consumer lobbyist group Which have addressed the alarming rates at which access to cash is lowering, as cash is still a necessity for 25 million people in the UK — 17% of whom said it would be impossible to live without access to cash — including the unbanked, the elderly, or disabled people, among others.

This service can ultimately allow Lloyds to continue serving customers who are reliant on cash in a cost-effective way.

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• Samsung showed off its folding smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, onstage at its Unpacked event on Wednesday.
• The Fold will cost almost $2,000 and arrives in the US in April and in Europe in May.
• Despite the launch being just two months away, Samsung hasn't allowed the press or analysts to see the Galaxy Fold up close.
• That suggests ongoing tweaks to the design and, maybe, a conviction that almost no one will buy it.

Samsung's annual "Unpacked" events for its flagship phones are always a hoop-la, but the pinnacle this year had to be its unveiling of the Galaxy Fold folding smartphone.

Intended to be a major iteration on a form factor that hasn't changed in years, the Galaxy Fold is a 4.6-inch phone that opens up to become a 7.3-inch tablet, and which can run multiple apps simultaneously.

In keeping with its purported status as the next major innovation in smartphones, the Fold comes with a whopping price tag: $1,980 in the US, or an even chunkier €2,000 ($2,267) in Europe. It will arrive in the US on April 26, and on May 3 in Europe.

The Fold launches at a time when it's difficult to get excited about smartphones. Much of the current interesting innovation lies in the camera, with triple and quad cameras now the norm on phones. But the overall form factor of the smartphone hasn't changed in years, with most high-end devices looking like sleek, tall rectangles.

With all of this in mind, it is extremely strange that the Fold, billed as a major design innovation, was not available for public viewing or handling at Samsung's Unpacked event on Wednesday.

Journalist and analysts attending Unpacked in London and the US saw onstage demos of the Fold but, during the usual hands-on time with new Samsung devices after the event, the folding phone was nowhere to be seen. All the media saw was Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S10, the S10E, and S10+, all of which launch in Europe in March.

A Samsung rep told Business Insider that this is because the Galaxy Fold was "coming a little bit later." And that's all the explanation that was given. We've asked Samsung for additional comment.

It isn't a great sign that Samsung is unwilling to let analysts, press, and bloggers poke and prod the Fold only two months before its launch date, given its price tag. It wasn't so long ago that consumers and journalists were horrified by Apple charging $1,000 for the iPhone X, heralding a new wave of ultra-expensive phones.

Gizmodo speculates that Samsung isn't convinced the public will like the folding phone design, noting that whatever the Fold ends up looking like, it'll be much chunkier than most phones people are used to. Consider how thick two iPhones, or two Galaxy devices, are when stacked on top of each other. Gizmodo noted that Samsung isn't answering questions about how thick the device is. 

Another possibility is that Samsung knows that very few people will actually buy the Galaxy Fold compared to the new flagship S10 devices.

The percentage of people who are willing to buy what is effectively a $2,000 prototype is likely to be small. The Fold is a wildcard, designed to kickstart consumer excitement around smartphones again. It's more of a statement about Samsung's capabilities and vision, perhaps, than answering an urgent consumer need. For now, Samsung's hype around the Fold is outweighing the substance.

SEE ALSO: After repeatedly mocking Apple for ditching the iPhone headphone jack, Samsung is doing exactly the same thing

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NOW WATCH: Apple forever changed the biggest tech event of the year by not showing up