Jan 14, 2020Bembibre has chemically extracted the smells of old leather gloves, ancient books, and mold, among other things. She has reinterpreted the smells of a 1750 potpourri house recipe and of the old books housed in St Paul’s cathedral.
↩︎ BBC
Friday headlines: Hell caesar
The limited nature of Israel's counterattack on Iran suggests both sides want to avoid escalation. / The New York Times [+]
Most of the US military aid approved for Ukraine is being spent in the US—and specifically in these congressional districts. / The Washington Post [+]
Tracking AI-generated election content around the world. / Rest of World
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are resulting in pregnancies, leading some doctors to use the medications to treat PCOS, but without the data to back it up. / National Post
Wastewater testing has proved essential for tracking and isolating Covid outbreaks, and could expand to other health threats. / Nature
"What this means is that there may be lots more hominin bones in people's floors and showers." On discovering a human-like mandible in travertine tile. / John Hawks
For the first time, archaeologists have evidence humans lived in lava tubes; tunnels below the deserts of northern Saudi Arabia were inhabited for thousands of years. / NewScientist
"We are living through an age of unchecked Caesar-salad fraud." / MSN
See also: Why don't rich people eat anymore? / Dazed
Responding to Germany considering limiting hunting trophy imports, Botswana's president threatens to send 20,000 elephants, citing overpopulation concerns. / The Guardian
"How ethical can forced identification be?" Current-day surveillance tech has roots in a 19th-century system of measuring bodies for criminal identification. / Eurozine
The NFL is the only North American sports organization that isn't open to institutional investment, but that may change next month—and private equity is gearing up. / Financial Times [+]
See also: Backed by private equity, a group has been buying up Minor League Baseball teams, and now owns a quarter of the league. / InsideHook
Thursday headlines: Poet common denominator
The amount of homicides in major American cities is falling at its quickest rate in decades. / axios
Mass shootings in the United States are said to be down 30% from this time last year. / X
Funding for US-based "creator" startups more than doubled in the first three months of 2024. / The Information
A new spy service scrapes more than ten thousand Discord servers and sells the data for as little as $5. / 404 Media
See also: Hand-embroidered surveillance footage. / designboom
The era of big data and now artificial intelligence has led to an entrenched, maturing partnership between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley. / Forever Wars
"Delve" is overused by ChatGPT because it's popular in Nigeria—and that's where the AI was trained. / The Guardian
Meanwhile: "It takes 20 times more water to have a ChatGPT conversation than to run a Google search." / The South China Morning Post
Nearly 300 gems were stolen from the British Museum over a 25-year period. / The Art Newspaper
A study finds Arabica coffee developed more than 600,000 years ago. / Phys.org
The "Mariko Aoki phenomenon" is when you enter a cafe or bookstore and immediately want to use the toilet. / Sprudge
Actual poets weigh in on Taylor Swift's new Tortured Poets Department. "I think a part of writing poetry is observing things and being honest. Can you do that if you have billions of dollars?" / The Cut
Love, all my friends
Photographs from four days in a Ukrainian trench with soldiers from an international legion. / The New York Times [+]
"Be honest and vulnerable." Activists explain how they keep calm in a world full of crises. / Goats and Soda
Spencer Ackerman: A world with exceptions to international law is one in which the least powerful suffer the most. / The New York Times [+]
Caitlin Clark's base salary in the WNBA will be $76,535. Why the pay gap with the NBA? Partly because of a much worse bargaining agreement. / Vox, Just Women's Sports
Gen Z is richer at this stage in their lives than Millenials or Baby Boomers were at their age. / The Economist
Profiles of people who work from "secretive" ships, repairing deep-sea internet infrastructure. / The Verge
"Resurrecting" the dead is a popular use of generative AI in China. / rest of world
Meta thinks it'll be a good idea for teachers and students to wear its headsets in class. / axios
"Rewilding is a positive vision for the networks we want to live inside." A manifesto for rewilding the web? / Noema
To combat overtourism, locals in Barcelona get a favorite bus route removed from Google and Apple maps. /
See also: Some maps from the 18th century that were a "picture of time itself." / Humanities
Handsome photographs of specialized tools used by contemporary artisans. / The Rake
Young straight men who tell their guy friends "I love you" find they sometimes receive weird looks in public. / Inside Hook
Tavi Gevinson goes long and meta in a zine of sorts about Taylor Swift. / mirrorball
Tuesday headlines: Go pouch, go
In China, companies making fentanyl precursors and analogues can apply for state tax rebates. / NPR
Nearly 200 US colleges and universities hold contracts with Chinese businesses, valued at $2.32 billion. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Argentina experiences a 2,153% increase in Dengue cases. / The Guardian
From February, some good news about recent progress against dengue fever. / Science
If you're an organ donor in the United States, "there's a 25% chance your kidney ends up in the trash." / Statecraft
A researcher who studies American sexual behavior says there's been a rapid rise of "rough sex" among college students, particularly sexual strangulation. / The New York Times [+]
The amount of American adults who've had coffee in the past day has increased by 37% since 2004, a 20-year high. / Sprudge
See also: McDonald's introduces billboards that smell like French fries. / Business Insider
Why are cats getting more screen time in movies recently? Professional cat training for films "has greatly evolved in recent years." / The Hollywood Reporter
Remembering that once upon a time, schools, towns, states and even the Senate passed rules against beepers. / Pessimists Archive
Jessa Crispin: Once again, the intellectual media sends an elite writer on a cruise, only to discover the guy hates everyone. / The Culture We Deserve
Some notes on how a mechanical watch works. Also, how the Berlin Wall worked. / Bartosz Ciechanowski, Open Culture
Three men are rescued after spelling out "help" with palm leaves on a small Pacific island. / BBC News
Related: A former Special Forces soldier explains what he packs in his "go-pouch." / Why Is This Interesting
Monday headlines: Keep it like a secret
Following Israel's thwarting of Iran's aerial attack, world leaders urge Netanyahu not to retaliate, and Biden says the US won't support an Israeli counterattack. / AP, Axios
A mission to capture space junk has now rendezvoused with a second-stage rocket that's been orbiting Earth since 2009. / Gizmodo
Tinnitus sufferers are finding relief with a new FDA-approved device that electronically stimulates the tongue—it works by distracting the brain. / NPR
Researchers have identified a link between car exhaust and signs and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease. / University of Technology Sydney
Just as there are people who have an innate sense of navigation, others do not, and GPS appears to diminish people's wayfinding skills. / Ars Technica
See also: "At some point, I'm going to pick up a paper map." What it's like to switch to a circa-2011 BlackBerry in the year 2023. / Stephen's Site
In online chats, Amazon drivers often refer to a dispatcher named "Wayne," an imaginary nemesis who's apparently based on a real person. / 404 Media
"The majority of what we are and who we are is kept private inside." Twenty years of PostSecret. / Hazlitt
John Warner: There are values core to higher education that shouldn't be handed over to generative AI—but that's exactly what's happening now. / Inside Higher Ed
A look back at the rise of the photocopier and its implications for copyright. / NEWART
"It is equally unsustainable to write about music as it is to write and perform music for a living." After Pitchfork, what's next for music criticism? / Boston Review
A pair of music archivists are unearthing lost recordings from major artists, and putting them back in the right hands. / The New York Times [+]
See also: A look inside George Martin's Montserrat recording studio, which is currently crumbling into ruins. / Atlas Obscura
Saturday headlines: Don’t look in the basement
Following Israel's attack on Iran's consulate in Syria, Iranian forces have seized an "Israeli-linked" container ship near the Strait of Hormuz. / Al Jazeera
See also: "The conventional wisdom in Washington and elsewhere has often held that Iran has become contained, even isolated. But this was never true." / Foreign Affairs
Google blocks California news outlets in retaliation over proposed legislation that would force it to pay publishers in the state for content. / Gizmodo
State and city mandates for CO2 reductions are working in the Bay Area, where vehicle emission rates are falling around 2.6% annually. / Berkeley News
"I remember thinking, 'Why did it take them three years to build a three-story building?'" The town that kept its nuclear bunker a secret for three decades. / Smithsonian
OJ Simpson handed over only $133,000 of the $33.5 million he was ordered to pay in the deaths of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. / Rolling Stone
US border arrests typically surge in spring; however, for the first time since 2017, March arrests fell, month over month—due to increased immigration enforcement in Mexico. / NPR
AI summaries won't replace social media anytime soon, both because the technology isn't there yet, and because people don't want that. / Read Max
Inside a horror-themed gym in Pittsburgh. / Neatorama
After scanning more than 500 sauropod bones during Covid lockdown, an Australian paleobiologist identified 12 new dinosaurs. / ABC
"For years, I have been telling people that if they love podcasts and want to support podcast creators—especially independent ones—they shouldn't listen to podcasts on Spotify." / Defector
This is wonderful: 15 notes played at 0.2 bpm time differences. / YouTube
Spend a minute at a park. / One Minute Park
Friday headlines: What’s new is old again
Bird flu outbreaks typically go away after culling poultry, but over the past three years the virus hasn't died down, and in fact is increasing. / WIRED
Moira Donegan: How society's failure to help an obvious victim of domestic violence led to Nicole Brown's death. / The Guardian
Traffic data on the day of eclipse shows how people flocked to the path of totality. / The New York Times [+]
An advocacy group in Mexico is using deepfakes of missing people in efforts to coerce the government to help locate the individuals. / The Daily Beast
This week, Apple notified iPhone users in 92 countries that they were "being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack," at first calling the attack "state-sponsored." / TechCrunch
The only thing Humane's AI Pin does reliably is tell the time; two years later, the crank-based Playdate gaming console has only grown in relevance. / The Verge, Engadget
A new excavation at Pompeii has unearthed stunning frescos as well as a mosaic floor with more than a million white tiles. / BBC
Jessa Crispin: "You are having a midlife crisis. It's fine." / The Culture We Deserve
Setting the retirement age at 65 was politically motivated—it was a way to get Social Security legislation passed when life expectancy was far lower. / Money
"In an attempt to banish Western cultural influences, authorities in the Republic of Chechnya are banning music they deem too fast or too slow." / Hyperallergic
How attitudes toward "selling out" have changed among musicians over the past two decades—as to why, the answer has a lot to do with Napster. / Can't Get Much Higher
"Pelicans will eat anything they can fit into their mouths." / Boing Boing
Thursday headlines: Expungables
The February heatwave in West Africa was made 10 times more likely by climate change. / CarbonBrief
British farmers say this year's record rainfall suggests an ongoing emergency. / The Guardian
A round-up of superlatives, senior yearbook style, for "the most surprising, actionable, and fun solutions" to the climate crisis. / Grist
Lionel Barber: We already live in a "Trump 1.5" world, but Japan is more worried than most about Trump 2.0. / Politico Magazine
See also: Fake pictures of Donald Trump with historical figures. / X
Despite a decade of federal oversight, Albuquerque cops kill people at a higher rate than any other police force in the United States. / Searchlight New Mexico
Can America's abandoned malls be turned into housing? Zoning rules say probably not. / Vox
Consumer Reports asks the USDA to take Lunchables off school lunch menus due to high amounts of sodium and heavy metals. / NPR
A French court says veggie burgers can be called "steaks." / Le Monde
Indie food brands cry foul over Trader Joe's executives' "blatant and aggressive" copycat tactics. / Taste
Biohackers go all in on so-called cellular-health treatments, despite science not exactly supporting them. / GQ
"'The most basic questions about sleep still lack definite answers." Increasing evidence finds sleep disorders to have a genetic component. / The London Review of Books
Wednesday headlines: Greeks’ herring gifts
Ed Conway: Elon Musk isn't going to be the Henry Ford of the electric car—China is. / Material World
Jon Lee Anderson embeds with a Brazilian special-forces unit that fights illegal miners in the Amazon. / The New Yorker
Researchers estimate that the best land for growing coffee will shrink by more than half by 2050. / Grist
Swapping red meat for forage fish—e.g., herring and sardines—could prevent 750,000 deaths a year. / The Guardian
In Michigan, two parents are convicted over the deaths caused by their child in a mass shooting. / The New York Times [+]
Abortions will soon be outlawed in Arizona except in cases where a pregnant person's life is at risk. / NPR
Eclipse travelers spent an estimated $1.6 billion on lodging, activities, food, and gas. / Business Insider
For $20 million, you can buy Kelly Slater's Hawaiian compound. / Uncrate
"Mark Twain should not erase Stendhal." Europe fears artificial intelligence will erase its languages. / Politico EU
The physics community mourns Peter Higgs, who proposed the Higgs boson. / Metafilter
Mattel debuts a less competitive version of Scrabble for Gen Z, or anybody who finds word games intimidating. / BBC News
See also: Tracking several hundred teenagers over 24 years. / The Pudding
A social history of New York City told through its restaurants. "At midnight, Taylor emerged." / Grub Street
Tuesday headlines: Candle me this
From February: Gaza and the dilemmas of genocide scholars. / Al Jazeera
The Moscow terror attack causes a backlash against labor migrants in Russia. / Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
See also: Republican lawmakers warn that their colleagues are repeating Moscow's propaganda "on the House floor." / Semafor
Veterinarians warn that private equity's entry into their industry may increase prices and slash services. / Iowa Capital Dispatch
A study finds about half of cancer drugs that win accelerated approvals don't improve patient survival or quality of life. / STAT
One in five new colorectal cancer patients in the United States is under 55, nearly twice the rate in 1995. / Vox
Why are new shows often deliberately blurry? Welcome to streaming's "era of the anamorphic lens." / The Ringer
Related: "Critics can't decide if Andrew Scott's Ripley is mesmerizing or charmless." / The Conversation
Pencils are the new status symbol in elementary schools. Also, examples from a year of making one unique "woven drawing" each day. / The Wall Street Journal [+], Jessie Mordine Young
Virginia Woolf describes a solar eclipse in 1927: "There was no colour. The earth was dead." / The Rest Is Noise
Unrelated: How a 19th-century poet linked a row of candles together so he could write all night long. / Futility Closet
Monday headlines: Real friends, fake likes
Pankaj Mishra: The more remote the Shoah has grown, the more fiercely its memory has been possessed by Jewish Americans. / The London Review of Books
Who is Portugal for? Possibly "your retired, your landlords, your slouching techies yearning to feel free." / Palladium Magazine
Martin Gurri: The mafia in Cuba is indistinguishable from the regime itself. / Discourse
During today's solar eclipse, the Purkinje effect explains why colors may look different. (Here are some vintage eclipse glasses.) / CNN, Kottke
In women's basketball, South Carolina defeats Iowa to cap its perfect season. / ESPN
Mac Crane on what it's like to play basketball with men. "It's the queerness of yearning, of loving a sport that doesn't always love me back." / The Sun
"It was a romanticized journey of self-destruction." What it's like to operate a bookstore in Kuwait. / Lithub
See also: What it's like to fail on a climbing expedition in Greeland. / The Clean Line
Giving up on something can be thought of as a gift—"to wonder exactly what has been given up, to whom, and for what." / The Baffler
An AI-enabled compass of sorts will guide you on walks without your phone. / dezeen
A new social media app will generate fake likes from your real friends. / Engadget
Friday headlines: Nobel rejections
With the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich now detained in Russia for a year, other journalists explain how they survived imprisonment. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
A Kremlin spokesman says talks for a deal to release Gershkovich "must be carried out in absolute silence." / Reuters
Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud. / The Verge
A Michigan nuclear power station will be the first in the United States to reopen after being fully closed. / Semafor
"Wi-Fi" turns out not to be an abbreviated version of wireless fidelity—it's a name invented by the same marketing company that came up with "Prozac." / Gizmodo
Why do identical businesses open side by side in African cities? Because it generates an informal welfare system. / The Conversation
A quarter of Paris residents live in government housing—an aggressive effort "to keep middle- and lower-income residents and small-business owners in the heart of the city." / The New York Times [+]
Hotels are shifting away from providing room service to providing easier ways to receive takeout. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
"Higher thread counts mean higher tensile strength." One reason to buy expensive sheets? In case you need to escape. / The Art of Manliness
A round-up of contemporary painters reviving Impressionism. / artsy
A review of rejection letters written by Toni Morrison when she was a book editor. "It simply wasn't interesting enough." / The Los Angeles Review of Books
See also: Publishers put fake Van Goghs on their book covers. The Donald Judd Foundation sues Kim Kardashian for "false endorsement." / The Art Newspaper, dezeen
Today's the championship match in the Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes—find out who took home the Rooster! / Field Notes, The ToB
Thursday headlines: Pachabel’s salmon
Right-wing Israelis question whether the country relies too much on the United States. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Dominic Tierney: Israelis are likely to look back on the war as a costly campaign and a missed opportunity—and perhaps as a major defeat. / Foreign Affairs
China donates 1,500 tons of drinking water from Tibetan glaciers to help the Maldives with a water crisis. / The Economic Times
Pictures of signs in Hong Kong warning people about falling fruit. / CCA
A woman names herself after a London train station after falling in love with it. / Metro
Homeowners in California can hire a "squatter hunter" to move in and make life unbearable for people on their property. / CBS News
The Arabic word "shaheed," which translates roughly to "martyr," is responsible for more content removals than any other single word on Facebook. / rest of world
It may seem like people aren't swearing more than they used to, but they're probably not. Instead, "they are swearing differently than they used to." / Vox
Richard Serra, known for his large-scale steel artworks, dies from pneumonia at 85. / artsy
From February, instructions on how to send fan mail—on paper—to "the Mona Lisa." / Bohemizm
Anna Kornbluh: We have lost the future and instead of playing with the past, our dominant aesthetic style magnifies the present. / Jacobin
Joanna Kavenna: I've always loved salmon because salmon jump and no one knows why. / The Paris Review
Wednesday headlines: StairDisaster
The ship that hit the Baltimore Key Bridge yesterday was also involved in a collision while leaving Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016. / The Guardian
See also: "The Baltimore bridge collapse is only the latest—and least—of global shipping's problems." / Vox
Switzerland becomes a model for "a highly effective, evidence-based policy response to a drug epidemic" by making methadone easy to obtain. / STAT
Donald Trump begins selling "God Bless the USA Bibles" as he faces four criminal indictments plus a series of civil charges. / The Associated Press
Unrelated: North Korea censors a BBC gardening presenter's trousers. / BBC News
A deep dive into the contradictions between the public and private lives of Andrew Huberman, "the world's biggest pop neuroscientist." / New York Magazine
Why does the New York Times "Connections" game make people angry? Because its editor's job "is to trick you." / Vox
Social media challenges inspire thousands of teenagers to "take over" California malls. / Patch
See also: Sharon Olds's poem "My Son the Man." / Poetry Magazine
Your Wednesday long read is about how the threat of divine punishment shaped human civilization. / The Garden of Forking Paths
Watch: Person after person tries to fly over a set of 25 stairs in France. / YouTube
"Bach decides to win every which way." Some praise for Bach's cello suites with examples of what makes them great. / A Year of Bach
Tuesday headlines; Tame, very tame
The rate at which Gaza has reached its depth of food insecurity is "practically unheard of" in the 21st century. / Vox
Despite some 667,000 people experiencing "catastrophic" levels of hunger in Gaza, officials explain why it's not yet a "famine." / NPR
Donald Trump's first criminal trial is now set for tax day, April 15. / Politico
Fareed Zakaria: Biden's policies have disproportionately helped people in rural areas without college degrees—likely Trump voters, in other words. / CNN
Vaughan Gething, the first minister of Wales, becomes the first Black person to lead a national government in Europe. / The New York Times [+]
Jasmin Paris becomes the first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee; only 20 people have finished since 1989. / BBC News
In Denver, e-bike vouchers are helping to eliminate 170,000 vehicle miles traveled per week. / Grist
Rural homelessness is rising six times faster than homelessness overall. / High Country News
Dutch farms use only a half-gallon of water to grow a pound of tomatoes, while the global average is more than 28 gallons. / The Washington Post [+]
What it's like to experience the "very tame dread" of riding in a "paternoster," aka, a cyclic elevator. / Why is this interesting
Scenes from daily life in Tokyo in 1968. / Japanese Nostalgic
See also: Rain Szeto's densely detailed ink and watercolor illustrations. / Colossal
Monday headlines: Plantlife
Vladimir Putin is said to have brushed off American warnings about the attack as "blackmail." / The Economist
Images of Emmanuel Macron punching a boxing bag are linked to France's increasingly tougher stance against Russia. / CNN
Some of the children recently taken in Nigeria's mass abductioms have been freed. / BBC News
Women who cut sugar cane in India are getting unnecessary hysterectomies, often as a way to keep working. / The Fuller Project, The New York Times [+]
Unrelated/related: "I am the New York Times' paywall, and if I let any non-subscribers in, they'll kill my family." / McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Benjamin Schneider: More than any other American city, Los Angeles is trying to address its problems by transforming its built environment. / The Urban Condition
Designers in Dallas propose public infrastructure to address loneliness. / Bloomberg City Lab
Your weekly white paper: Investigating touchscreen ergonomics to improve tablet-based enrichment for parrots. / Northeastern University
Most Gen Alphas have yet to graduate elementary school, "yet they are widely being called 'feral,' 'illiterate' and 'doomed' on YouTube and TikTok." / The Los Angeles Times
"You are more like a plant than you realize." A thirty-something woman gives 101 pieces of advice to her twenty-something self. / Approach with Alacrity
Interview with a professional dating-app user (on other people's behalf). / CBS News
Some brief reflections on stillness and therapy. "I've never felt so tapped-in and alive." / Meditations in an Emergency
Saturday headlines: Carbon coffee
The United States warned Russia weeks ago of an impending attack. / The New York Times [+]
Negotiators at the UN are working to recognize and add "gender apartheid" as a crime against humanity. / Interruptrr
See also: If "female" is a reproductive category in biological animals, and robots and AIs are machines, "what exactly makes one of them 'female?'" / My Apophenic Haze
A study of 34 years in internet speech finds consistent patterns "irrespective of the platform, topic, or time." / Nature
How to tell if Chat GPT has been used to author a scientific paper? Look for the phrase "as of my last knowledge update." / 404 Media
An archivist worries about the emergence of AI-generated "vintage" photos. / The Colour of Time with Marina Amaral
Related: Robot baristas are asking for tips and "we aren't exactly sure how to feel about it." / Sprudge
A list of things believed to "work"—e.g., multivitamins—that may not work. / Dynomight
A "down jacket" that contains no feathers converts infrared light to heat. / dezeen
New research explains why fluffy clouds dissipate during a solar eclipse. / Atlas Obscura
Confessions of a former architectural illustrator. "This drawing is bad. I can say that, becasue I did it." / KIOSK
Friday headlines: The Juggernaut, I was
China and Russia veto the measure, partly due to the US linking the ceasefire to a condemnation of Hamas. / axios
See also: A round-up of things to know about ongoing efforts to feed people in Gaza. / NPR
China is said to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027. / Semafor
China and the US are using security relationships—internal and external, respectively—to compete for influence. / Foreign Affairs
Five takeaways from the big antitrust lawsuit against Apple. / The Verge
Five themes to understand trends in the new Whitney Biennial. / The Art Newspaper
First there were "status blow dryers" and "status toilets," now there are "status showerheads." / The Wall Street Journal [+]
An article from 1897 suggests "tens of thousands of men" were tattooed at that time in London. / Public Domain Review
A study finds instability to be a determinant of rock bands' success. / Journal of Cultural Economics
"This synergy can blur the line between life and art." In praise of taking a long time to write a book. / The Millions
Unrelated: An oral history of mid-2000s internet favorite "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch!" / The Ringer
Thursday headlines: Give it away, give it away now
A list of the organizations that received grants. / Yield Giving
Meanwhile, a study finds only a small fraction of Amazon's plastic packaging ever makes it to a material recovery facility. / Grist
Toyota is working on building "a utopian sustainable city" at the foot of an active Japanese volcano. / Metro
"Climate cafes" are popping up across the United States, where people can discuss their emotions related to the crisis. / The New York Times [+]
See also: "My computer is a home that my friends can visit." / makeyour.computer
Photographers choose pictures from their archives for scenes that capture happiness and well-being. / NPR
The United States is no longer among the 20 happiest countries in the world, according to new data from Gallup. / CBS News
Niger ends an agreement allowing American troops to operate in the country, following a regional trend of aligning with Russia. / Semafor
See also: How to run a CIA base in Afghanistan. / Statecraft
Accounting for why a seven-day weather forecast in a rich country can be more accurate than a one-day forecast in a low-income one. / Our World in Data
Accounting for why 7-11s are so much better outside the US. / The Los Angeles Times
Photographer Irina Werner celebrates the long hair of women and girls in Latin America. "Your hair is important; that's your connection to the land." / Colossal, Vogue
Children across Europe, encouraged by TikTok, are turning to anti-ageing products in pursuit of more "youthful" skin. / The Guardian
Wednesday headlines: Joy riders
All but one of the 100 cities with the world's worst air pollution last year were in Asia; 83 were in India. / CNN
Photographs of gig workers in São Paulo, Lagos, Dhaka, and Jakarta while they take a break between orders. / rest of world
Russia's backdoor methods of accessing the global banking system are closing. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
Israeli air strikes are said to target aid distribution workers in Gaza City, killing at least 23 people. / Al Jazeera
Alon Pinkas: Israel's "lingering, aimless war" Is a one-way ticket to international isolation. / Haaretz
Meanwhile: Jared Kushner praises the "very valuable" potential of Gaza's "waterfront property." / The Guardian
"Sexy water" refers to young people mixing water with "fun and functional" ingredients like electrolyte powders. / Women's Wear Daily
Thinking about grocery stores' in-house products: "Brands are everything precisely when they are nothing." / Internal exile
Teenagers share videos of themselves attempting to hijack and drive out-of-service subway trains. / Curbed
Spam-and-scam campaigns like "Shrimp Jesus" are yet another reason to avoid Facebook. / 404 Media
An oral history of Pitchfork. "I'm in a laundry room, man." / Slate