How the Virus Won
A stunning and sobering data visualisation, charting the spread of coronavirus in the United States.
30 Years Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact
A powerful account of children abandoned in Romanian institutions in indescribably grim conditions and utterly ignored, and the life that one amongst them has gone on to lead.
The Curse of Black Gold – Vast Oil Find Puts Guyana on the Verge of Riches – or Failure
A story looking at enormous reserves of oil in Guyana that could transform the country for better, or as some fear, for worse. The story is built around two brothers and their response to the find, one of whom is embracing the commercial opportunity, one of whom is warning of the risks it brings.
Boss of the Beach
A story of power and patronage in a perhaps unexpected place, the New York beach lifeguarding fiefdom of Peter Stein, who presided over a network of lifeguards named by one as “La Cosa Nostra.”
Down the rabbit hole: how QAnon conspiracies thrive on Facebook
A dive into the network of groups on Facebook linked to QAnon promoting a dizzying range of conspiracy theories.
Art UK
The charity Art UK has created a digital catalogue of 250,000 works of art in the UK and made it easy to search and navigate them. Splendid.
Revisionist History
Malcom Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast seeks to “go back and reinterpret something from the past: an event, a person, an idea.” This episode looks at why we horde things, with a focus on the art world.
Christoph Niemann
Illustrator of numerous covers and stories for The New Yorker and other august publications, Cristoph Niemann’s inventive and playful style, often mixing illustration with real world objects and photography, is a delight.
Touching Minard
Charles Minard was a civil engineer by profession but also, in partial retirement, a celebrated information designer. He was born in France in 1781. This story examines the man and his fascinating diagrams, charts, and maps, including those of Napoleon in Russia, described in his obituary as evoking “bitter reflections on the cost to humanity of the madness of conquerors”.
There Are Many Man-Made Objects. The Rape Kit Is Not One of Them.
The story of Marty Goddard’s invention of the rape kit, work which was later incorrectly attributed to a police officer at his insistence. The piece examines the importance of the invention and the deeply troubled history of police and judicial responses to rape.