There are two Americas, we’ve been told. There’s Duck Dynasty America and Modern Family America. There’s “gosh” America and “dope” America. Sometimes, though, Americans unite…
WALKING DISTANCE
Amazon buying Whole Foods puts it right next to one-third of America’s richest households
Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. More than just a store with organic shampoos and obscure fruits, Whole Foods is a distribution network…
DIFFERENT STROKES
How do you draw a circle? We analyzed 100,000 drawings to show how culture shapes our instincts
Let’s do a quick exercise. Are you ready? Draw a circle in the box below. Don’t think too hard! Did you start at the top…
ACRONIMBLE
Rejected possible full names for the Congressional COVFEFE Act
The United States Congress has given us many terrible acronyms in the form of “clever” names for bills. There is the JOBS Act (“Jumpstart Our…
KYLO REY
A lot more Americans named their babies Rey and Kylo after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Last year we analyzed the effect that the Star Wars franchise has had on the names of American children. The number of Lukes, Leias, and…
PARTLY CLOUDY
Memo to Rex Tillerson: Why the US State Department needs word clouds
The Donald J. Trump administration is very concerned with efficiency. That’s why they’re cutting waste, eliminating regulations, and—the ultimate efficiency hack—tapping senior adviser Jared Kushner…
QZ&A
A 103-year-old lexicographer has spent a century thinking about one of India’s oldest languages
Bengaluru, India Every few years, I spend 24 hours traveling to rural Karnataka, a state in southern India, to visit my father. The trip takes…
REVISIONIST HISTORY
Trump weirdly says Korea was “part of China,” which is totally wrong and could enrage South Korea
Following his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Donald Trump made a shocking admission of ignorance to the Wall Street Journal, on the subject of…
TRACK CHANGES
Wikipedia’s great experiment: Finding a definition of “happiness” we can all agree on
Wikipedia is a lot more than its most common use as a repository of basic information about famous people, historical events, and obscure terms. Its…
WECENSOR
What happens when you try to send politically sensitive messages on WeChat
In China, you can use WeChat for just about everything—sending messages, transferring money, ordering a taxi, reading the news, even doing your laundry. But there…
LAPTOPICAL
12 more things to do on a 12-hour flight where laptops are banned
The United States is set to prohibit passengers traveling on 56 routes to the US from the Middle East and North Africa from bringing devices…
⚠ FAKE ⚠
This is now what happens when you try to post fake news on Facebook
Facebook has started deploying new weapons in its battle against fake news. The election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States has…
