A Data Visualization Newsletter

This year’s Olympics saw impressive performances in the pool and on the track, from Caleb Dressel’s five gold medals to Sydney McLaughlin’s world record in the 400-meter hurdles. The New York Times created animations of every event to show how 2021’s winners would have stacked up against winners in years past.

A new report from the world’s top climate scientists has warned that there will be no end to rising temperatures before 2050. The document has been labeled “a code red for humanity” by some, as it warns that the planet will warm by 1.5° Celsius in the next two decades without drastic changes to greenhouse emissions. Bloomberg summarizes the report's most important findings.

TikTok’s rise in popularity has commonly been attributed to its impressive algorithm. But the company has been tight lipped on how it actually works. In an attempt to crack the code, The Wall Street Journal created 100 fake accounts and monitored how exactly the platform hones in on a user’s interests so quickly.

What makes us happy? Nathan Yau has the answers. Researchers asked 10,000 participants to list ten things that recently made them happy, and he parsed the responses to reveal the most common themes.