Iran's new supreme leader vows to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. Twenty percent of global oil transits a 33-kilometer channel. The geography, the history, and the military reality.
Explainers Geopolitics & ConflictBP invented the personal carbon footprint calculator in 2004 to shift climate blame from oil corporations onto individual consumers. The concept is now embedded in mainstream discourse. The history, the mechanism, and what it obscures.
Explainers Health & ScienceSpotify fills playlists with ghost artists, runs algorithmic payola, and pays musicians fractions of a cent. The alternatives sound better and pay five times more.
News & Analysis Tech & AI PolicyRussia has struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure more than 250 times since October 2025, damaging every thermal power plant in the country. Western aid and continuous repairs are all that stand between the Ukraine power grid and total collapse.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisFarmed salmon and wild salmon are not the same product. The nutrition, contaminants, environmental damage, and labeling fraud tell a story the industry prefers to keep vague.
Explainers Health & ScienceChina's National People's Congress passed an ethnic unity law mandating Mandarin-only instruction from preschool and requiring parents to teach children to love the Communist Party. It codifies what was already being enforced.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisMicroplastics are in your food, water, blood, and brain. The science on what that means for your health is both more advanced and more uncertain than most coverage suggests.
Explainers Health & ScienceAbout 39% of Americans believe in ghosts. The experiences they report are real. The explanations are natural, measurable, and more interesting than the supernatural.
Explainers Psychology & BehaviorOver 500 randomized controlled trials have examined tai chi chuan. The results on balance, blood pressure, and chronic pain are more specific, and more impressive, than the wellness branding suggests.
Explainers Science & MedicineSurvivorship bias means drawing conclusions from winners while ignoring the failures that were filtered out. From WWII bombers to bestselling business books, the missing data changes everything.
Explainers Psychology & BehaviorEkrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's main electoral rival, faces corruption charges widely denounced as political. The Imamoglu trial is the sharpest test yet of Turkish democracy, and of what NATO tolerates in its members.
Geopolitics & Conflict News & AnalysisAn audit found that cost-cutting during construction of a concrete barrier at Muan International Airport contributed directly to the severity of the crash that killed 179 people.
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