Recent events—the killing of a senior Hamas leader, explosions in Iran and Lebanon—raise fear of wider conflict in the Middle East. / Politico
A round-up of trends likely to drive humanitarian need in 2024. / The New Humanitarian
Theaters report seeing a lot more standing ovations. “You're swept along with it, aren't you?” / BBC News
In 2023, a record low was reached in global child mortality, with only 3.6 percent of newborns dying by the age of 5. / The New York Times [+]
China's population, now around 1.4 billion, is projected to drop to around half a billion by 2100, and women are taking the blame. / The Wall Street Journal [+]
A small polling of American women from different generations on plastic surgery. / TZR
Unrelated: Phrases like “conspicuous consumption” and “dependence effect” can obscure as much as they reveal—”but then I read a novel by Émile Zola.” / UnHerd
How big exactly is YouTube? One estimate says 13.325 billion videos. / Ethan Zuckerman
Mark Zuckerberg's Hawaiian estate is thought to suggest “a petty overlord hiding in his castle keep, incapable of imagining anything but a siege.” / The Nation
The great Ana Gavrilovska's favorite jazz albums from last year. / Sick Sad Motherslug
The past year in lost ships and underwater discoveries, and Strava's year in sport. / Atlas Obscura, Strava
A $70,000 watch is said to be the first made entirely in the United States in over five decades. / GQ
See also: One reason why we may not have been visited by time travellers: we aren't important enough. / The Seeds of Science