Author: Michelle Korhonen
@jazephua,@dollievision, @mrbeandamatematica/Screenshots by NPR @jazephua,@dollievision, @mrbeandamatematica/Screenshots by NPR TikTok in 2023 wasn’t just about girl dinners or cottage cheese inspo. The annual roundup of the most popular content of 2023 is a testimony to the global appeal of the short-form video. They come from everywhere — like Sean the Sheepman’s sheepherding border collie in Scotland and Kirby Quimado cooking up breadrolls in the Philippines. And here’s another thing about TikToks: Even though there are plenty of serious-minded videos, the most popular ones are often goofy and in-your-face with earwormy music. Of course there are exceptions to every TikTok rule. No…
In the quest for personal change, the method matters.Ken Harding / BIPs / GettyDecember 30, 2023, 8 AM ETThis is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.Early in 2023, my colleague Caroline Mimbs Nyce chatted with the writer Oliver Burkeman about New Year’s resolutions. Burkeman is an expert on productivity, but he’s arguably also an expert on getting real about the time human beings have on Earth. Burkeman is the author of…
Doctors and medical societies are suggesting patients who rely on Flovent take action now to ensure they can get the medication in 2024. Mariia Siurtukova/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mariia Siurtukova/Getty Images Doctors and medical societies are suggesting patients who rely on Flovent take action now to ensure they can get the medication in 2024. Mariia Siurtukova/Getty Images Some asthma patients may start out the new year scrambling for their go-to inhaler – at least that’s the concern as Flovent, a popular drug, leaves store shelves starting in January. Earlier this year, drugmaker GSK announced it’s discontinuing Flovent in…
Spend time with our writers’ picks this weekend.Universal PicturesDecember 29, 2023, 5 PM ETThis is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.This was the year of the sold-out stadium tour, double-feature mania, celebrity memoirs (and documentaries), and superhero fatigue. It was also the year of the Hollywood strike, controversy over book bans, and the rise of AI music. The Atlantic’s Culture team looked back on 2023 and compiled lists of the year’s best…
The sounds came out of my mouth with an unexpected urgency. The cadence was deliberate—more befitting of an incantation than an order: one large strawberry-lemon-mint Charged Lemonade. The words hung in the air for a moment, giving way to a stillness punctuated only by the soft whir of distant fluorescent lights and the gentle hum of a Muzak cover of Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain.”The time was 9:03 a.m.; the sun had been up for only one hour. I watched the kind woman behind the counter stifle an eye roll, a small mercy for which I will be eternally grateful. Her…
Donald Trump won the presidency with fewer votes than his opponent?We’re a republic, not a democracy.State Republican parties in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and other states gerrymandered themselves into supermajorities?We’re a republic, not a democracy.Forty-one senators block laws favored by 59? A single senator blocks promotions across the Defense Department?We’re a republic, not a democracy.Florida voters restored voting rights to felons, only to see the reform disregarded by the state legislature?We’re a republic, not a democracy.States rule that Trump is an insurrectionist under the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment, barring him from their ballots?Let the people decide!There’s not much use in…
Bishop William J. Barber II speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative September 2023 meeting at New York Hilton Midtown on Sept. 19. Noam Galai/Getty Images for Clinton Global hide caption toggle caption Noam Galai/Getty Images for Clinton Global Bishop William J. Barber II speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative September 2023 meeting at New York Hilton Midtown on Sept. 19. Noam Galai/Getty Images for Clinton Global Civil rights leader Bishop William J. Barber II and NAACP North Carolina are calling on AMC Theatres to improve accessibility for patrons with disabilities after an incident this week. Barber, who suffers from ankylosing…
Five key questions that will define the technology’s trajectory from hereIllustration by Woojoo Im. Source: Getty.December 29, 2023, 10 AM ETThis is Atlantic Intelligence, an eight-week series in which The Atlantic’s leading thinkers on AI help you understand the complexity and opportunities of this groundbreaking technology. Sign up here.What will next year hold for AI? In a new story, Atlantic staff writer Ross Andersen looks ahead, outlining five key questions that will define the technology’s trajectory from here. A big one: How will it affect the election? “Many blamed the spread of lies through social media for enabling [Donald] Trump’s…
A helicopter flies above a wildfire burning in Canada this summer. Smoke from these wildfires floated hundreds of miles, blanketing much of North America in toxic air. James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images This summer, millions of people across the eastern U.S. woke up one June morning to apocalyptic orange skies and thick, choking wildfire smoke. Over the summer, massive Canadian wildfires blanketed central and eastern North America with smoke that lingered on and off for months, sending hundreds of people to the hospital. The unprecedented smoke, which showed up in parts…
One day in late November, I cradled a red Samsung flip phone in my hands as if it was a ruby gemstone. To me, it was just as precious. Deep inside an overstuffed dresser in my childhood bedroom, I had spotted the glint of my first-ever cellphone, a Samsung SGH-A707 purchased in the waning days of the George W. Bush presidency. The device, no bigger than a credit card, had long ago succumbed to the spider web of cracks on its screen. For a moment, I was brought back to life before the smartphone, clicking the phone’s plastic keys for…