Latest news with #TheCrunch
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Crunch: crowded prisons; triangle election revelations; and the power of the measles vaccine
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! The election may be over but the datavis can't stop, won't stop. In this week's newsletter we've got another election analysis triangle, a lot of measles coverage, and some heroic bar charts. While Australians were focused on the election, our UK colleagues released a fantastic visual investigation into the more than 30 Victorian-era prisons still in use across the UK. There's so many different visuals in this piece, from interactive panoramas to old and new illustrations, archive video, charts and photography. Even the colour choices convey the feel of 'damp, crowded, poorly ventilated'. *** 1. Breaking: vaccines work The measles outbreak in the US has been unpacked in a lot of ways – we've linked to a bunch below. But this chart from Our World in Data stands out. It's tricky to convey a change over time, across so many groups. If you aren't going to use a line chart, dealing with that many dimensions often results in something unwieldy or incomprehensible. But this chart is striking and the story very clear. There's a few other visualisations in the piece and a lot to learn, including that 'researchers estimate that 94 million lives have been saved from measles vaccines'. *** 2. A triangle offence We expressed our love of election triangles during the campaign. This post-election analysis of what's happening to the major party vote in Australia only drives it home. The best thing about the triangle in this instance is how it allows for the comparison of singular seats at discrete points in time, a seat across time, and a bunch of different seats, all within the same framework. *** 3. Stacks on stacks We've often used this newsletter to champion the humble bar chart, and this is a great example. This story from the Age unpacks how the government is doing compared to its housing target. There's a lot to draw out but the story is pretty well summed up with this one visual. We also covered this issue during the election campaign, also with a bar chart. *** 4. Porque no los dos This bar chart looking at Coalition election results by the election analyst Ben Raue shows how versatile the format is. While the Age's bar chart is a snapshot, this is a comparison between the two parties, across time. It's quite striking how the Nationals almost always get 15 or 16 seats election after election. The Economist on how much worse America's measles outbreak could get ($) Reuters on the rapid spread of measles Our World in Data on the effectiveness of measles vaccines The New York Times measles outbreak map and tracker ($) The New York Times on how measles attacks an unvaccinated child ($) We talked about the challenge of comparisons across a bunch of groups before. This small multiples pie chart from the American datavis legend Robert Simmon shows another way to tackle it. The data is looking at faecal contamination at beaches in and around Sydney, and at least in aggregate probably is a much better comparison than if they were something like bar charts. The discourse around pie charts can be … heated. This isn't to make a statement about the acceptability of pie charts – although this is a great read. If you would like to receive The Crunch to your email inbox every fortnight, sign up here.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Who benefits from an American brain drain; how the teals vote and the physics of urinal splashbacks
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! In this week's newsletter we have charts on the rental crisis in Australia, the decline in travellers to the US, how to stop the spread of measles, South Korean bushfires, and how to design a urinal that doesn't splash. The Coalition has run a wave of ads claiming the teal independents – who are not a political party – 'ally' with the Greens on votes in parliament. As with many things, the reality is far more complicated than this. Nick took a look at the voting records of the teals, major parties and other independents throughout the 47th parliament with a series of correlation charts. In other political news, the Guardian Australia poll averaging model now shows Labor ahead on a two-party-preferred basis after a series of positive polls this month. Josh also drew a One Big Chart to show wages haven't kept up with the rising cost of many essentials over the last three years. 1. How to solve a problem like Maria measles It's been a few years since viral charts on flatting the Covid curve, but the New York Times is back with a great interactive looking at vaccination rates and the spread of measles. We really recommend playing around with the vaccination chart a bit to get a feeling for how effective vaccination is about all of us working together, rather than just individual protection. 2. Can anyone afford to live, really? Last we checked the ABC has published at least three data stories about Australia's rental crisis in the past two weeks – and they're all bangers. Our favourite, though, is this one comparing skyrocketing rents across five capital cities. The headline 'Where in Sydney can you afford to rent?' does feel a bit like a trick question. 3. Who benefits from an American brain drain? The own goals in the US look set to continue, so the Economist has asked what country would benefit the most from an American brain drain. While we're not sure about seeing arch-rivals New Zealand do so well, it's kind of nice seeing Australia near the top of rankings that aren't just alphabetic. Sign up to The Crunch Our data journalists showcase the most important charts and dataviz from the Guardian and around the web, free every fortnight after newsletter promotion 4. Explaining South Korea's deadliest wildfires Coming from Australia, we've made and seen our fair share of bushfire maps. This one from Reuters is one of the best – especially the satellite transition at the end of it. There are also some great visuals and explanation in this story of how wind and topography feed bushfires. Special mention to another Reuters piece on how North Korea is helping Russia in its war on Ukraine. The Financial Times showed how European travellers are now avoiding the US ($) Nick and Elias published this story about the decline in Australian tourists to America The ABC also covered the same topic Bloomberg charted it by region ($) OK we're going to flat out admit that we don't have the mathematical chops to understand what's going on here. Researchers have used physics and differential equations to fix an age-old problem – urinal splashback. But even if you don't get the maths, just look at those curves. Enjoying The Crunch? If you like what you see and think you might know someone else who would enjoy it, please forward this email or send them a link to the sign up page. If you have a chart tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email. If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump takes egg (and stock prices), the data on disasters and a meandering cyclone
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! In this week's newsletter we have charts on … the stock market under Trump, how inflation has raised prices on different grocery items, mapping the Myanmar earthquake, the meandering path of a tropical cyclone and a look at 'music DNA'. Boffins at the US Federal Emergency Management Agency spent years creating an extreme weather risk index down to the county level. Only a month or so after launch, the Trump administration deleted it. But our Guardian US colleagues have recreated the index, using projections on worsening storms, wildfires and floods. The solid red area near Los Angeles looks particularly troubling. 1. More disaster maps Thousands were killed by the earthquake that struck Myanmar and hundreds remain missing. Reuters have mapped the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck the region on Friday. The piece also includes some great visuals on how earthquakes occur and the history of earthquakes in the region. 2. What could we buy for one nuclear sub? Last week's budget measures paper was the 'skinniest' in 20 years – because of the imminent election, but also the result of an ongoing trend. The centrepiece of the budget was a surprise tax cut. But, coming in at just over $17bn, it wouldn't even buy you half a nuclear submarine*. With questions mounting over the Aukus nuclear submarine program, we took a look through the budget papers to see what one nuclear sub would buy us. *An important caveat is that we don't know what the final cost will be for the Aukus nuclear subs for almost another two decades. We took the estimated figure when the deal was announced and divided it by the potential number of submarines: eight. The spending obviously includes lots of non-materiel things like training and research programs. 3. The unpredictable path to the deep north For days before Cyclone Alfred made landfall, the forecast path and intensity of the weather system were in flux. This meant an anxious wait for communities up and down the Queensland coast, and made it harder to prepare. The visual stories team at the Sydney Morning Herald mapped the cyclone's unpredictable path. Something else I learned from this story – at least 20 cyclones have come within a few hundred kilometres of south-east Queensland since records began. Sign up to The Crunch Our data journalists showcase the most important charts and dataviz from the Guardian and around the web, free every fortnight after newsletter promotion 4. The cost of US inflation in 10 items Eggs have become so expensive in the US that millions have reportedly stopped buying them entirely. But the spiralling cost of food isn't a recent phenomenon. Egg prices have risen by more than 310% in the US over the past 20 years, even as the federal minimum wage has largely stagnated since 2009. This beautiful illustration piece by our colleague Mona Chalabi shows the rising cost of 10 different items. We've only screenshotted a small section of the beautiful graphic but you can click through for the rest. 5. A viral chart about the stock market under Trump A chart showing the decline of US companies' stock prices under the terms of various presidents went viral several weeks ago, showing up on BlueSky, Reddit and Twitter (I refuse to call it X). Here's how it looked in the Economist's Graphic Detail series ($): The earliest version of the chart format I could find was by Owen Winter from the Economist, who has been updating the chart since at least 4 March. His latest predates the 'liberation day' tariffs announcement though – the plunge continues. A Reuters' visual explainer on how tariffs aren't all the same Guardian US on the global chaos from Trump's tariffs A timeline of key tariff announcements How Trump's tariffs will hit Australia, in four charts ($) Perennial Crunch favourites The Pudding are back with another banger about bangers. This time its a deep dive into the 'DNA' of music – a visual (and auditory) look at how ideas and themes repeat and can be traced back through history. Enjoying The Crunch? If you like what you see and think you might know someone else who would enjoy it, please forward this email or send them a link to the signup page.
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Shipping pollution, under the sea – and is the love song dying?
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! This week's newsletter is going to be slightly different as the longlist for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful awards was released this week. We've trawled through the list to find our favourites. Our colleagues in the UK have released two great stories from the ocean's depths. The first is an explainer about mining the seafloor with lots of lovely visuals. This map gives you an idea of the scope of the issue: We covered seafloor mining in the Pacific way back in 2021. Scientists were already warning that we could lose marine species – even before we knew anything about them. The next story follows the 'shadow fleets' that seem to be attacking Europe's undersea internet cables, below. This story is chock full of great interactive maps and animations. I am very jealous. There is a lot of amazing work in the longlist to explore, so we really encourage you to dive in for yourself. Our gender pay gap explorer and One Big Chart on the disproportionate impact of family violence also made the cut. But here are some of the projects that jumped out at us (please note these aren't exhaustive lists, and we're trying to avoid stories that have already appeared in this newsletter – hence no AFL mullets). Shipping stuff around Africa emits a lot of pollution I'm a sucker for an illustrated story, and this is yet another brilliant one from Reuters. It's also a great example of following a counterfactual – looking at increased emissions once ships had to avoid the Suez canal after Houthi militants started attacking commercial ships. The design is lovely, as is using the Status of Liberty as a comparison for emissions. Some other favourites (in no particular order): A deep dive into what's driving up burger prices (in Australia) A gloriously illustrated history and explanation of ancient Chinese hanfu Visualising the issue of not having enough clothes – an issue I can't really relate to, but I love how extra this is The monochroming of America – someone should do this in Australia How the worldview of artificial intelligence is created (in German) Sign up to The Crunch Our data journalists showcase the most important charts and dataviz from the Guardian and around the web, free every fortnight after newsletter promotion Is the love song dying? This is typically excellent work by contributors to the Pudding, which follows the publication's formula of using data to tell a story that involves an 'aha!' moment. Here's the direct link and the IIB entry showcase. I had a lot of trouble choosing only five entries for my picks, so here are five dot points loosely grouped into themes in no particular order: This investigation into the hairstyles of people who get swooped by magpies – a natural hazard in Australia – is a) awesome and b) has a great chart made out of Lego and c) is extra amazing because it was done by an eight-year-old. I particularly loved this quote from Emma, who said: 'To show the survey results, I decided to use Lego to illustrate my data because I didn't know how to use Excel.' Nice maps: a map of forest cover of New Zealand, and a map that was specifically designed to appeal to me as it combines whisky, Scottish author Iain Banks and nice cartography. Things I liked but can't explain why: are socks really hard to knit, and five droughts that changed history. Projects involving audio: heat chords: strains of stress, and an underground journey. A series of good charts on last year, explaining why it was a year that shook the world. This chart speaks for itself – the US tariff rate on aluminium and steel imported from Canada across one day (11 March). Enjoying The Crunch? If you like what you see and think you might know someone else who would enjoy it, please forward this email or send them a link to the sign up page. If you have a chart tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email. If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email
The Guardian
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Who controls the Murdoch family trust, good pie charts and the baby boom
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! In this week's newsletter we have charts on the melting of glaciers around the world, how the baby boom reshaped populations in many different countries, who controls the Murdoch family trust, how Germany's economic strength became a weakness and what it looks like to run the game Pong on hundreds of browser tabs. The rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties could speed up population decline in Europe, according to an analysis of population projection data by my colleague Alex Clark in the UK. Anti-immigration politics is on the rise across the EU, as shown by the gains made by far-right parties in elections on 2024 and 2025. In this visual feature, Alex uses immigration data and population projections to show how the population of each European country would change with and without immigration. In most countries, limiting immigration would speed up population decline and result in countries becoming older on average as the number of working-age people falls relative to elderly people. NB: Other contenders for this edition's Guardian Data Highlight™ included this hand-drawn chart of Clive Palmer's political donations and this visual feature about record-breaking heat in 2024. 1. Who has a piece of the pie? A good chart about the Murdoch family trust Good pie charts are few and far between, so we knew that our discerning Crunch readers would be pleasantly surprised to see this wonderful chart from the New York Times magazine: The graphical feature makes good use of the pie chart format to show what proportion of the family trust each Murdoch family member controls, and how that might change when Lachlan Murdoch succeeds Rupert. 2. More good pie charts? What is going on It's not news that due to global heating glaciers are melting faster and more extensively than in the past. New research from the GlaMBIE (Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise) team of scientists has brought together glacier measurements from around the world and refined and analysed it to make all of the data comparable. Some of the findings are summarised in this graphic, which combines pie charts to show glacier mass loss for each glacier location, with annual changes shown as coloured bars underneath: You can read the paper, and see some more figures, here. 3. Boom, baby, boom Our World In Data has a typically excellent explainer about the postwar baby boom of the mid 1900s, which has a whole bunch of charts. This one shows that the baby boom happened in many high-income countries – and not just nations directly involved in the second world war. Sweden and Switzerland did not actively participate in the war, but they also experienced significant increases in birthrates. Sign up to The Crunch Our data journalists showcase the most important charts and dataviz from the Guardian and around the web, free every fortnight after newsletter promotion You can read more here. 4. Is the Wirtschaftswunder kaputt? This extremely stylish visual essay from Reuters looks over the economic and political history of Germany and covers how, according to Reuters: 'Germany has gone in recent years from being Europe's economic powerhouse to becoming the euro zone's growth laggard'. We loved how this feature integrated the design device of spraypaint and graffiti across all the elements – from the animated illustrations to the subtle texturing on the line charts. Visualizing all books of the world in ISBN-Space How tariffs work Chartography: collage your charts German election results (in English): Reuters, the Guardian Peter Dutton wants to cut public service jobs in Canberra. Here's what happened last time More than 80% of new California properties are in high fire-risk areas Finally a good reason to never close that browser tab you opened five years ago. Nolen Royalty, a software engineer known for a couple of other viral hits like One Million Checkboxes, has created a Pong game that runs in your browser tabs. Nolen's blog post about the project is a really interesting read. It goes through many of the problems he encountered and how he worked through them – I wish more people would write like this about their projects. Enjoying The Crunch? If you like what you see and think you might know someone else who would enjoy it, please forward this email or send them a link to the sign up page. If you have a chart tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email. If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email
