Infographics | Reader

Scented products with potentially harmful ingredients

For Bloomberg, Daniela Sirtori, Madeline Campbell, and Marie Patino do some product counting:

Data collected by the California Department of Public Health showed 108 potentially harmful substances listed as fragrance ingredients in everyday products ranging from face wash to conditioner, a Bloomberg analysis of database entries as of Feb. 6 found. Some of the compounds are identified as potential carcinogens by authorities such as the World Health Organization.

Scaled jars of cream are used to show ingredient categories. I like it.

Tags: Bloomberg, ingredient, safety

Teenage adversity that carries into adulthood

The National Longitudinal Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are unique in that they run long-term to survey the lives of individuals for decades. For The Pudding, Alvin Chang visualized survey responses to show how adversity as a teenager carries into adulthood.

Each person icon represents a respondent and the collective bar chart stacks track through the years. The icons run across the screen on each time segment and demographic shift.

There’s a video version, shown below, and while I enjoy Alvin’s dulcet voice, I prefer the scrolling version.

Tags: Alvin Chang, development, Pudding, teenager

Visual guide to airfoils

Bartosz Ciechanowski is at it again with an in-depth explainer that makes heavy use of slider-driven interactive graphics. This time he simulated the patterns of air flowing over and around the wings of an airplane, also known as airfoil.

The length of each article starts to feel kind of long at times, but there’s something to these simple sliders that are useful in keeping you engaged and helping to understand the physics.

Tags: airfoil, Bartosz Ciechanowski, flight

Defining the greatest albums of all time

Rolling Stone published a list in 2003 that ranked the 500 greatest albums of all time. The list was updated in 2020, and there was a lot of change. For The Pudding, Chris Dalla Riva and Matthew Daniels delve into the shift and ask what makes an album the greatest.

A lot of the differences appear to stem from who does the ranking, which makes for a good polling and statistical accuracy example.

Tags: Chris Dalla Riva, Matt Daniels, music, polling, Pudding

If we didn’t have leap years

For CNN, Amy O’Kruk and Kenneth Uzquiano asked what would happen if we didn’t have leap years. Without the extra day every four years, we’d eventually have seasons time-shifted by half a year.

Also, because the exact time it takes the Earth to orbit the sun is just under a quarter of a day, leap year adjustments are slightly off. We’ll have to adjust by one day every 3,333 years. I never thought about it, but it makes sense.

Tags: CNN, leap year

Interactive LED basketball court

During the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend, the basketball court was essentially a giant LED screen on the second day. The company behind the panels talked about the technical side for a WTHR news segment, shown above.

The court was fun to watch but also distracting. It draws your eyes to the ground when the action is ahead and above the rim. So the technology seems less than ideal for an actual game. Maybe good as an expensive practice and training tool? I couldn’t believe not a single shot chart was shown during the three-point contest.

Tags: basketball, display

Diva-ness of national anthem renditions

You’ve probably heard various renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner, and sometimes singers put a little extra something in the anthem. A bit of flourish. Some attitude. For The Pudding, Jan Diehm and Michelle McGhee quantified that extra something into what they’ve dubbed a Diva Score.

Out of the 138 versions they scored, the highest belong to Chaka Khan at the 2020 NBA All-Star game and Patti Labelle at the 2008 World Series.

Tags: diva, music, Pudding

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Category Archives: Infographics

Scented products with potentially harmful ingredients

Teenage adversity that carries into adulthood

Expanding Rube Goldberg machine that you can edit

Interactive timeline of notable people throughout history

Visual guide to airfoils

Defining the greatest albums of all time

Tiny chip manufacturing, visually explained

If we didn’t have leap years

Interactive LED basketball court

Diva-ness of national anthem renditions

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