Boeing panel that blew off during flight

A refrigerator-sized panel popped off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 during the ascent of an Alaska Airlines flight. Reuters illustrates what that panel is for, other airlines with the same configuration, and where they travel.

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A hotter year, again

This year, 2023, was the hottest year on record. For Reuters, Gloria Dickie, Travis Hartman and Clare Trainor highlight the rising temperatures and the bad stuff that follows.

This year’s added warming has been like pouring gasoline on a fire. Extremes became more extreme. Warmer ocean waters fed stronger storms. Heatwaves persisted for weeks instead of days. And wildfires, feeding on dry forests and high temperatures, burned out of control.

An El Nino climate pattern, which emerged in the Eastern Pacific in June, is making things worse, scientists said. It’s boosting the warming caused by climate change, unleashing more catastrophic extremes.

Temperature extremes are still worth highlighting, but there are only so many ways to show an increase over and over again. Maybe someone can make a global warming exhibit that starts at the temperature highs of the 1800s and very quickly increases temperature to current highs. Throw in some VR with storms and wildfires.

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Disney’s innovations in animation

As Disney and its stock price struggles with streaming, Reuters looks at how Disney overcame previous challenges in its 100-year history. One of the first challenges was making animation that was believable:

He obsessed over quality and poured money into producing cartoons that would resonate with his audience. He wrote that observing the real world was key and animation must have, “a foundation of fact, in order that it may more richly possess sincerity.”

The studio formalized 12 principles of animation which transformed static sketches into lively characters on a screen. Veteran animators taught the principles to each of the new artists who joined the studio to ensure consistency.

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Falling insect species

Insects are dying at a high rate every year, but it is difficult to estimate an accurate number, because it is a challenge to gather data for millions of species around the world. In a new-to-me series, Reuters broke it down:

The world has lost 5% to 10% of all insect species in the last 150 years — or between 250,000 and 500,000 species, according to a February 2020 study in the journal Biological Conservation. Those losses are continuing, though estimates vary due to patchy data as well as uncertainty over how many insects exist.

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Food shortage in a height chart

There are food shortages in Guatemala. For Reuters, Cassandra Garrison, Clare Trainor and Sarah Slobin used a height chart to show stunted growth as an indicator.

A few tortillas and a half bowl of reheated beans were all Maria Concepcion Rodriguez had to feed her six children in the isolated village of El Aguacate, one day in August.

Only her three-month-old breastfed baby had height commensurate with her age. The others were stunted by undernourishment. They looked too young for their years.

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Greenhouse gas from wasting food at home

Almost half of wasted food comes from homes, and almost half of that goes to landfills. The rotting food then produces methane. For Reuters, Ally J. Levine and Daisy Chung illustrate why that’s an issue and why we should minimize the amount of food we throw away:

Methane produced by food decomposing in landfills makes up 1.6% of all human-made Greenhouse Gas emissions. While that may not sound like much, it’s a large percentage for such a specific pollutant. When scientists look at hyper-specific categories, Karl says, anything over 1% is significant.

“Any action that can prevent food waste from sitting in untreated piles will directly lead to climate impacts being reduced.”

I appreciate the illustrations that make the data less abstract, which have become standard from Reuters Graphics.

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Taylor Swift pop charts

Taylor Swift has been filling up stadiums across the United States and will head overseas soon to fill more seats. For Reuters, Clare Trainor and Dea Bankova break down the songs, albums, and ticket sales with a heavily stylized piece resembling a Swift fan’s scrapbook.

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Hot surfaces, stored energy

In hot places, the ground can heat to higher temperatures than the air, which causes severe burns to someone who stumbles or accidentally touches a surface. For Reuters, Mariano Zafra describes the absorption and release of energy with a series of graphics.

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Wimbledon grass patterns

This might surprise you, but the grass at the Wimbledon tennis tournament is not the same as the grass in people’s backyards. It has to stay short so that tennis balls maintain speed and bounce and strong enough to hold up to professional tennis play. For Reuters, Travis Hartman and Ally J. Levine illustrate the differences between court surfaces and how grass impacts play.

I’m into the tennis textures used throughout the piece.

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Eurovision winners past and present

The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest finished up this past weekend with the winning song coming from Sweden. Hundreds of millions of people watch the contest worldwide, but I’m pretty sure most Americans’ impressions come from the satirical Will Ferrell movie, so this visual guide by Reuters should be helpful.

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