Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Aug 14

Ever cry while cutting an onion? Well, now you don’t have to! Building off of chef J. Kenji López-Alt, we found the mathematically optimal way to dice an onion. *Cutting uniform pieces has not been proven to reduce crying, but you do get bragging rights.

pudding.cool/2025/08/onio...

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Reposted by The Pudding

Sam Rose @samwho.dev · Jul 30

The Pudding showing me, yet again, why it’s my favourite online publication.

The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jul 28

New project! @yufeng.bsky.social analyzed all of the words found on NYC Streets. The data comes from from 8 million Google Street View images, which yielded 138 million snippets of text:

🔗: pudding.cool/2025/07/stre...

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jul 28

New project! @yufeng.bsky.social analyzed all of the words found on NYC Streets. The data comes from from 8 million Google Street View images, which yielded 138 million snippets of text:

🔗: pudding.cool/2025/07/stre...

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jul 7

“Look at Mr. Frog! He’s so grumpy.”

Wait, why are so many frogs boys? @mellymeldubs.bsky.social explores how we gender animals in kids’ stories—and why it matters.

pudding.cool/2025/07/kids...

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jun 16

New project! What happens when strangers have to talk for 30 minutes? @alv9n.com's latest project tracks how their moods change as the conversation progresses.

🔗 pudding.cool/2025/06/hell...

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Reposted by The Pudding

Alvin Chang @alv9n.com · Jun 13

My latest piece for @puddingviz.bsky.social: 30 minutes with a stranger

30 minutes with a stranger

Watch hundreds of strangers talk for 30 minutes, and track how their moods change

pudding.cool

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Reposted by The Pudding

Alvin Chang @alv9n.com · Jun 5

Two years ago I made this interactive story about the loneliness epidemic: pudding.cool/2023/09/invi...

The brilliant @matthew-daniels.bsky.social turned it into a video. His touch on this piece is really quite incredible.

The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jun 5

New video on YouTube (an animated version of one of @alv9n.com's greatest hits): The Loneliness Epidemic, in Data: Who Americans Spend Time With

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7w3...

The Loneliness Epidemic, in Data: Who Americans Spend Time With

YouTube video by The Pudding

www.youtube.com

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jun 5

New video on YouTube (an animated version of one of @alv9n.com's greatest hits): The Loneliness Epidemic, in Data: Who Americans Spend Time With

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7w3...

The Loneliness Epidemic, in Data: Who Americans Spend Time With

YouTube video by The Pudding

www.youtube.com

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · May 29

New project: From stereotypes to breakthroughs, Hollywood's history with Asian and Asian American characters is complicated.

This AAPI Heritage Month, dive into the data that reveals whether that's changed: pudding.cool/2025/05/aapi...

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · May 8

Are you more likely to die on your birthday?

Come for the math, stay for the existential crisis.

pudding.cool/2025/04/birt...

Are you more likely to die on your birthday?

Yes. We’ll run a study to show you how, and why.

pudding.cool

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Reposted by The Pudding

Stephen Lurie @luriethereal.bsky.social · Apr 25

Also this week — a pitching experience that was very worth it — my @puddingviz.bsky.social piece was on @kottke.org!

bsky.app/profile/kott...

kottke.org @kottke.org · Apr 17

I love this interactive visualization by The Pudding of the shared DNA of music (i.e. how “borrowed beats, loaned lyrics, and multipurpose melodies” are passed down through generations of music, from Edvard Grieg (1876) to Tupac). [pudding.cool]

How Sonic DNA Connects Generations of Music

Songs have a far more complex and concealed musical history, spanning genres, cultures, and even centuries.

pudding.cool

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Apr 16

Have you ever bought a bottle of wine based on the label alone? Yeah, us too.

Turns out, if a wine has an animal on the label that can help you predict price and quality. We looked at thousands of labels to help you find the best deals.

pudding.cool/2025/04/wine...

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Reposted by The Pudding

Stephen Lurie @luriethereal.bsky.social · Apr 1

What if we considered samples & interpolations as connections in sonic family trees?

My project out today @puddingviz.bsky.social w/ @jaredwhalen.com @matthew-daniels.bsky.social lets you see and hear the genealogy of our popular music.

pudding.cool/2025/04/musi...

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Reposted by The Pudding

Riffy Bol @riffy.bsky.social · Apr 1

"If we zoom out, we can see [...] how “In The Hall of the Mountain King” affects music across 5 generations and 833 songs" pudding.cool/2025/04/musi... via @puddingviz.bsky.social

How Sonic DNA Connects Generations of Music

Songs have a far more complex and concealed musical history, spanning genres, cultures, and even centuries.

pudding.cool

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Apr 1

🔗 Link to the audio/visual essay on The Pudding: pudding.cool/2025/04/musi...

How Sonic DNA Connects Generations of Music

Songs have a far more complex and concealed musical history, spanning genres, cultures, and even centuries.

pudding.cool

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Apr 1

which can sometimes form an entire family tree!

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Apr 1

We explore various lineages in music.

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Apr 1

New project (with 🔊🎵!) : @luriethereal.bsky.social explores legacies of music dna, such as a 2pac bassline being a sample of sample: two generations of music created by a James Brown riff.

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Mar 20

What makes a good apology? We turned to an unlikely source, reality TV, for answers. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (#RHOSLC) is a masterclass in how not to apologize, which offers lessons for all of us on how to get it right.

pudding.cool/2025/03/hous...

The Real Apologies of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

What we can learn from watching reality stars apologize

pudding.cool

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Mar 13

Answer this one-question survey, win some free merch!

pudding.cool/projects/stu...

A screenshot of a survey form that reads:

"In the 1980s, there was a study that produced surprising results about our predictive tendencies. We’re conducting a similar study today.

Instructions: Complete the line below. What did the bird do? Your response can be up to three sentences.

...and then the bird said, 'I must go to the river.' Upon arriving,"

with a blank box for your response.

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Mar 11

English cows go “moo”, while French cows go “meuh”, and Korean cows go “음메”. Our newest project takes a look at how animal sounds translate across languages and cultures.

pudding.cool/2025/03/lang...

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Mar 3

Do you think middle school sucks? You’re not alone. @alv9n.com uses a survey of millions of students to show how our brains and our sense of belonging change in middle school.

💻 pudding.cool/2025/02/midd...
📽️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4zL...

The Middle Ages

Follow hundreds of kids as they navigate their treacherous middle school years.

pudding.cool

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Feb 22

We want to know: what's YOUR fav piece from us?! 👀

Moritz Stefaner / Truth & Beauty @moritzstefaner.bsky.social · Feb 21

What is you biggest hit @puddingviz.bsky.social ?

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Feb 22

By sheer numbers it's the Spotify bot, but we really don't pay too much attention to audience analytics. You don't get the full picture of impact through quantitative measures alone. 😜

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The Pudding @puddingviz.bsky.social · Jan 31

Check out our YouTube channel. Russell live coded a project from start to finish and live coded the making of our website in Svelte. The videos might be a bit dated because code bases change so
rapidly, but they should give you a feel for how we code.

m.youtube.com/@thepudding/...

The Pudding

Ideas debated in culture, explained with visual essays We wield original #data 📈, primary research, and interactivity. Read all 150+ projects at https://pudding.cool

m.youtube.com

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