Hello!
Greetings from snowy Indianapolis.
I've been holed up here for the last few days trying to work on a new book, thinking about why we make art and whether it's valuable to make art. I've mostly been trying to make sense of a life in the arts when so many other pursuits—politics, health, education, scientific research—feel much more critical at the moment. But of course, we've always made art.
We saw patterns in the night sky and turned them into images, which we then imagined into stories. Story-making is one of the defining expressions of our species. And part of story's value, I guess, is both escapism and realism: Stories can help me escape our present (which many of us need at the moment), but they can also reveal our moment. I hope that what I'm working on will do a bit of both. We'll see!
John
You can always email us at [email protected]
This Week in Stuff
You can get to know Jackie and Shadow, a bald eagle pair, with Friends of Big Bear Valley’s live nest cam. (YouTube)
Ottawa surveyed residents to source names for the city’s 24 snowplows. (engage.ottawa.ca)
The extreme cold in Vermont helped make frozen butterflies out of cookie cutters and soap. (TikTok)
A corgi had zoomies on a racetrack dug out of snow. (Instagram)
Someone tracked all of their sneezes in 2025 (Instagram) and shared their data. Regardless of these findings, sneezing isn’t normal. (YouTube)
Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]
Indonesia’s shift to cleaner cooking fuels has greatly improved air quality and health
Hannah Ritchie
In 2000, less than 10% of the population in Indonesia had access to clean cooking fuels. This is now over 90%, as the chart shows.
Clean cooking fuels are those that, when burned, emit less than the World Health Organization's recommended amounts of air pollutants. They reduce the burden of air pollution — and its health impacts — for the households that use them.
In 2007, the Indonesian government launched a national program to move from kerosene cooking fuels to liquefied petroleum gas.
This shift has greatly reduced particulate pollution and improved health outcomes. Death rates from indoor air pollution have fallen steeply.
Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.
This Week at Complexly
Crash Course Editorial Director Meghan Modafferi recently spoke with Hank on his YouTube channel. Their conversation is a peek behind the curtain of how Crash Course is made and how science gets done. Along the way, they talk about the world of information, pseudoscience, and why we've never done a Crash Course on math.
New Study Hall College Journeys features legendary game master and storyteller Aabria Iyengar!
Before becoming a Dungeon Master, Aabria was an elite student athlete who thought her life was mapped out by 17—college sports, the Olympics, medical school—until injuries forced her to ask who she was outside of sports. What followed was a winding, curiosity-driven path through political science, comedy, long-form improv, and finally tabletop role-playing, where she found a new kind of team sport in collaborative storytelling.
Hear how Aabria “practiced the pursuit of joy” in this thoughtful, funny, and deeply nerdy conversation with journalist Joss Fong.
Some Games to Play!
SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)
This Gubbins postcard was made by Felix. Send yours to [email protected]
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Your Wildest Years
Inspired by the 2014 episode of Dear Hank and John, we asked you what the wildest year of your life has been so far. Thank you for sending us your stories!
2025! I got married, bought a house, and got a new job. It was amazing but I am also looking forward to going back to my quieter hobbies and routines in 2026.
I largely cite 2018 as the best year of my life (so far). I did an internship that not only solidified my interest in the industry, but I now work full time for the same company. One of my favourite musicals got a revival that I got to go see. And maybe most importantly, I started dating my now fiance. Wild in a good way
I'm only 24, so I don't feel like I really have a leg to stand on in this conversation. However, I think 2024 has been the most wild year of my life so far. I graduated college with my BA, moved to a new city with my girlfriend, got my first adult job, and traveled to Rwanda and Tanzania! Lots of moving about and doing things with people I love. It was stressful at times, but I regret nothing.
Last year I dropped out of my university program very suddenly in January, with no plan for the year or my future. By september I was living away from home for the first time ever, doing a completely different program in a tiny town a five hour drive away. On top of that: I extra'ed as a dead body in for a student film project, lucked into a crazy fun science education job I was ridiculously underqualified for, overcame a needle phobia and got my first piercing, befriended a group of fellow unicyclists, went on my first ever date at age 20, joined a varsity rowing team despite never imagining myself doing a serious sport, and learned to do taxidermy. A wild year, and one that's changed the trajectory of my life more than I could have imagined.
In 2011 I did a college exchange called Semester at Sea where for 3 months I lived and took classes on a cruise ship while circumnavigating the globe. I visited 12 countries and went through the Panama Canal. It was epic.
My wildest year up to this point would probably have been 2021. After a full year of a pandemic, I graduated college, backpacked more than 500 miles of the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin, walking about 20 miles a day on average. Then I took a job for the last few months of the year on Catalina Island removing invasive plants, which is the longest I have lived outside of Wisconsin. That year was a whole lot of learning and new experiences
7th grade! It’s tough gaining sentience.
The wildest year of my life would be 2009. After many years pining to meet my birth family, I received a letter unveiling my birth mother's name. I was able to locate and call my biological grandmother at her antique shop and a few days later had my first call with my birth mom. I now have an amazing relationship with her, my step dad, and my siblings. I felt like I was a lost puzzle piece finally being placed. It has been everything I could have hoped for. Oh, and I got to learn from them that I could fold my tongue into a clover.
My wildest year was 2014. I was a junior in high school, and both my brother and sister were getting married that summer. And both in Illinois (I live in Idaho). So that summer I traveled on a public bus from Idaho to Illinois for 3 days. Drove back with my sister. Then two months later drove to Illinois again, and was a bridesmaid, so I barely slept for three days. And in between the weddings I worked on my senior project (hand painting quotes from 20 books I read while at my school).
I was so exhausted by the end of that summer. And it was an adventure I never want to forget!
This last year I think.
I did a TEDx Talk, went to 3 different countries, 6 US cities, spoke at Radio City Music Hall, and finished my 6th short film. But at the same time, had (another) root canal, multiple breakdowns about health insurance costs, and was somehow homeless for 1/3 of the year (not fun). Amazing how things can exist on extreme ends of better and worse concurrently.
That’s all, folks!
Inspired by the art at the top of the newsletter, what are you a museum of? Tell us about the things (music, books, stories, etc.) you have loved throughout your life.
Send the things you’ve loved to [email protected]
