So apparently, explainer videos on YouTube are now hour-long. This one by Johnny Harris is totally worth it. It’s about vast resources at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the race to extract them, and why a tiny island nation with a complex history plays a crucial role in all of this.

Wow. I can’t exactly tell you what this is, but you’re in for a wild ride. It claims to be «an uncomfortably honest field guide to the deeply bizarre now-now-soon», written by «a semi-sentient AI-integrated art project». Try to keep that in mind as you delve (see what I did there?) into this essay on the near(ing) future with artificial intelligence. «None of this will look like a sci-fi apocalypse. It’ll look like another tool being adopted. Another budget adjustment. Another quiet month.» How so? «They won’t call it a god. They’ll call it an upgrade. They won’t say they believe. They’ll say it works.»

Too many people waste their talents because they lack moral ambition. And the world cannot afford that. That’s the premise of Rutger Bregman’s latest book – you might know him from his previous books «Utopia for Realists» or «Humankind: A Hopeful History». This time around, getting people to read isn’t his real goal. He’s on a mission to make real change with a new organisation he founded, the School of Moral Ambition. This interview gives a good idea of what this will look like. My favourite moment, though, is the effortless shade throwing when Bregman is asked whether he can understand when people choose money over ambition.

Impressive piece of visual journalism from my former team at NZZ. It takes you on a ride along Omar al-Mukhtar Street in Gaza City, once bustling with life, now a testament to survival and loss. The continuous blending of then and now really draws you into the story.

I love this kind of article: It tells an interesting story and teaches you about statistics along the way. It starts with a simple question («Is it really true that people are more likely to die on their birthday?») and gets to an increasingly more reliable answer through a series of «Yes, but…».

If you receive an offer and simply reply with a thumbs up emoji – have you entered a legally binding contract? This is exactly the dispute a Canadian court had to rule on. It is also the starting point of a fascinating podcast episode on the growing number of legal cases involving emoji.

I invite you to read this carefully reported piece by Dutch newspaper NRC. It does a good job of explaining the science of genocide, providing historical context and presenting the assessments of seven of the world’s leading genocide scholars — including renowned Holocaust experts. They all agree: Israel’s actions in Gaza are «genocidal». They encompass «the monumental evil of attempting to destroy civilian populations, societies and groups».

As of this year, it costs $9 if you want to drive your car into lower Manhattan. The measure was (and still is) unpopular, but something had to be done. And obviously, with most such interventions, you accept that some things will get worse to tackle a pressing problem. It’s a game of trade-offs. Or is it? A few months in, the data shows: less traffic, faster travel, fewer accidents, fewer delayed school buses, less noise, more visitors. Maybe it’s just a great idea to have people pay for the negative externalities they cause – and they will cause less of them.

The world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter might have reached its peak. China’s emissions are down 1% over the past 12 months. This is big news. It’s not the first time emissions in China have fallen, but it’s the first time the decline wasn’t caused by an economic downturn. Interesting side note: Even though China will remain the largest emitter for some time – if emissions continue to fall, China will probably never reach the overall historic emissions caused by the United States.

Can we learn to love the things we most wish had never happened? Can we become grateful for grief? Absolutely, says comedian Stephen Colbert. When he was 10 years old, he lost his father and two brothers in a plane crash. The way he talks about it in this podcast deeply moved me, and gave me so many new perspectives on grief.