Just a few things here, nothing big.

Since I grew up in Saudi Arabia, and love paleontology, this article about paleontology in Saudi Arabia was doubly interesting for me.  But it should be for you too—since Saudi seems to have been one of the main routes out of Africa for the human migration over the past half-million years or so.  Very cool.

This is just a sort of so-so piece on Maggie Nelson, who still deserves a study that goes beyond narration and description into deeper analysis.  But it’s for the NYTimes magazine so maybe that’s what was wanted.  But still, it’s in itself too light on details—feels a bit like a series of brief conversations, decontextualized.

This essay doesn't actually answer the question posed in the byline, or even offer a sophisticated analysis of the contributing factors, but it's on the topic of recent links in your We Are the Times. Not 538's best, but maybe of interest.

Jonathan Lear on Meghan and Harry, and the Humanities too, this should get all the kids riled up.  The stuff he says about how the humanities should be taught is good, too.

This, on China's growing isolationism, is worrisome. China should not become more like the United States. The United States should become more like China has been over the past few decades, at least in this respect: curious about the rest of the world, inquisitive, and definitely learning other languages. Not surprised that Xi and his government are doing this, but it is a very bad step, for them and for the world.

Pretty good piece on what kind of political writing can be valuable on the interwebs.  Makes the point that the “newsletter boom” may be showing us what useful, and even good, writing can be.

Be well!