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Subscribe for Full Access Masthead About Archive Authors Sections Newsletters Shop Podcast Search Current Issue The Latest Manage Subscription Search Masthead About Archive Authors Sections Newsletters Shop Podcast Search [Report] The Ghosts in the Machine Spotify’s plot against musicians by Liz Pelly, Current Issue January 2025 Get Harper’s in print, instant digital access, and our 174-year archive—all for $23.99 a year Subscribe Now [Letter from Kansas] The Forever Cure Is civil commitment rehabilitating sex offenders—or punishing them? by Jordan Michael Smith, [Essay] Voices from the Dead Letter Office On the epistolary life by Cynthia Ozick, Order a print copy of the current issue at our online store. Shop Now [Harper’s Index] Portion of Americans who say that the election was one of the most stressful events of 2024 : 3/5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Who say that they didn’t care who won and “just wanted it to be over” : 3/10 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Factor by which the average wait for the Senate to confirm a political appointee has increased since 1981 : 4 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of positions requiring Senate confirmation that were vacant as of March 2024 : 1/5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Of such positions at the Department of Homeland Security : 1/3 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated percentage of corporate spending in the 2024 election that came from the cryptocurrency industry : 44 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage of Americans who own cryptocurrency : 7 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage change since 1982 in the portion of profits that U.S. corporations spend on philanthropy : −37 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage change since 2021 in the portion of Americans with a favorable opinion of Elon Musk : +25 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated percentage change since 2022 in preorders of new iPhones : −27 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] In sales of flip phones : +76 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of Americans aged 18–30 on social media who describe themselves as influencers : 1/4 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of self-described influencers who have never been paid for this work : 1/2 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage of Israelis who say that social-media posts criticizing their government should be censored : 50 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Who say that expressions of sympathy for civilians in Gaza should be : 59 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage of Jewish U.S. college students who say that accusing Israel of human-rights violations is anti-Semitic : 45 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Factor by which enrollment in the largest Jewish conversion program in the United States increased in the past year : 3 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of scientists who stop publishing research within five years of their first paper : 1/3 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Within ten years : 1/2 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated percentage of academic articles on mathematics published last year that were partially written by AI : 5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Of academic articles on computer science : 18 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated amount of energy, in kilowatt-hours, that was used to discover a new prime number last year : 3,100,000 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated number of U.S. households this amount of energy could power for a year : 287,000 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage of FEMA’s 2025 disaster-relief budget that was spent in the first eight days of the fiscal year : 48 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage by which the rise in the average cost of day care in the United States outpaced the rate of inflation last year : 160 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of American men who are interested in taking birth control : 4/5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Who would be willing to try birth control this year if it went on the market today : 1/2 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Who would be willing to try it if it involved an invasive procedure : 1/10 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated portion of global steel demand that the Saudi megacity Neom will account for by 2045 : 1/5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Estimated number of workers who have died since 2016 constructing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 megaprojects : 21,000 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage change over the past year in the portion of Americans who see Saudi Arabia as a U.S. ally : +73 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Number of people executed in the United States between September 20 and 26 last year : 5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Most recent year in which this many Americans were executed in a single week : 2003 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Rank of mental illness among the strongest demographic predictors of an American plotting an act of terrorism : 2 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Rank of serving in the military : 1 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Portion of Americans who say they go to great lengths to avoid conflict : 7/10 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Who believe that World War III is imminent : 4/5 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] Percentage change since 2013 in U.S. box-office revenue for comedy movies : −31 January 2025 Share [Harper’s Index] For horror movies : +70 January 2025 Share Weekly Review January 7, 2025 In the last days of 2024, police officers in Iowa arrested an intoxicated man for walking down the middle of the street with a sword and crossbow, police officers in… Read More Get the Weekly Review in your inbox A weekly email taking aim at the relentless absurdity of the 24-hour news cycle. Email address Sign Up Got it! Thanks for signing up! Harper’s Podcast Rachel Cusk and Ben Lerner: Live in Conversation Presented by Harper’s Magazine and the John Templeton Foundation. Listen Now Subscribe to the Podcast [Letter from Lebanon] Heliopolis Searching for home in the city of the sun By Youmna Melhem Chamieh [Story] Mother-Daughter Story By Sigrid Nunez [Reviews] A Man Out of Time Dino Buzzati’s accidental realism By Christopher Tayler Harper’s Art Desk View All A photograph by Ian Beesley from the second edition of his book Life, which was published last year by Bluecoat Press. Beesley’s retrospective is on view through December 2025 at Salts Mill in Bradford, England © The artist. Courtesy Bluecoat Press When Enough Is the Same As Momentary, a drawing by Elizabeth Shull, whose work is included in the exhibition All Small, through January 12, at Pamela Salisbury Gallery, in Hudson, New York. © and courtesy the artist A photograph by Tod Papageorge from his book Studio 54, which was published in November by Stanley/Barker. Courtesy the artist and Stanley/Barker Pour vivre - La Rue, a mixed-media artwork (china ink, colored ballpoint pen, and acrylic on paper) by ric Lambé, whose work is on view through February 1 at Galerie Martel BXL, in Brussels. © The artist. Courtesy Galerie Martel Utriusque cosmi . . . historia, 1617 by Robert Fludd from the book Magic Art by André Breton, with the assistance of Gérard Legrand, which will be published in January by Fulgur Press. Courtesy Fulgur Press Most Read [Report] The Ghosts in the Machine by Liz Pelly, [Essay] The Painted Protest by Dean Kissick, [Essay] Voices from the Dead Letter Office by Cynthia Ozick, [Folio] In the Rockets’ Red Glare by Rachel Kushner, [Letter from Washington] The Hindutva Lobby by Andrew Cockburn, Past Issues Get Access to Print and Digital for $23.99 per year Subscribe Now January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 January 2025 Harper’s Finest [Article] from the June 2021 Issue Prayer for a Just War by Greg Jackson “That our species has the power to destroy life on earth but not to contain wildfires in California should give us pause as we consider what our ingenuity and determination can do in the face of a violent planet. The ocean and atmosphere are simply too vast and complex for our minds to finely conceptualize or our tools to fully contain. Our powers are great but narrow, the world far bigger than we imagine.” Read More From the Archive Timeless stories from our 174-year archive handpicked to speak to the news of the day. Email address Sign Up Got it! Thanks for signing up! [Article] from the October 1851 Issue The Town-Ho’s Story By Herman Melville [Article] from the December 2016 Issue With Child The right to choose in Rapid City By Kiera Feldman [Article] from the February 2008 Issue Staying Awake Notes on the alleged decline of reading By Ursula K. Le Guin [Findings] Microplastics were found in sixty-two of sixty-two human placentas from a biobank in Texas. Share [Findings] Toxicity has remained a consistent feature of online interactions since 1989. Share [Findings] Humans are losing their ability to digest cellulose. Share [Findings] A metal scar on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 indicated that it has cannibalized other bodies in its orbit. Share [Findings] An orca acting alone killed a great white shark and ate its liver. Share [Findings] Genomic analysis indicated that psychedelic mushrooms emerged around the time of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic mass extinction. Share [Findings] The playing speed of a metal guitarist directly correlates with his intrasexual competitiveness but not his mating success. Share [Findings] Depression in humans is correlated with higher body temperature, and cold-water swimming mitigates menopause symptoms. Share [Findings] Researchers warned that, as temperatures rise, humans should prepare for more diarrhea. Share [Findings] Off the Five Finger Islands, a team of cetologists aboard the Glacier Seal conducted an extended conversation with a female humpback named Twain. Share [Findings] Astrophysicists argued that the development of advanced alien technology requires an atmosphere composed of at least 18 percent oxygen. Share [Findings] Onshore wind turbines severely deter German bats from foraging. Share [Findings] An AI that was fed the employment and health data of six million Danes turned out to be more accurate than existing sociological methods at predicting if a given person was about to die. Share [Findings] A mother is 4.6 percent more likely to give birth in the same month she was born, and adjacent siblings are 12.1 percent more likely to be born in the same month as one another. Share [Findings] Electric eel discharge transforms the DNA of zebrafish larvae. Share [Findings] True crabs independently evolved to live out of the ocean up to seventeen times. Share [Findings] The average American girl born in 2019 will take prescription drugs for more than half her life. Share [Findings] Scientists were not certain whether the globally synchronized waves observed in the brains of wakeful rats on ketamine or LSD were a cause or a symptom of hallucinations. Share [Findings] Geoscientists were confident that, given access to the oldest barnacles on the flaperon of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they could help pinpoint its crash site. 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