Extra Credit: Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
Olympics on a hot planet (Hippo Reads)
If warnings about biodiversity and coastal cities haven’t already gotten you worried about climate change, consider this: Rising summer heat could ruin the Olympics. A recent study found that by 2085 there may be only eight cities outside of Western Europe fit to hold the summer Olympics. Istanbul, Paris, Tokyo, and hundreds of other cities will likely stand too large a chance of having to cancel events like the marathon due to heat.
The politics of pleasure in 1920s Harlem (Public Books)
by Keisha N. Blain
We often think of the Harlem Renaissance, with its unique place in African-American history, in terms of a handful of major artists and public figures. A new, deeply researched book considers the deeper legal, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the neighborhood’s daily life.
Why Trump talks the way he does (Vox)
by Tara Golshan
Donald Trump has a distinctive way of speaking, with off-the-cuff digressions, signature phrases like “many people are saying,” and sentences that trail off unfinished. Linguists who study political speech have some theories about what he is doing, and why it appeals to many people.
Bringing home the bacon, under stress (Washington Post)
by Danielle Paquette
Any feminist can tell you that conforming to a standard-issue gender role can be stressful. That’s true for men too, according to a new study, which found that married men tended to have worse physical and mental health when they were the family breadwinner.
How “super-recognizers” foil crime (The New Yorker)
by Patrick Radden Keefe
In London, as many as a million closed-circuit cameras record video of people in stores, on streets, and in other public spaces. But, for a long time, police trying to identify criminal suspects often had no way to match the image to a real person. The solution turns out not to be facial recognition software but officers who happen to have what researchers have identified as a distinctive capacity for recognizing people.
Have you seen a story online that does a good job of bridging the gap between the news and scholarship? Or something that seems particularly well-researched? Let us know and we may include it in next week’s roundup. Email us at jstordaily_submissions (at) jstor (dot) org.
