Archive - Hypertextual

💀 We finally know what Denisovans looked like!

Turns out Dragon Man and Denisovans were the same species after all. One ancient mystery solved, more to go!

7 hrs ago •

🐐 7 things I learned last week (Issue 012)

Here’s what I learned last week: goats can hear your mood, naps sharpen your brain, languages bend time, and building a civilisation takes 2,500 years.

Jun 16 •

🏗️ Do cities really need more buildings? My conversation with Francesco Pomponi

In our Urbi Atlas interview, Francesco Pomponi, a professor at the University of York, explained why true sustainability in cities means rethinking…

Jun 12 •

🏢 Why sustainable cities start with better data: My interview with Rokia Raslan

AI won’t build sustainable cities for us, but it can help us figure out how. In our Urbi Atlas interview, Rokia Raslan, a professor at UCL, explains how…

Jun 5 •

🏔 7 things I learned last week (Issue 011)

Toothaches predate teeth, climate change boosts satellite collisions, and ancient wine tasted like vanilla. What a week, what a world!

Jun 2 •

May 2025

🚗 What it takes to build sustainable urban transport: My interview with Jonas Junk

When I asked Jonas Junk of Oliver Wyman how to future-proof urban mobility, he didn’t mention apps or flying cars. He talked about parking tariffs…

May 30 •

✍️ 9 things I learned last week (Issue 010)

This week: semicolons are dying, the deep sea remains unseen, and your name lights up your brain like fireworks.

May 28 •

🌆 30 things I learned from a year of covering urban sustainability (Issue 009)

Over the past year, working as editor-in-chief of Urbi Atlas, I’ve discovered more than a few surprising facts about how cities work and how they could…

May 20 •

🐈 10 things I learned last week (Issue 008)

This week in Hypertextual: Neanderthal spears, dancing bees, and why car seats may have prevented 145,000 births. Plus, AI coding, ancient cats, and…

May 14 •

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 9 things about Scotland I learned last week (Issue 007)

I spent last week in Scotland and picked up some fascinating facts along the way—from billion-year-old meteorites to eroding golf courses.

May 7 •

April 2025

☠️ 10 things I learned last week (Issue 006)

Last week, I learned how a chocolate bar can shake the world, why sleep matters more than we think, and what happens when we drift too far from our…

Apr 28 •

🐝 14 things I learned last week (Issue 005)

Back again with a fresh batch of things I didn’t know last week. Highlights include a wasp that feels like a volcano, a 3D-printed train station built…

Apr 14 •

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