Up to date with new questions at 2:50 p.m. ET on February 19, 2026.
In the event you put any inventory within the capacity of IQ checks to evaluate intelligence, we people have spent the previous century steadily getting smarter. (And in the event you don’t put any inventory in them, effectively, we people have steadily gotten higher at IQ checks.)
As a result of IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s common rating nonetheless sits at 100—however this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100. IQ checks are recurrently recalibrated, and over the previous many many years, when new topics have taken an outdated take a look at, they’ve nearly all the time outscored their predecessors’ common; Grandpa’s technology might need hovered round 100, however the youngsters are scoring 115 … which then turns into the brand new 100.
This phenomenon is named the Flynn impact, and researchers nonetheless aren’t positive what causes it. Maybe it’s as a consequence of extra environment friendly training or higher diet. The rationale could possibly be that trendy environments include extra fascinating stimuli or that trendy gasoline now not comprises lead.
I haven’t seen anybody suggest that trivia is to thank, however the rising recognition of quizzing tracks with the IQ development line fairly effectively too. I feel I communicate for all of science once I say we shouldn’t rule it out fairly but.
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
- A 1934 authorities stock of what space tallied 13,500 Eskimo, 3,500 Danes, 8,000 sheep, and the world’s largest deposit of the strategic mineral cryolite?
— From Timothy W. Ryback’s essay on a historic determine’s pursuit of the place - Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė not too long ago mentioned that what nation of hers made a mistake in permitting Taiwan to open a consultant workplace in its capital, Vilnius?
— From Simon Shuster and Vivian Salama’s article on the nations caught between america and China - What five-letter phrase do behavioral scientists use to explain a delicate psychological cue—akin to putting wholesome meals at eye degree on the grocery retailer—that provides folks slightly push to behave a selected manner?
— From Rob Wolfe’s essay on the lengthy shift of systemic tasks to the person
And by the way in which, do you know that barcode scanning was initially greeted with an enormous backlash? The primary merchandise ever scanned by barcode was a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum at a grocery store in Troy, Ohio, in June 1974, however by the tip of the ’70s, solely about 1 p.c of shops had adopted barcodes.
Shoppers had been fearful that the tech could be used to tear them off. Advocacy teams mounted campaigns towards the barcode, and protesters even picketed shops that used scanners. Others swore that the barcode was the biblical “mark of the beast.”
Clearly, it will definitely caught on, and folks received over their fears—although in the event you ever get rung up at $6.66, perhaps provide to spherical to the following greenback, simply in case.
See you tomorrow!
Solutions:
- Greenland. That 1934 authorities, FYI, was the Nazi one. Ryback traces what seems to have been Adolf Hitler’s lifelong obsession with Greenland—a fixation that led Hitler to pursue Greenland’s navy and financial sources after his unsuccessful tariffs created a home mess in Germany. Learn extra.
- Lithuania. Lithuania tacked towards Taiwan (and thus america) when Joe Biden was nonetheless president, however Simon and Vivian report that the Trump presidency has not been variety to Lithuania and different small nations prefer it. Somewhat, they write, america’ give attention to america has compelled former companions to hunt—not all the time efficiently—their very own “strategic stability” with China. Learn extra.
- Nudge. It appeared for a time in the course of the Barack Obama years, Wolfe writes, that nudge politics had been going to save lots of the world, however analysis has since revealed how ineffective these pushes are (except they’re attempting to get folks to do the improper factor, wherein case they work a lot better). Learn extra.
How did you do? Come again tomorrow for extra questions, and in the event you suppose up an awesome query after studying an Atlantic story—or just need to share a truth—ship it my manner at [email protected].
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- What title is shared by the town that’s residence to the oldest repeatedly working college in North America and the one which’s residence to Europe’s third-oldest?
— From Rose Horowitch’s article about elite universities’ satellite tv for pc campuses - All main classes of competitors at this yr’s Winter Olympics characteristic mixed-gender occasions, save for what sport thought of too harmful for the combining of women and men?
— From Christie Aschwanden’s essay on these Olympics’ boon to girls’s sports activities - By what colourful title did Jesse Jackson confer with his imaginative and prescient of Individuals of all creeds, races, and backgrounds uniting to beat inequality?
— From Adam Serwer’s essay reflecting on Jackson’s legacy after his dying this week
And by the way in which, do you know that the College of Bologna is almost a millennium outdated? It’s the world’s oldest college that was based as such (at the least one older college began as a madrasa), and its alumni embody Copernicus, Dante, and multiple pope.
Think about attempting to jot down a halfway-decent poem for an project, and your classmate turns within the Divine Comedy. Then once more, at the least you’d have had a leg up on Copernicus, who in all probability received marked off a lot for insisting that the Earth really orbits the solar.
Solutions:
- Cambridge. Time was, schools caught to the spot the place they had been constructed, and globally acknowledged elite colleges largely nonetheless do (see Harvard and Britain’s Cambridge staying put). However Rose studies that increasingly more universities slightly below that prime tier are attempting to burnish their popularity by making a community of absolutely fledged satellite tv for pc campuses. Learn extra.
- Ice hockey. Aschwanden writes that gender mixing within the Olympics has steadily elevated over latest Video games and has in all probability finished extra to boost feminine athletes’ profiles than occasions that includes girls alone. Learn extra.
- The Rainbow Coalition. Adam writes that Jackson’s opponents did their greatest to show him into “an anti-white, anti-Semitic demagogue” however that this caricature by no means mirrored the precise man, who was steadfastly dedicated to egalitarianism. It’s simple to be cynical about Jackson, Adam writes. Don’t be. Learn extra.
