Weekly News Digest

Hero Rat Magawa Receives Award for Life-Saving Bravery - Apopo.org. In a virtual ceremony yesterday, Magawa won Britain’s highest animal honor, the PDSA Gold Medal, the first rat to do so in the 77-year history of the award. 

Visualizing the 200-Year History of U.S. Interest Rates - Visual Capitalist. U.S. interest rates will stay near zero for at least three years as the Federal Reserve enacts measures to prop up the economy. But are low interest rates a new phenomenon?

Techie Software Soldier Spy - NY Magazine.  Palantir, Big Data’s scariest, most secretive unicorn, is going public. But is its crystal ball just smoke and mirrors?

The Democracy Factory - California Sunday Magazine.  For decades, the vote-by-mail business was a sleepy industry that stayed out of the spotlight. Then came 2020.

Americans Might Never Come Back to the Office, and Twitter is Leading the Charge - The Washington Post.  Twitter’s plans for work from home indefinitely have prompted a wave of copycats. But its transformation has been two years in the making — and the rest of America can learn some lessons.

The Pirate Who Penned the First English-Language Guacamole Recipe - Atlas Obscura.  William Dampier’s food-writing firsts included the use of the words “barbecue” and “chopsticks.”

Energy Outlook - BP. The global energy system is likely to undergo a fundamental restructuring in order to decarbonize, which will create challenges and opportunities for the industry. Three main scenarios – Rapid, Net Zero, and Business-as-usual – provide a range of possible outcomes to understand the range of uncertainties ahead. Presentation.