Fertility And Beer

The Global Fertility Crisis

Derek Thompson & Jesús Fernández-Villaverde | 18th May 2026

Interview; interesting throughout. 2023 was a unique year in human history, because our total fertility rate fell below replacement rate for the first time in 200,000 years. The epicentres of the fertility collapse will surprise people: Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East. If Thailand continues at its current fertility rate for 200 years, its population will decline from 63 million to 2 million (6,900 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Hanoi’s Humble Beer Glass

Parni Ray | Sunday Long Read | 15th May 2026

Ode to the Bia hơi cốc, the handmade, bumpy, blue-green glass in which Vietnam’s state breweries have been serving fresh draft beer since the 1970s. The cốc’s designer, Le Huy Van, wanted to create something “mundane, unprecious, cheap” with local glassblowers to suit the needs of a post-war state in austerity. Despite mass-produced glass from China flooding the market, the cốc has endured (5,000 words)