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Sketchplanations makes complex ideas simple with clear, insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and beyond explained in pictures.

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Recent sketches

The Oxford comma

The Oxford comma is the comma after the penultimate item in a list. It’s normally a matter of style — you can happily choose to leave it out — though in some cases it can clarify what would otherwise be an ambiguous meaning, as in this well-cited book dedication “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.” Or, more pertinently, in a recent legal case where ambiguity hinging on the lack of an Oxford comma is costing a dairy firm a $5m overtime payment to its drivers. HT: Jon Hoare…The Oxford comma is the comma after the penultimate item in a list. It’s normally a matter of style — you can happily choose to leave it out — though in some cases it can clarify what would otherwise be an ambiguous meaning, as in this well-cited book dedication “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.” Or, more pertinently, in a recent legal case where ambiguity hinging on the lack of an Oxford comma is costing a dairy firm a $5m overtime payment to its drivers. HT: Jon Hoare

17 Feb 2018

How to grow your own fresh air

UPDATE: Since releasing this sketch, which is a fair summary of Kamal Meattle's TED talk, it's been made clear that, though plants do improve air quality, the improvement doesn't compare with a simple change like opening the window. NASA conducted the original "Plants Improve Air Quality" study in an environment wholly unlike having a few plants in your living room. Listen to James Wong explain the situation in the Sketchplanations botany podcast. Original text: In his 4-minute TED talk, Kamal Meattle explains how to grow your own fresh air inside with just three common house plants. The areca palm works hard during the day, the mother-in-law’s tongue during the night, and the money plant cleans out volatile chemicals. He transformed the air inside a New Delhi office park by filling it with these three plants with seemingly some wonderful health and productivity benefits. Though plants are undoubtedly lovely to add to your office and home, see the update above for the caution around their potential to freshen your air.…UPDATE: Since releasing this sketch, which is a fair summary of Kamal Meattle's TED talk, it's been made clear that, though plants do improve air quality, the improvement doesn't compare with a simple change like opening the window. NASA conducted the original "Plants Improve Air Quality" study in an environment wholly unlike having a few plants in your living room. Listen to James Wong explain the situation in the Sketchplanations botany podcast. Original text: In his 4-minute TED talk, Kamal Meattle explains how to grow your own fresh air inside with just three common house plants. The areca palm works hard during the day, the mother-in-law’s tongue during the night, and the money plant cleans out volatile chemicals. He transformed the air inside a New Delhi office park by filling it with these three plants with seemingly some wonderful health and productivity benefits. Though plants are undoubtedly lovely to add to your office and home, see the update above for the caution around their potential to freshen your air.

10 Feb 2018

Tame unruly crisp packets

So, you finish a packet of crisps, or chips, and scrumple the packet up, but in just keeps uncrumpling and tries to blow away. No longer. This handy little bit of origami creates a neat and tidy little triangle that keeps your crisp packet behaving. Give it a try next time. HT: Dave Barker taught me this about 20 years ago. I still find it useful.…

3 Feb 2018

The Streisand Effect

The Streisand effect describes what happens when you try to censor or suppress information: it draws attention to it. It’s named Streisand after Barbara Streisand tried to have an aerial photo of her house removed from a set of California coastline photos intended to document coastal erosion. Views of the photo apparently went from 6 to 420,000. The Streisand Effect as a term was coined by Mike Masnick…The Streisand effect describes what happens when you try to censor or suppress information: it draws attention to it. It’s named Streisand after Barbara Streisand tried to have an aerial photo of her house removed from a set of California coastline photos intended to document coastal erosion. Views of the photo apparently went from 6 to 420,000. The Streisand Effect as a term was coined by Mike Masnick

28 Jan 2018

Zip backpacks to the side

So maybe this was always obvious to you, but someone showed me this when I was in my 30s and it was hard for me to believe that it took 30 years for me to learn it. So, now you know. A simple tip to stop your bag coming undone — particularly if you’re walking or running and you’ve stuffed it too full like I do.…

20 Jan 2018

9-Enders (nine-enders)

Nine-enders are people in the last year of a decade, say, 29, 39, 49, 59. Adam Alter and Hal Hershfield, who introduced the term, propose that as we approach the end of a decade we are more likely to do a kind of "meaning audit" of our lives. And in the years just before the end of a decade, if we may have fallen short or feel there’s something else we want to accomplish, we’re much more likely to do it then than in any other year of a decade. In practice, as Dan Pink shared in his book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, these are, therefore, the times when we’re more likely to do something extreme like running a marathon for the first time and, sadly, also committing suicide. Take care out there. Read more in Dan Pink’s Atlantic article: You’re Most Likely to Do Something Extreme Right Before You Turn 30, Dan Pink, The Atlantic Or: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Dan Pink People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age, PNAS, vol. 111 no. 48, Alter and Hershfield, 2014. This sketch, updated and polished, features with a number of others in my book Big Ideas Little Pictures.…Nine-enders are people in the last year of a decade, say, 29, 39, 49, 59. Adam Alter and Hal Hershfield, who introduced the term, propose that as we approach the end of a decade we are more likely to do a kind of "meaning audit" of our lives. And in the years just before the end of a decade, if we may have fallen short or feel there’s something else we want to accomplish, we’re much more likely to do it then than in any other year of a decade. In practice, as Dan Pink shared in his book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, these are, therefore, the times when we’re more likely to do something extreme like running a marathon for the first time and, sadly, also committing suicide. Take care out there. Read more in Dan Pink’s Atlantic article: You’re Most Likely to Do Something Extreme Right Before You Turn 30, Dan Pink, The Atlantic Or: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Dan Pink People search for meaning when they approach a new decade in chronological age, PNAS, vol. 111 no. 48, Alter and Hershfield, 2014. This sketch, updated and polished, features with a number of others in my book Big Ideas Little Pictures.

13 Jan 2018

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