Up to date with new questions at 3:50 p.m. ET on March 3, 2026.
There’s an outdated rule of thumb that you just retain about 10 % of what you learn, 20 % of what you hear, 30 % of what you see through picture or video, and so forth up the ladder of experiential studying, till you get to a 90 % retention fee for the belongings you be taught by doing your self.
The teeny downside is that none of that is backed by science; it’s a bastardization of the “cone of studying” that the training theorist Edgar Dale developed however by no means meant to be prescriptive.
However doesn’t it really feel proper? So don’t simply learn Atlantic tales. Do them, with this week’s Atlantic Trivia.
Discover earlier questions right here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox day by day, join The Atlantic Each day.
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
- “Folks grew up, bought married, bought divorced, had youngsters, bought outdated and on a regular basis the portrait of [him] hung over their heads,” wrote the Soviet poet Joseph Brodsky in March 1973, 20 years after the demise of what man?
— From Gal Beckerman’s essay on crying at moments of dramatic change - Which two members of Congress launched the piece of laws enacted in summer season 2010 that overhauled monetary regulation after the Nice Recession?
— From Annie Lowrey’s article on the disappearing American mortgage - In what movie does a cowboy clarify to friends who’re impressed by an outsider’s seemingly superior weaponry that “it’s not a laser. It’s a—it’s a little bit mild bulb that blinks”?
— From Jacob Stern’s article on trendy militaries’ use of lasers
And by the way in which, do you know {that a} ample provide of standard-issue laser pointers, arrayed in order to focus their beams on a single level, might theoretically burn clear by means of an eyeball?
Some back-of-the-napkin math from a scientist on the American Bodily Society discovered that 200,000 or so laser pointers mounted on the within curve of a sphere the scale of a small automotive would do the trick—and soften the mind, too, if the laser-ee sat nonetheless for lengthy sufficient.
A grisly finish to make certain, but additionally scrumptious vindication for all of the mothers who ever mentioned Cautious the place you level that factor.
Till tomorrow!
Solutions:
- Joseph Stalin. Brodsky understood what Gal has seen within the days because the demise of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Loyalists and dissidents alike cry when a dictator who has deeply wormed into their consciousness is all of the sudden now not there. It’s a response to the loss, Gal writes, of “what felt like a set actuality.” Learn extra.
- Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. One of many results of the Dodd-Frank Act, Annie writes, was the tightening of mortgage lending and underwriting requirements, which “made the monetary system safer, but additionally made shopping for a house tougher for many individuals.” Now, even amid low unemployment and rising wages, the share of U.S. owners hasn’t elevated in half a decade, Annie studies; younger and working-class persons are lacking out on the “property ladder.” Learn extra.
- Toy Story. The lasers that militaries are beginning to deploy at this time are slightly extra highly effective than Buzz Lightyear’s piddly facsimile. Stern gives an outline of the know-how and the geopolitical implications—however he additionally warns that by focusing an excessive amount of on the small print, one dangers dropping sight of “one thing arguably much more profound: Laser weapons are actual now.” Learn extra.
How did you do? Come again tomorrow for extra questions, and when you suppose up an ideal query after studying an Atlantic story—or just wish to share a reality—ship it my means at [email protected].
Monday, March 2, 2026
- In a 1977 guide by Beverly Cleary, what titular little lady all of the sudden finds herself spending extra time with Mr. Quimby, her out-of-work father?
— From Eric Magnuson’s essay on literary depictions of stay-at-home dads - What time period collectively refers back to the mysterious and debilitating well being points which have affected dozens of U.S. personnel in Cuba because the mid-2010s?
— From Vivian Salama’s article on the place Cuba suits into President Trump’s interventionism - The favored Thai beverage Krating Daeng—named after a horned bovine of Southeast Asia—was tailored for the West within the Nineteen Eighties by an Austrian businessman who gave it what English identify?
— From Ellen Cushing’s article on how a sure class of drink is pivoting towards ladies
And by the way in which, do you know that the US as soon as reportedly deliberate to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro with a booby-trapped seashell? U.S. intelligence knew that Castro was an avid scuba diver, so it allegedly deliberate to load a very irresistible-looking mollusk with explosives and hope that Castro drifted by to research.
The scheme stands out as notably outlandish, which is admittedly saying one thing: The retired Cuban counterintelligence chief Fabián Escalante alleged that the CIA got here up with 638 plans in whole to assassinate Castro.
Solutions:
- Ramona. Magnuson, who just lately pulled collectively what he reckons is literature’s most complete record of stay-at-home dads, notes that Ramona’s time along with her father isn’t of notably prime quality; he principally smokes and watches TV. It’s a tragic stereotype of the incompetent at-home dad, Magnuson writes, that persists even many years later. Learn extra.
- Havana syndrome. For many years, Vivian writes, Cuba has been a “persistent and bipartisan annoyance,” and now, after dramatic interventions in Venezuela and Iran, Trump would possibly suppose he has the momentum to finish that annoyance as soon as and for all. She expects that the strain for regime change will solely develop. Learn extra.
- Purple Bull. The energy-drink market has remodeled repeatedly since then, Ellen writes. Within the early 2000s, it aligned itself with masculinity. After that, power drinks had been all about health. Now, in pastels and pinks and such flavors as Guava Lava, Ellen says, the drinks are coming for the women. Learn extra.
