Harper’s Findings Harper’s Index 23 | Washington Post Sunday Crossword Puzzle

harper’s

FINDINGS

Researchers concluded that who is president is the largest factor in U.S. income inequality. U.S. health-care costs rise in part because the system does not put a monetary value on human life. Attorneys with less-masculine voices win Supreme Court cases more often. Old American men adhere to a 1950s and ’60s ideal of masculinity that fails to prepare them for senescence. Mortality fell in Spain during their economic crisis because the lives of poor people became either less risky or more healthy. Brexit may alter the pattern of nurse migration to the U.K. The “Afghan Girl” was arrested for violating I.D. laws. Among Swedish men born in 1933, 15% were found to have become permanently stressed by age fifty. Jung’s anti-Semitism was found to have been mild. Rational and ridiculing arguments were found to be equally effective in countering conspiracy theories. Linguistic analysis revealed that pro-vaccine comments about Mark Zuckerberg’s baby on Facebook were less logical and rational than anti-vaccine statements. Gaëtan Dugas, referred to as H.I.V.’s Patient Zero, was actually Patient “O” but was subsequently misidentified. Fifteen percent ofhomeless Los Angeles youth are Juggalos. Agent Orange was not understood as a poison among residents of A Luoi until the late 1990s. Humans are good at recognizing partially obscured snakes. Great white sharks were becoming trapped in diving cages. A new theory of gravity may explain the existence of dark matter. v

The idea of cooperation among chimpanzees was cast into doubt, because such cooperation requires that the dominance of any given group member be artificially constrained. Mob behavior allows hyenas to wrest food from lions. If voice commands conflict with gestural commands, dogs obey the gestures. Authoritarian parents exhibit reduced neural response to seeing their adolescent children win money; adolescents with permissive parents exhibit reduced neural response to seeing their parents lose money. By “losing” both stamped and unstamped letters around Perth and seeing how many were eventually mailed, Australian researchers concluded that both financial costs and low socioeconomic status dampen altruism. The more severe the violation of a social norm, the more reluctant bystanders are to call it out, for fear of retaliation. Time pressure does not change the behavior of subjects playing dictator games. Women playing dictator games are more altruistic if they have been exposed to an odorous compound derived from testosterone. Debate continued as to whether the tears of women dampen the sexual responses of men. Sixteen heterosexual men reported an interest in ejaculating on women’s faces while generally believing that the women themselves would not be interested. It remained unclear whether there are benefits to unrealistic optimism. v

Quantitative bioscientists described an oscillating tragedy of the commons. Every aspect of life on earth has been affected by climate change. In 2017, the world’s 2nd largest hypersaline lake was at 20 percent of its 1960 level. Thousands of scrotum frogs were found dead near Lake Titicaca. Tropical bedbugs were reported in Florida for the first time in sixty years. A North Korean zoo chimp continued smoking a pack a day. The odds of a multidecade megadrought occurring in the U.S. Southwest this century are as high as 50%t, and Mayan civilization may have collapsed because of a failure to change habits of consumption during water shortages. The bulwark of old, stable Arctic sea ice was rapidly disappearing. Greenlandic fossils revealed the recoveryof life on earth after 90% of all species died at the Permian–Triassic boundary. It became easier to identify the last signals from stars that were consumed by black holes. Water-rich planets orbiting Proxima Centauri are probably habitable. n

INDEX

% by which the number of international borders with barriers has increased since 2014: 48 Year in which the U.S. Census Bureau added a category for people from the Middle East and North Africa: 2020 % of immigrants seeking asylum who are successful in an Atlanta court: 2 In a New York City court: 84 # of statues in New York’s Central Park that depict women: 19 % of those statues that depict fictional women: 100 # of Shakespeare’s plays that the Oxford U. Press now co-credits to Christopher Marlowe: 3 # of emoji acquired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2017: 176 % change since 2000 in the purchasing power of U.S. Social Security checks: –22 Portion of new U.S. parents who have taken a lower-paying job because it offered better family benefits: 1/2 % of U.S. teachers who leave the profession each year: 8 Average % pay cut a U.S. worker would take to be able to work from home: 8 Average salary of a Harvard University cafeteria worker, including a raise given after a strike in: $35,000 Total value of Harvard’s endowment: $35,700,000,000 # of deaths in Japan attributed to overwork in 2015: 189 % of donated organs in New England that came from victims of drug overdoses in 2010: 4 2011: 27 # of years in prison to which an Indonesian woman was sentenced for poisoning a friend’s iced coffee: 20 % by which the café has raised the price of its iced coffee since the murder: 37 % change since 2003 in the number of bank heists in the United States: –46 In complaints of internet fraud: +131 Chance that an American adult is searchable in facial-recognition databases used by U.S. law-enforcement agencies: 1 in 2 % of local U.S. jails that have implemented video visitation: 14 Portion of those jails that have abolished in-person visitation: 3/4 # of African countries that opted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court: 3 % of people charged by the International Criminal Court who are African: 97 Length, in years, of the maximum jail sentence under a proposed South African law criminalizing racial slurs: 10 Estimated # of gay and bisexual men whom the United Kingdom posthumously pardoned for sexual crimes: 50,000 Portion of the leaders of Scotland’s major political parties who are gay or bisexual: 3/5 Estimated portion of female parliamentarians worldwide who have been subject to physical violence while in office: 1/4 # of members of the Pirate Party elected to the Icelandic parliament in October: 10 # of hours after the first U.S. election polls closed that the Canadian Immigration Services website crashed: 5 Average % change in the stock value of the five largest U.S. defense contractors the week after Trump’s election: +8 Estimated # of votes by which Donald Trump won the state of Wisconsin: 27,000 Of registered Wisconsin voters who lacked voter identification: 360,000 # of newly elected senators who are non-white females: 3 Year in which the U.S. population of eligible voters is projected to be majority minority: 2052 # of men elected to the U.S. presidency before 2016 despite losing the popular vote: 4 Portion of those victors who went on to be one-term presidents: ¾

SOURCES: 1 Élisabeth Vallet, Université du Québec à Montréal; 2 U.S. Census Bureau (SuitlanMd.); 3,4 Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice (Falls Church, Va.); 5,6 New York City Department of Parks and Recreation; 7 Gary Taylor, Florida State University (Tallahassee); 8 Museum of Modern Art (N.Y.C.); 9 Senior Citizens League (Barboursville, Va.); 10 Social Security Administration (Baltimore); 11 Bright Horizons Family Solutions (Watertown, Mass.); 12 Learning Policy Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.); 13 Amanda Pallais, Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.); 14 Local 26 (Boston); 15 Harvard Management Company (Boston); 16 Scott North, Osaka University (Suita, Japan); 17,18 New England Organ Bank (Waltham, Mass.); 19 Central Jakarta District Court (Indonesia); 20 Olivier (Jakarta); 21,22 Federal Bureau of Investigation; 23 Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology (Washington); 24,25 Prison Policy Initiative (Los Angeles); 26,27 International Criminal Court (The Hague); 28 South Africa Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (Pretoria); 29 U.K. Ministry of Justice (London); 30 Stonewall Scotland (Edinburgh); 31 Inter- Parliamentary Union (Geneva); 32 Pirate Party (Reykjavík, Iceland); 33 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (Ottawa); 34 NASDAQ (N.Y.C.); 35 Associated Press (Washington); 36 Leland Beatty (Austin, Tex.); 37 Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J.); 38 Brookings Institution (Washington); 39,40 Gil Troy, McGill University (Montreal).

SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1 Moundville Native American Festival’s state 8 “Come on, move it!” 14 President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud 19 Diatribe over a president’s record, e.g. 20 Arriving when expected 21 “You can stop saluting now, private” 22 Ecclesiastical official 23 Gomez’s texting sign-off to his hairy relative? 25 Line that intersects a curve at two points 26 Result of a math test? 27 “Fine and Mellow” singer Jones 28 ___ Aviv 29 Gives cards to 32 Social pressure source 33 Toasted lunches, often 34 Promise to provide congers and morays? 39 Papier-___ 41 Maker of giant rubber bands (for tripping roadrunners) 42 Like the first digit of pi 43 2020 World Series runners-up 45 Transcript listing 48 Inactivity activity 51 Take part in a consumer protest over sporty car roofs? 53 Play to the crowd 54 Big bird with tiny wings 56 Styx guitarist Tommy 57 “Tell us how you really feel!” 58 Informal guess 60 Jazz saxophonist Brown 62 Hamm who was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame 64 Mixed martial artist Diaz 65 ___ Majesty the Queen 68 Labels for gory movies, as assigned by the Beatles’ Ringo? 73 “Da 5 Bloods” director Spike 74 Rest ___ (driver’s stop) 76 Scratch out, with “out” 77 Fireplace residue 78 Fireplace residue 80 Skip, as school 82 Human right? 85 Olive in cartoons 87 Steep-walled passages 91 Striped hyena relative featured on ESPNU? 94 Actor who provided the voice of the octopus Hank in “Finding Dory” 96 Exercise with a form called Playing the Lute 97 Ward of “The Fugitive” 98 “A long time ago in a galaxy ___, ___ away ...” 99 “The Eye” actress Jessica 100 Ones exposed by fact-checkers 102 When a Looney Tunes hunter launches an invasion? 106 Desert elevation 108 Upper part of a torso 110 Recipient of a neonatologist’s care, informally 111 Frida Kahlo’s field 112 Glass part of a skylight 113 Shade on the Chicago Bulls uniform 114 Inventor of the flute, per Greek myth 119 Disgusting shipwrecked ship on a TV sitcom? 124 Got down during a knighting ceremony 125 Opposite of cheerful 126 Savanna antelope 127 Made surgical cuts in 128 “___ we all?” 129 In a nimble way 130 Groups of four, and what’s spelled out by the groups of four in this puzzle’s theme answers

DOWN

1 Hackathon projects 2 Passed-down tales 3 “Doctor Zhivago” actor Guinness 4 “The Wooden Prince” composer Bartók 5 “Gone” actress Seyfried 6 Bit of skiing wear, maybe 7 Good badminton service 8 Not distracted 9 Societal instability 10 ___ Rasmussen, first openly transgender mayor in the United States 11 “Deck the Halls” contraction 12 British record co. 13 Opera singer Fleming 14 “___ way!” 15 Poker player’s action 16 Last-fighter-standing contest 17 Till now 18 Moves, as product 21 Pull in, like a magnet 24 Newsletter tidbit 26 Large hammer Four of a Kind by EVAN BIRNHOLZ

30 Large amount 31 Roman emperor who fiddled, as legend has it 32 “Tricked you!” 33 The only carbon-negative country in the world (since 2017) 34 [I’m freaking out!] 35 Sch. where the first Internet message was transmitted (in 1969) 36 Churchgoer’s affirmation 37 Strips for oboists 38 Puts down 40 Collapsible beds 44 “Same for me” 46 Petty vindictiveness 47 Cosmetics titan Lauder 49 Subjects of many viral videos 50 Quite cross 51 Odom Jr.’s role opposite Miranda’s Hamilton 52 They may wear matching outfits during their youth 55 Ruin the appearance of 59 Cookie cutter? 61 Tax-deferred plan, briefly 63 1960s-style suffix that means “in abundance” 65 Lacked 66 Comedian Rhodes 67 Chain component 69 Prepares for a book club meeting 70 Beginning on 71 “If ___ heart fails thee, climb not at all”: Elizabeth I 72 “Any moment now” 75 Pea family shrub 79 Sneaker pattern 81 “LOL” 83 Like the taste of milk chocolate 84 Ring, as a bell 86 Flipped (through) 88 Adorn, as some jewelry 89 “Able was I ere I saw ___” (palindrome) 90 Wow, as in a drag show 92 Home of the jets 93 Device with a bulb 95 With 124 Down, setup with a snare 98 Setting for many a high-speed chase 101 Hot bodies in space 103 “Afternoon of an Elf” composer Garner 104 Singer Reeves with the album “Beautiful Life” 105 Pick up 106 Vented rock 107 Entering this answer at 106 Down, e.g. 109 Round before the finals 112 Soft summons 115 Recipient of a land grant? 116 Animated daughter of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna 117 Constant care, to an infant 118 Includes, with “in” 120 One in a family tree 121 Misbehaving kid 122 Host of the “Louder Than a Riot” podcast 123 Rejection in the Senate 124 See 95 Down

Solution to this month’s puzzle on page 20