Last summer the temperature in London, where I live, climbed above 37 degrees Celsius—or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It was hotter outside my body than it was inside it. To someone raised under the sodden, used-tissue skies of Britain, that felt like an offense against nature. Everywhere I went, I felt the same constricting, breathless sensation. The heat was like a prison; I had been sentenced to 100 degrees.

A new United Nations–led report from hundreds of climate scientists around the world makes it clear: The human-driven climate crisis is now well under way. Earth is likely hotter now than it has been at any moment since the beginning of the last Ice Age, 125,000 years ago, and the world has warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius, or nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit, since the Industrial Revolution began—an “unprecedented” and “rapid” change with no parallel in the Common Era.

The Atlantic’s paid readership jumped by more than 280,000 in the last 12 months, according to the latest circulation statement filed with the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM). On that statement, which covers the first half of 2021, The Atlantic is reporting a total circulation of 833,410. This represents print and digital subscribers and newsstand sales, and is—by far—the highest circulation that The Atlantic has achieved across its 164-year history.

Shortly before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Celia, an American who was working as a teaching assistant in Spain, began to date a man casually. When the spread of the virus intensified, she essentially moved in with him. She was stressed about the status of their relationship, which they never defined. But the couple didn’t argue, and they were both very affectionate; after finishing work, they cooked and baked together.

From time to time, Gregg Popovich, the coach of the United States men’s national basketball team—which won a gold medal last night at the Tokyo Olympics with an 87–82, as-close-as-it-sounds victory over France—suggests a mad poet howling from a windy hillside.

If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you may have noticed that synchronized swimming has a new name. In July 2017, the International Swimming Federation, or FINA, announced that the sport would be called “artistic swimming,” effective immediately. Not everyone was a fan—to put it mildly.

Genetically, Xand and Chris van Tulleken are clones. Yet the 42-year-old twins do not look identical, because Xand is more than 30 pounds heavier than Chris. That is the biggest weight difference recorded in the long-running twin study at King’s College London.The van Tullekens live in London. They argue about food—specifically, how much Xand eats—all the time. They are also both medical doctors, and they present British television shows on health and diet.

When Tokyo bids farewell to the Olympics this weekend, few people there will be sad to see it go. The Japanese public overwhelmingly opposed hosting the postponed Summer Games, fearing that it could exacerbate the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. In the final week of the competition, Japan broke a record no one wanted, reporting more than 14,000 cases a day—its highest since the pandemic began.