homehome Home chatchat Notifications


The devastating scale of WWII and the new age of peace: one data-driven documentary

World War II was the most devasting war in human history, if we're to rank by casualties in absolute numbers or even in terms of horror. No other war was this gruesome.

Tibi Puiu
December 22, 2015 @ 7:59 pm

share Share

The Fallen of World War II from Neil Halloran on Vimeo.

World War II was the most devasting war in human history, if we’re to rank by casualties in absolute numbers or even in terms of horror. No other war was this gruesome.

There are few people alive today that lived through the war, let alone fought in it. In a couple of decades, this great human tragedy will only exist in history books once the last living memories die with the survivors. So, it falls to the rest of us to remember those times, even though we’ve never lived them, and make sure nothing like it happens again. Ever.

Neil Halloran wrote and directed this documentary/interactive graphic called The Fallen of World War II, which serves to illustrate the scale of WWII casualties. Using elegant data visualization, Halloran split his 15-minute documentary into three sections: the first examines military deaths, while the second deals with those of civilians (including victims of the Holocaust). The third, however, goes into a different territory showing how infinitely better the world has fared since WWII – an age of peace.

share Share

The Soviets sent most of its intellectuals to remote gulags. Decades later, those areas became more prosperous

A new study reveals that regions near Soviet GULAG camps are more prosperous today, thanks to the unintended legacy of intellectual capital of educated prisoners

Ancient Rome's lead air pollution may have dropped average IQ by up to 3 points

Ancient Rome’s relentless lead pollution may have dimmed the intellect of its citizens, leaving a toxic legacy that survives in today's Greenland ice sheet.

Adorabile Video: Wolf Puppy gets the Hiccups

Hiccups aren't just a human quirk—they're a shared trait among mammals like dogs and wolves.

Drone footage on New Year Eve is the prettiest thing I've seen today

Take a little break and enjoy the festivities all over again, all thanks to Jeff Cremer and his trusty drone.

What did Roman wine taste like? It was 'spicy' and had an orange color

The secrets of ancient Roman wine are being uncorked by modern science.

Ducks in the Amazon: Pre-Colonial Societies Mastered Complex Agriculture

Far from being untouched wilderness, the Amazon was shaped by pre-Columbian societies with a keen understanding of ecology.

This 5,500-year-old Kish tablet is the oldest written document

Beer, goats, and grains: here's what the oldest document reveals.

How a 1932 Movie Lawsuit Changed Hollywood Forever and Made Disclaimers a Thing

MGM Studios will remember Rasputin forever. After all, he caused them to lose a legal battle that changed the film industry forever.

Pee-back time: Anti-Pee Paint Splashes Back at Public Urination

When man piss in wind, wind piss back, a modern Confucius states. In this line, the city of Hamburg ingeniously sought to address its growing public urination problem in the city's busy party center by painting walls with hydrophobic paint. Next time an unsuspecting person wants to take a load off in Hamburg's St. Pauli neighborhood, he might be in for a surprise - it'll splash back at him.

In 1911, Einstein wrote a letter to Marie Curie, telling her to ignore the haters

The gist of it is simple: "ignore the trolls".