Articles to read when you need to be distracted: recent history edition

Need a break from thinking about fertility, infertility, pregnancy, parenting, grief, loss, etc.? Take a moment to catch up on recent history through one of these articles about the events of the past sixty years.

***

Every once in a while, I feel an unprompted need to fill a weird gap in my knowledge about something: when I can’t for the life of me remember what the substance that holds log cabins together is called, for example (it’s called “chinking”), or when I can’t recall the difference between arctic and polar bears (upon investigation, I have realized there’s no such thing as an arctic bear). Recently, it popped into my mind that I don’t know much about Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Did we ever figure out what happened to that flight? In this edition of “Articles to read when you need to be distracted,” get up to date on something that happened in each of the past six decades.

In the 1960s, Swedes switched what lane they drove in. Did it work? Find out here.

In the 1970s, there were reports of a mutiny in space. What really happened? Find out here.

In the 1980s, there were riots over what many have called “the ugliest dolls in the world”. What dolls were they? Find out here.

In the 1990s, plastic animals were dumped into the sea, prompting this longform article about what happened but also about the cost of plastics, our view of animals, and the meaning of childhood. You can read it here.

In the 2000s, there was a bizarre (and violent, full warning) bank robbery called the “Collar Bomb Heist.” Find out more here.

In the 2010s, Flight 370 was lost. Find out more here.

***

If you’re looking for more things to read as you reset, check out the other posts in this series:
articles to read when you need to be distracted, animal edition
articles to read when you need to be distracted, sports edition
articles to read when you need to be distracted: food and restaurant edition