Updated with new questions at 3:30 p.m. ET on January 23, 2026.
In Princeton, New Jersey, a short stroll from teh university you have heard of, there lies a little campus home to the Institute for Advanced Study. It was founded in 1930 not to confer degrees nor-God forbid!-to make money, nor even to conduct research toward any end in particular. The institute proclaims that its purpose is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.”
Founder Abraham Flexner reckoned that brilliant minds, once freed to pursue “useless satisfactions,” would stumble upon discoveries of “undreamed-of utility,” as he wrote in a magazine a few years into the institute’s work. It seems to have worked for Albert Einstein, who had an office there. J. Robert Oppenheimer, too.
Enjoy this week’s useless satisfactions. I look forward to your theory of everything the week after.
Find last week’s questions here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily.
Friday,January 23,2026
- What 2025 film holds the record for most Oscar nominations,including one for its star,Michael B. Jordan (yes, just one, despite his playing two roles)?
– From David Sims’s article on how the oscars are rewarding Hollywood’s big bets - In 1848, President James K.Polk offered Spain $100 million to renounce its claim to what Caribbean territory-an offer the Spanish rejected, meaning that the United States never came to own the island?
– From Vivian Salama’s article on contemporary echoes of manifest destiny - The doctrine of foquismo-that a small group of guerrilla fighters can create the conditions for a revolution-was developed by what fighter of the 1950s and ’60s?
– From Jason Burke’s essay on the lessons of the previous century’s radicals
- What establishment is known as the “nation’s attic” for its vast collection of American artifacts?
– From Lily Meyer’s article on the long-running argument over that attic - The Arabic word for “everything” is the name of what website that concerns itself with elections, sports scores, geopolitical happenings, and basically any other predictable event a user can think up?
– from Saahil Desai’s article on the danger of this sort of site - What political-science term describes a country with a weak government, an exploited working class, and an elite-controlled economy that usually depends on one (possibly fruity) commodity?
– From Marc Novicoff’s essay on looking for a label for Donald Trump’s governance
And by the way, did you know that the vaunted Athenians, inventors of democracy, most commonly selected their political officeholders by chance? Bronze tokens representing the adult men of Athens would be slotted into a carved-stone device called the kleroterion, then dice would be repeatedly dropped into the contraption to rule out tokens until only the number required to hold office remained.
The proper poli-sci term for this is sortition, which also applies to how the United States selects people for jury duty today. But imagine the rest of U.S. democracy working like that: You’re tossing out your junk mail when you notice a letter from the feds-congrats, the big government Plinko board has decided you’re serving one year in Congress. Good luck!
Answers:
- The Smithsonian. The world’s largest museum complex is, naturally, more than just dusty storage, and the “attic” moniker belies the power the Smithsonian Institution has to shape the narrative of the United States, Lily writes. the story matters more than all the stuff-so it’s no wonder people fight over it, she says. Read more.
- Kalshi. Like Polymarket, Kalshi is one of those sites that purports to be a “prediction market” and not a gambling platform-repeat, not a gambling platform. Except, Saahil writes, any forum for betting is definitionally manipulable; the med
- Japan. Skiers encounter eerie snow formations created by wind and ice in the mountains of Yamagata prefecture, home to one of Japan’s oldest resorts. See the pictures.
- milk. The Trump administration is promoting whole milk consumption, echoing the “Got Milk?” campaign of the 1990s.Yasmin writes that the idea of perfectly safe, wholesome dairy is a myth. Read more.
- Chad. The “Chad” is a recognizable figure within the “looksmaxxing” subculture-an obsessive pursuit of physical enhancement. Thomas argues this reflects a moral crisis among young men. Read more.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
- Whereas swedish institutions select the winner of every other Nobel Prize, the award for peace is conferred by a committee from what country?
– From Anne Applebaum’s analysis of Donald Trump’s letter regarding Greenland. - What 1986 sports movie follows the boys of tiny Milan High School to their state-championship victory over Muncie Central?
– From Keith‘s report on college football and NIL deals.
