I’m Nathan Yau, and this is The Process, the newsletter for FlowingData members that looks closer at how the charts get made. Every month I collect tools and resources to help you make better charts. Here’s the good stuff for April. Become a member for access to this — plus tutorials, courses, and guides.

The Marshall Project highlights research on excess mortality in U.S. prisons: The slowdown in admissions meant that prison systems reduced the number of younger people exposed to COVID, while the older people already inside were left there. That’s because incarcerated people are generally older than those likely to be sent to prison. By the end of...

When we’re young, we tend to have fewer responsibilities, which means we can sleep and wake up later. Then work and parenting come along, and our schedules grow more structured. We can see the shift in the percentage of people who are sleeping, given their age. Read More

One of the challenges of understanding the weight of climate change is that it’s a slow process. You likely won’t see the full effect in your lifetime. So, for The Tardigrade, Julia Janicki and Daisy Chung placed your timeline against others to show how your future and others’ futures differ. Projections are from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...

Using a series of graphics, Reuters explains Israel’s defense against rockets, also known as Iron Dome. A key part of Iron Dome is its control system’s ability to discern what incoming targets pose a threat. If an adversary’s rocket will land harmlessly – in an unpopulated area or in the sea, for instance – it will not be intercepted. That makes it...

For The Upshot, Emily Badger and Francesca Paris compare the rates of existing mortgages against current rates for new loans. A stacked area chart shows the large share of existing rates that are lower, which means a lot of people aren’t so eager to move, relative to the past 20 years. I’m in that dark maroon group. Higher mortgage rates, higher listing...