Who’s winning the medal count in the Beijing Olympics? It depends on how you ask the question. In this piece, Josh Katz explores the various ways of evaluating the medals race, exploring which countries would be in the lead if different medal ranks (Gold, Silver, Bronze) were assigned different weights.

The article includes a novel visual representation of these weights, and allows the user to interact with the charts to see how different weights might affect their countries’ ranking.

The team at Reuters has composed a series of beautiful and informative maps and charts depicting Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. They take an incredibly complex topic and make it much more digestible for those who may not be energy experts, aided by compelling visuals.

Technically, the article contains a mix of maps, treemap diagrams, slopegraphs, and line charts. There are also flow diagrams showing how Russian gas flows through a variety of European countries, and how these pipelines might be affected by the current conflict in Europe.

For the Washington Post, Ashlyn Still and Daniela Santamariña have made the complex Supreme Court confirmation process a bit more understandable through prose and an accompanying infographic.

The infographic is meant to depict the process; as such, it doesn’t rely on visualizations as much as it does elucidate the linear process of confirmation, from start to finish. It includes effective icon usage, and a couple visualizations depicting the size of the Senate Judiciary Committee and of the Senate.

Michelle Rial teamed up with Raphael Lee to visualize what people around the world are Google searching at various times throughout the day.

The visual essay uses illustrations and handwritten typography to give a feeling of whimsy. If you’re interested in the data itself, you can click “Explain it with data” to dive a bit deeper. Such toggles are a great example of giving your audience what they need, and providing additional information on request.

Tizianna Alocci has asked the Twitterverse to share their favorite text-based data visualizations. The request received over 90 replies, which include some hidden gems we had never seen before.

Also, Russell Goldenberg compiled all of the links into one Gist, which you can find here. Happy reading!