Bonnie Berkowitz and Laura Stanton, “Roller Coasters: Feeling Loopy”

Bonnie Berkowitz and Laura Stanton

Bonnie Berkowitz and Laura Stanton are graphic artists at the Washington Post. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Berkowitz has researched and produced health and science pieces for the Post since 1995. She has also worked for several other newspapers, including the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Stanton graduated from the University of Notre Dame, freelanced for more than twenty years, and worked for the Chicago Tribune and the Dallas Morning News before joining the Post. The two frequently work together to create informative, visually rich infographics on topics that readers can easily relate to.

“Roller Coasters: Feeling Loopy”

In this interactive graphic for the online version of the Washington Post, Berkowitz and Stanton explain the physics at play in roller-coaster design, showing why our bodies and brains respond to such rides as they do. Coasters may depend on a fair amount of illusion, as the authors suggest, but anyone who has ridden one can attest that the effects—whether fear, excitement, nausea, or joy—are very real.

View the interactive graphic.

Click through “Roller Coasters: Feeling Loopy,” and respond to the following questions.

Questions on Meaning and Strategy

  1. Question

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