The pace of modern culture

2

nature research | reporting summary

October 2018

Behavioural & social sciences study design

All studies must disclose on these points even when the disclosure is negative.

Study description phenotypic data on assemblages of cultural artefacts and various organic species over time

Research sample species data: temporal data on the phenotypes of 10 species.

cultural data: the songs that entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, 1960–2010; American, Irish, and English novels published between 1840

and 1890; the articles published in the British Medical Journal, 1960–2008; car models sold in the USA, 1950–2010. Our samples of these

populations consist of 17,094 unique songs27, 2,203 novels that were collected by the Stanford Literary Lab in 201142, 170,577 clinical

articles and 2,210 car models.

Sampling strategy The species data were obtained from the literature, the sampling strategy is unique to each study and generally unknown.

The cultural data were mostly collected by us. For pop music, clinical articles and car models, these samples comprise at least 80% of the

study population; for novels our sample is an unknown, but much smaller, fraction of the population.

Data collection NA

Timing NA

Data exclusions no data excluded

Non-participation NA

Randomization NA

Reporting for specific materials, systems and methods

We require information from authors about some types of materials, experimental systems and methods used in many studies. Here, indicate whether each material,

system or method listed is relevant to your study. If you are not sure if a list item applies to your research, read the appropriate section before selecting a response.

Materials & experimental systems

n/a Involved in the study

Antibodies

Eukaryotic cell lines

Palaeontology

Animals and other organisms

Human research participants

Clinical data

Methods

n/a Involved in the study

ChIP-seq

Flow cytometry

MRI-based neuroimaging