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The Grassroots Race to Save Altadena’s Historic Batchelder Tiles—Before the Bulldozers Move In

"In the Eaton Fire burn zone, fireplaces adorned with Arts and Crafts tiles are among the sole surviving relics of the town’s architectural heritage, and volunteers are on a mission to salvage them."

The Worst 7 Years in Boeing’s History—and the Man Who Won’t Stop Fighting for Answers

"Fatal crashes. A door blowout. Grounded planes. Inside the citizen-led, obsessive campaign to hold Boeing accountable and prevent the next disaster."

When Did I Start Getting Cancer?

"An environmental chemist investigates the origins of her leukemia."

Are Men in a Spermpocalypse?

"One man journeys through the many movements—sci-fi startups, DIY donor clubs, group masturbation retreats—urgently attempting to address the 'crisis in sperm.'"

The Nuns Trying to Save the Women on Texas’s Death Row

"Sisters from a convent outside Waco have repeatedly visited the prisoners—and even made them affiliates of their order. The story of a powerful spiritual alliance."

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending notable stories by Kelley Engelbrecht, Sam Anderson, Lindsey Liles, Jeannette Cooperman, and Claire McNear.

A ‘Jeopardy!’ Win 24 Years in the Making

"Harvey Silikovitz first auditioned for ‘Jeopardy!’ in 2001. On Monday, he finally got a chance to play."

The Unbearable Loudness of Chewing

"Why do some people find certain sounds intolerable? And why has it taken so long for scientists to get even a preliminary answer?"

Inside the Fight to Save theWorld’s Most Endangered Wolf

"Once, the red wolf roamed every Southern state. Today, only seventeen remain in the wild on a swampy peninsula in Eastern North Carolina, a number on the rise thanks to the passionate team of biologists determined to help them thrive once more."

The Great AI Art Heist

"A lab at the University of Chicago is protecting artists from theft by a new adversary: the machines."

Quieseeds

What if the key to understanding ourselves lies in the spaces between things—between words, between waves, between worlds?

The Dam, the Myth, the Legend: 50 Years of the Beaver

"An exploration of the buck-toothed, flat-tailed, landscape-shifting icon celebrating 50 years as Canada’s national symbol."

Plano Senior High Alum’s Instagram Quest to Find 1,122 Former Classmates

"An optometrist and Pokémon master Minh Nguyen has tracked down nearly 200 former classmates. It may have saved his life."

Turtleboy Will Not Be Stopped

"A profane blogger believes an innocent woman is being framed for murder. He’ll do anything to prove he’s right—and terrorize anyone who says he’s wrong."

What I Found on the 365-Mile Trail of a Lost Folk Hero

"The Old Leatherman, a sort of real-life Northeastern Sasquatch, g​ave me an excuse to step outside my own life."

It’s Taylor Sheridan’s World. We’re Just Watching It

"The Yellowstone auteur is printing money with his sprawling TV universe—a place where America is great again, work is glorified, and a lone, brave man saves the day."

Is God a Mushroom?

"New research into the role of psychedelics upends our understanding of spirituality—and with it, our vision of the cosmos."

What’s Your Type? A Reading List on Typefaces with Wild Tales to Tell

Seven stories exploring our love affair with type.

My Friend Chooses How and When to Die

"Does death lose its sting if it is the triumph of the will, and not an act of submission?"

 My Grandpa, the Fascist?

"An old family album sent me on a journey through Italy’s dark past in Libya."

Life, Death, and Sourdough

"A bubbling starter brought back Joe, in more ways than one."

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending notable stories by Adlai Coleman, Dan McQuade, Ronald W. Dworkin, Rebecca Burns, and Devon O’Neil.

A Middle-Aged Dad Visits Downhill Skiing’s Rowdiest Party. What Could Go Wrong?

"Our writer endured boozy days, sleepless nights in a hostel, and edge-of-your-seat racing at Kitzbühel’s legendary Hahnenkamm."

All Ecology Is Queer

"Nature’s networks, fluidity, and diversity are the keys to our future."

The Tale of the Early-Round KO of Muhammad Ali’s Champburger

"Ali may have continued to get his free burgers, but he never did get those hundreds of locations."

Madness, Melancholy, or Murder: An Ancient English Farm’s 50-Year-Old Mystery 

Andrew Chamings returns to his childhood farmland to investigate the mysterious deaths of the Luxton siblings. What really happened down that dark country lane?

The Heroines Who Take On The Harm

"I came to West Virginia looking for harm. I found resilience, the kind that keeps people alive, the kind that seems nearly miraculous, and the kind that is often overlooked."

When I Lost My Intuition

"For years, I practised medicine with cool certainty, comfortable with life-and-death decisions. Then, one day, I couldn’t."

Here Be Serpents

"A lifelong and morbid fear of snakes held me captive—until something much scarier raised its ugly head."

Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America

"The world’s largest retailer has built an Apple-esque corporate campus in Bentonville, is selling Gucci online, and is playing nice with Trump. Will any of it work?"

What Was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?

"Dave Eggers wrote a remarkable memoir, but its afterlife was even more extraordinary."

Feeling in Farsi, Writing in English: On Translating Your Life From One Language to Another

"Sahar Delijani navigates the complexity of conjuring her old life in a new language."

The Hardest Working Font in Manhattan

"This was what made me walk 100 miles. Over and over again, Gorton found ways to make itself interesting."

The Romance History Forgot

Sir Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed journey to the South Pole captivated the world. But hidden within the legend was a story that has never been told—a love affair between two of the crew who survived.

Shooting an Elephant in Botswana

"Trophy hunting is uncomfortable for some in the West but a lifeline for many locals."

The Diabolical World of Phone Scams

"How the RCMP busted the biggest fraud ever to target Canadians—and why they can’t keep up anymore."

Who Killed the Footless Goose

"Thirty-three years ago, Andy was the most famous bird in America. Then he was brutally murdered."

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Julia Webster Ayuso, Abe Beame, Tracy Thompson, Will Boast, and Gary Grimes.

Rappers Used to Sell the Booze. Now They Own It.

"E-40 and Ja Rule got real about taking control of the liquor industry’s love affair with hip-hop."

From the Gut

"A Literary History of Indigestion"

Solastalgia

"Pleasant memories of places past: that’s nostalgia. But what do you call the grief that comes when the modern world leaves nary a trace of the place that raised you?"

Day 1,509 in the Big Brother House

"Our writer, a lonely tweenager in rural Ireland, took to his computer and found new galaxies of possibilities – on a Big Brother forum."

Eco-Radical, Singer, Criminal, Cult Leader: Inside Carbon Nation

"Eligio Bishop declared himself a God to a group of dedicated followers he led through Central America, Mexico, and the US before landing in the Atlanta area. Now he's serving life in prison."

The Teacher in Room 1214

"When a gunman killed two of her students, Ivy Schamis was the only adult in the room. Her journey through guilt and healing sheds light on the impossible role of American teachers."

What Harm Reduction Really Looks Like

"Harm reduction advocates are implementing solidarity-based strategies for curbing drug overdoses in Minneapolis."

The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians

"A handful of gifted young tech people set out to save the world. For years, WIRED has been tracking each twist and turn of their alleged descent into mayhem and death."

Flushed Away

"The crappy lie Americans still believe about their toilets."

The Languages Lost To Climate Change

"Climate catastrophes and biodiversity loss are endangering languages across the globe."

The Women Who Made America’s Microchips and the Children Who Paid for It

"The US wants to bring back domestic chipmaking. But America’s first generation of Silicon Valley factory workers endured unsafe manufacturing conditions and never got answers about kids born with birth defects."

Life Lessons from a Coastal Wolf Pack

"In Alaska, a biologist and her family learn how quickly these iconic predators can change the menu—and bend the rules."

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