4th
Politics
9/11: The beginning of the end of the American Century
Nick Bryant · ABC News · September 2026
The terror attacks of 9/11 briefly united a shattered America. But 25 years on their legacy remains in the wars, political divisions and geopolitical shifts that followed.
4th
Philosophy
More than a feeling - thinking about love as a virtue can change how we respond to hate
Tucker J. Gregor · The Conversation · February 2026
Love and hate seem like obvious opposites - but for philosophers of virtue, it’s not so simple.
4th
Politics
How the Consulting Class Is Eating the Democratic Party
Adam Bonica · The New Republic · October 2026
Fundraising costs gobble up most of the funds raised. Billions are spent on TV ads that have virtually no impact. Candidates may win or lose, but the consulting class always wins.
4th
Nature
How Do Fungi Keep the Planet Healthy?
Steven Strogatz · Quanta Magazine · October 2026
Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers explains how fungal networks in soil trade nutrients with plants, help keep carbon underground, and strike bargains without having a brain.
4th
Nature
Nature’s Super Feather
Jim Robbins · The New York Times · February 2026
Filoplumes may be tiny, but these hairlike feathers enable nonstop flights that span thousands of miles.
4th
Nature
Bird Song
Mya · allaboutbirds.org · May 2026
How and Why Birds Sing The Nine Most Important Things To Know About Bird Song Songbirds have the chops Songbirds learn their songs and perform them using a…
4th
Nature
Meet the bird that can fly 8,000 miles without stopping
Bruce M. Beehler · The Washington Post · February 2026
B6, a bar-tailed godwit, offers puffed-up humans a lesson in humility.
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4th
Culture
A Night Living in Penn Station
Anand Giridharadas · The New Yorker · September 2026
In an excerpt from Anand Giridharadas’s book “Man in the Mirror,” he writes about social workers who try to persuade homeless New Yorkers to enter shelters.
4th
Politics
The Dark History of the Smiley Face
Bill Shaner · Playboy · May 2026
Journalist Bill Shaner looks behind the story of the smiley face—one filled with secrets you wouldn't guess from its happy veneer.
13th
Crime
A death, a plagiarism scandal and a quest for revenge: the bizarre tale of Otto Z
Alessio Perrone · The Guardian · October 2026
The long read: After his mother died, Otto became convinced he’d been wronged by the forensic investigators - and that one of them was a fraud. The truth was even stranger
14th
Disaster
Could the Deaths at Camp Mystic Have Been Prevented?
Kerry Howley · Intelligencer · March 2026
Could the deaths at Camp Mystic have been prevented? Twenty-seven girls died in a Texas flood, dividing a community over whether it was an act of God or the fault of camp leadership.
15th
Technology
Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You
Ryan Moulton · Ryan Moulton's Articles · June 2026
An atlas of the vibrance of the real world
16th
Education
The greatest risk of AI in higher education isn’t cheating
Jacob Burley · The Conversation · February 2026
Automating knowledge production and teaching weakens the ecosystem of students and scholars that sustains universities, raising existential questions about their mission.
16th
Music
The Death Poem Of Bob Marley
John Marcoux · COLUMBIA JOURNAL · July 2026
This essay links Bob Marley's final work, "Redemption Song," to the Buddha's final teaching and to a 1,000-year-old Zen tradition of death poetry--when you know you are about to die, compose an enlightened goodbye. Written as a guided meditation, the essay leads the reader through Marley's final months, into the death poet's state of mind, and then back to 1980 to watch Marley perform "Redemption Song" live in concert. Ambitious, fantastically vivid, original, thought-provoking, inspiring, and it even sticks the landing.
16th
Personal
I Lost Myself When I Lost Hong Kong
Tiffany Huang · Electric Literature · September 2026
If returning to America was like getting on a lifeboat, why did I feel like I was drowning?
16th
Culture
The Life and Times of an American Tween
Anna Wiener · The New Yorker · May 2026
Anna Wiener profiles a twelve-year-old and asks, “What’s it like to be a kid these days?”
16th
Business
The Whimsy and Heartbreak of America’s Garage Sales
Caity Weaver · The Atlantic · June 2026
For $100, I bought bric-a-brac that explains a nation.
16th
Science
Some Scientists Have ‘Magic Hands’ in the Lab. This A.I. Is Learning Why.
Carl Zimmer · The New York Times · August 2026
Even the most adept researchers may not know exactly what they do to get successful results. An A.I. model is trying to figure it out by watching every move.
16th
Family
A Custody Fight Between a Chinese Man and Florida Surrogate
Emi Nietfeld · The Cut · August 2026
A man in China hired a surrogate in Florida to carry his triplets, then he didn’t come to pick them up. Now, in a legal battle that could upend the international surrogacy industry, they’re fighting over who will raise them.
16th
Personal
What Science Knows About Grief
Amanda Petrusich · The New Yorker · June 2026
After my husband’s death, I had never been more pliable, tender, open, or raw, Amanda Petrusich writes. It was then that I tried E.M.D.R. therapy.
16th
Nature
Did a Climber Leave His Girlfriend to Die at the Top of a Mountain?
William Finnegan · The New Yorker · June 2026
A couple—an experienced mountaineer and his girlfriend, a novice—set out to climb Austria’s tallest mountain. She died near the summit. Was it a case of “alpine divorce”? William Finnegan reports.
16th
Culture
The Mathematical Reason Most People Never "Make It"
Kaguura Gichuru · The Write Path · January 2026
Discover Price's Law: why the square root of people do 50% of the work. Learn how to apply this mathematical pattern to scale your content, skills, and personal brand effectively
