The Atlantic

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Where Is It?

Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian Ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say.

William Langewiesche: The Sinking of the Estonia

One of the worst maritime disasters in European history took place in 1994. It remains very much in the public eye. On a stormy night on the Baltic Sea, more than 850 people lost their lives when a luxurious ferry sank below the waves. From a mass of material, including official and unofficial reports and survivor testimony, our correspondent has distilled an account of the <em>Estonia</em>’s last moments—part of his continuing coverage for the magazine of anarchy on the high seas.

The End of Reading Is Here

Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.

The People Who Prioritize a Friendship Over Romance

“Our boyfriends, our significant others, and our husbands are supposed to be No. 1. Our worlds are backward.”

The Lazarus File

In 1986, a young nurse named Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in Los Angeles. Police pinned down no suspects, and the case gradually went cold. It took 23 years—and revolutionary breakthroughs in forensic science­—before LAPD detectives could finally assemble the pieces of the puzzle. When they did, they found themselves facing one of the unlikeliest murder suspects in the city’s history.

I Was Kidnapped by Idiots

An academic trip to Iraq unexpectedly turned into an immersive field study on the ways authoritarian regimes use brutality.

You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor

Benedict Arnold’s boot wouldn’t come off, and other hardships from my weekend in the Revolutionary War.

I Thought My Mother Was an Only Child. I Was Wrong.

I thought my mother was an only child. I was wrong.

What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind

Grief, conspiracy theories, and one family’s search for meaning in the two decades since 9/11

Pleistocene Park

A father and son in Siberia are attempting to restore the mammoth steppe — an ancient grassland ecosystem that once covered the Arctic and could, if revived, slow the thawing of permafrost.

The Handicapped

A young man with a severe physical disability reflects on how deformity shapes personality — and why those society marginalizes develop a peculiar insight into human nature.

What Is It About Ranch Dressing?

Ranch dressing has become, deservedly or not, a face of the nation during the World Cup.

All the Cool Kids Are Birding

A younger crowd is flocking to a hobby once dominated by retirees—and transforming it along the way.

The Plan to Save a Life by Head Transplant

What would happen if it actually works?

The Curse of Too Much Evidence

While researching a woman who went deep on the JFK assassination, I was pulled in too.

The Problem With Saying Oontz Oontz

The story of dance music in America is a story of boom and backlash. As Beyoncé and Drake turn to house-inspired sounds, will the cycle happen again?

When Children Say They’re Trans

Hormones? Surgery? The choices are fraught—and there are no easy answers.

This Is How a Child Dies of Measles

When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak

My Descent Into Mah-Jongg

The game seems to be everywhere, all at once.

Jon Haidt's Commencement Address at NYU

Essential advice for the class of 2026