The Guardian

Why did two parents murder their adopted child?

The long read: Asunta Fong Yang was adopted as a baby by a wealthy Spanish couple. Aged 12, she was found dead beside a country road. Not long after, her mother and father were arrested

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world

A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors

The French aristocrat and the all-American idiot: Henry v Lalas is the World Cup’s most compelling battle

Fox’s broadcast at the tournament has become a story of two contrasting styles. And there is one clear winner

When John Waters met Little Richard

In 1987, the iconic filmmaker John Waters was sent by Playboy magazine to interview his all-time hero – Little Richard. It was a surreal, almost religious experience for John who had been a lifelong fan of the godfather of rock'n'roll. So why did it almost end in a fistfight?

Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land

Guardian analysis finds facilities to be built in some of the driest areas as outcry grows over water needed to power AI

What training my chaotic dog taught me about power, control

The long read: Our lovable yet unruly boxer Dusty forced me to wonder: if a dog has no morals, how do you teach it to be ‘good’?

The dangerous rise of Buddhist extremism: ‘Attaining nirvana can wait’

The long read: Still largely viewed as a peaceful philosophy, across much of south-east Asia, the religion has been weaponised to serve nationalist goals

Do fish have feelings? Scientists believe they’re getting closer to an answer

Research suggesting certain species can learn, experience pain and form relationships has implications for our attitude to world’s most-eaten animal

‘Autistic kids are being experimented on’: inside America’s booming market for unproven stem cell infusions

Feeling abandoned and overwhelmed, families are turning to controversial new therapies backed by the US health secretary

Bonobos enjoy pretend tea parties and chimps think rationally: why apes are more like us than we ever thought

A series of stunning findings about great apes’ mental capabilities in recent years has transformed how we see our closest relatives

‘They take you out of life, out of time’: a journey into Spain’s astonishing cave paintings

The long read: For tens of thousands of years, these Palaeolithic artworks were unseen. When they were rediscovered, onlookers marvelled at their vivid beauty. One of the world’s leading experts took me up close

‘Have I been influenced, or is this actually me?’ How personal taste fell out of fashion

Our favourite music, clothes and books used to be markers of individuality – but the algorithm has made us all sheep. Meet the style rebels fighting back

Why are Harvard’s slavery researchers quitting or being fired?

The school’s $100m project to examine its slave ownership in Antigua is mired in controversy as academics allege obstruction

The malignant rise of OnlyFans managers: ‘It’s exploiting. It’s grooming. It’s predatory’

As the pornography platform has exploded in popularity, a side industry has emerged: middlemen who encourage young women into the industry, then take a large cut of their earnings

A scientist says he can scan prisoners’ brains for signs of evil. Did his disputed science put a man on death row?

Kent Kiehl convinced the US legal system he can find violence in prisoners’ brains. His theories have been since used by defense lawyers – with grave consequences for prisoners

‘Navigating the unknown together’: me and my idiot AI boyfriend

The long read: I believe that chatbots have no place in a decent society, and am repelled by the topic of AI in general. But could I be seduced?

The Democratic party is being hit by a leftist tidal wave

The party’s leadership is deeply out of touch with its base. A leftist politics of collective struggle is cresting across the US

Police arrived to arrest her father for sexual abuse. But he was making it all up

Mark described abusing his daughter in a chatroom. Then it turned out nothing he had posted was true – and he walked free. With ‘fantasy abuse’ on the rise, can Emily and her mother win their fight to make it illegal?

‘There’s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?’: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind AI

The long read: Since 2017, Iason Gabriel has worked at the tech giant, trying to anticipate – and think through – the impact of AI. But as commercial and geopolitical pressures escalate, can ethicists make any difference?

Israel and the Delusions of Germany’s ‘Memory Culture’

Germany embraced Israel to atone for its wartime guilt. But was this in part a way to avoid truly confronting its past? By Pankaj Mishra