Wednesday, September 30, 2026
ProPublica·Annie Waldman·Crime
A California farm sells unlicensed raw milk that sickens children, but regulators choose a lenient path despite clear evidence of danger.
“Sitting in a pediatric intensive care unit last year, watching a ventilator keep her 17-month-old daughter alive, Emily Marris scoured the contents of her phone for evidence to give to California health and food safety investigators.”
≈ 21 min read·Sep 30, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Katie McQue, Mei-Ling McNamara, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Crime
Meta's platforms have become marketplaces for child sex trafficking, a two-year investigation reveals, while the tech giant struggles to intervene.
“In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers …”
Long read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
n+1·Grace Glass·Profiles
A security guard at a New Jersey home goods store carries his homeland with him through a jersey and the memory of the journey that brought him here.
“A month before Senegal’s first 2026 World Cup match, Oumar updated his WhatsApp status. In the photo, he stands in the middle of a bright white stairwell, lit by overhead LEDs bouncing off mirrors on the walls. His back to the camera, Oumar looks down at the bottom of the stairs. Glossy tiles glow beneath his feet. He places one …”
≈ 23 min read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at nplusonemag.com →
The New Yorker·Peter Hessler·World
A treacherous mountain highway in Colorado kills and injures drivers regularly, yet repair efforts stall amid competing interests and indifference.
“The Million Dollar Highway, prone to rockfall and avalanches, is the site of horrific crashes and courageous rescues.”
≈ 37 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·James Crawford, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Science
As concrete and steel poison our cities, timber construction offers a radical reimagining of how we build the urban landscapes of tomorrow.
“Our buildings are monuments to extraction and extreme emissions. But what if we turned from destructive concrete to timber?”
Long read·Sep 27, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
The New Yorker·Eyal Press·Politics
Government lawyers confront a crisis of conscience when institutional loyalty collides with their doubts about the administration they serve.
“On March 7, 2025, Celia Cohen, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, was finishing up a meeting at 26 Federal Plaza, in lower Manhattan, when she learned that a federal marshal had arrived on the premises and wanted to see her. She was soon led to a conference room where the marshal …”
≈ 32 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Vanity Fair·Clara Molot, Alessandra Sanguinetti·Politics
A year after Charlie Kirk's murder, his widow must navigate the fractured MAGA movement while leading the youth organization he built.
“One year after Charlie Kirk’s murder, the MAGA movement is fracturing and the future of Turning Point USA—the influential and lucrative conservative youth organization he founded at 18—is uncertain. His politically reluctant widow now finds herself both its leader and a victim of the conspiracy mentality Kirk fomented. With unprecedented access to her world, Clara Molot set out to answer …”
≈ 33 min read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Xiaolu Guo·Essays
A writer traces her obsession with the Tang dynasty through a journey with her daughter, bridging Chinese history and personal identity.
“During the Tang dynasty, which lasted from the seventh to the early 10th century, Vikings were raiding the coasts of what today is called Europe. In the small archipelago now known as Britain, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms flitted by. Meanwhile, in Mesoamerica, after 3,000 years of flourishing, the Maya civilisation was collapsing. In the east, China had been united for nine centuries …”
≈ 20 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
The Atavist Magazine·Mark Johnson·Profiles
When an Iowa girl's rare kidney disease sparked community action, her family's story became a footnote in medical history.
Long read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at magazine.atavist.com →
The Intercept·John Washington·Crime
A whistleblower alleges a prison warden buried a sex abuse complaint just before the facility reopens as an ICE detention center.
“Rumors were spreading for weeks in the spring of 2022. At Arizona State Prison–Marana, the talk centered on an employee of Management and Training Corporation, or MTC, the Utah-based for-profit prison company that ran the facility. A clerk at the commissary, Alicia Simmons, had been carrying on an illicit sexual relationship with an incarcerated person.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Aeon·Matthew R Cooperberg·Science
A doctor examines why cancer diagnoses carry devastating weight even when the underlying cellular changes pose little actual threat.
“William came to me for a third opinion. He was 53 and healthy, with a wife and two teenage children, a busy job, and a typically hectic work-and-family schedule. He’d taken time to do the right thing and had visited his primary care provider for a routine health exam and blood tests, his first in many years. A few weeks …”
≈ 20 min read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The New York Times Magazine·Giles Harvey·Profiles
Sebastian Barry built his literary reputation on family secrets, but kept one story hidden until now, buried deeper than all the rest.
Long read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
The New Yorker·Anthony Lane·Arts
Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski has spent a career examining Europe's spiritual and political borders through cinema, standing at the intersection of continents.
“The first thing you notice about the film director Paweł Pawlikowski is that he looks like a movie star. This is an unusual state of affairs. As a rule, if you happen to be—as Pawlikowski is—demonstrably tall, dark, and handsome, with a flexible sense of humor, a yen for cinema, and industrial quantities of charisma, your rightful spot is smack …”
≈ 30 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Mother Jones·Greg Constantine·Crime
A for-profit prison company transforms a dying Pennsylvania town into a hub for immigration detention.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 19 min read·Sep 29, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Monday, September 28, 2026
The New York Times Magazine·Marcela Valdes·Profiles
Min Jin Lee spent decades overlooked before emerging as a vital voice in literary fiction, carrying forward the social realist tradition.
Long read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Rolling Stone·Brian Hiatt·Profiles
U2 gathers on the French Riviera to discuss fifty years together, a new album, and the unlikely collaborations that shaped their next chapter.
“A s of this afternoon, precisely 49 years and 342 days have passed since the four members of U2 first hung out together, and they still haven’t gotten sick of each other. Or maybe they have. “Look, it’s been 50 years of hell,” says Larry Mullen Jr., sitting with his three bandmates at an outdoor lunch table just a few …”
≈ 39 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at rollingstone.com →
Aeon·Daniel Swift·Essays
Poetry and neuroscience alike suggest that fatherhood and artistic creation need not be enemies, challenging a myth long useful to male artists.
“Here’s an old story, often told. In Book 6 of the Iliad, Hector – dressed splendidly in bronze armour and a helmet with a horsehair crest – bids farewell to his wife Andromache. She begs him not to return to battle and hands him their newborn son. Hector raises the boy into the air, says a short prayer, and hands …”
≈ 17 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Mother Jones·Amy Littlefield·Politics
An anti-abortion activist who helped overturn Roe now battles to shape the movement she elevated to power.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 25 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Outside·Jimmy Chin·Profiles
Yvon Chouinard forged the gear that transformed climbing, then built a company around the philosophy that risk demands commitment.
“Yvon Chouinard was still a kid when he got into climbing. By the mid-1950s, he was a regular in Yosemite National Park, one of a small crew figuring out how to climb all the major walls, like Half Dome and El Capitan. But Yvon played a unique role in that so-called golden age of Yosemite climbing, both for his climbing …”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at outsideonline.com →
Texas Monthly·Michael Hall·Crime
A man suspected for thirty years in Austin's yogurt shop murders was finally exonerated, but freedom proves more complicated than vindication.
“Forrest Welborn never wanted to own a saloon. Some nights he’d rather be doing anything other than carrying bags of beer-soaked garbage to the dumpster, setting up mics for wannabe country singers, or mopping chickenshit off a barroom floor.”
≈ 44 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
The New Yorker·Nick Paumgarten·Profiles
A Czech hockey coach arrives in New York with a story of Soviet invasion, teaching a boy that parenting, like skating, requires practicing the same mistakes.
“We walked single file through the snow to Lasker Rink, escorted by the coaches. Central Park at night, 1977: in the swirl of a storm, the Park was desolate and pristine. I was eight and had been invited to start skating with the older boys at school. I’d had hockey on the brain for a year, and yet had never …”
≈ 26 min read·Sep 28, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Sunday, September 27, 2026
The Intercept·Liliana Segura·Crime
At eighteen, Christa Pike committed a murder that made her one of America's youngest death-row inmates, caught between satanic-panic hysteria and her own troubled past.
“Before she became infamous as one of the youngest American women ever sentenced to die, Christa Gail Pike was a North Carolina teenager who broke into a community center to steal some candy. At 5-foot-3, with thick auburn curls, she’d been in trouble at home and in school but not with the law. A juvenile court judge put Pike on …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 27, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
The New Yorker·Casey Cep·Profiles
Barbara Kingsolver discusses how she constructs socially engaged novels and what role literature plays in a fractured world.
“Barbara Kingsolver always struggles with beginnings. “I write probably one hundred pages to get to page one of any novel,” she told me recently. “Not all at once—like, eight or nine pages a day. And then the next day I start over completely.” She’s looking for the voice and the tone that she wants, the vein of silver in the …”
≈ 38 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
The Intercept·Adam Federman, Sara Van Horn·Crime
A protester's ricochet defense crumbles against prosecution evidence and judicial rulings in a high-stakes terrorism trial.
“On the last day of the Prairieland trial, in which nine Texas protesters were accused of crimes including providing material support to terrorists, the attorney for activist Benjamin Song presented a novel argument that, if true, would have upended the federal government’s case.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 27, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Saturday, September 26, 2026
ProPublica·Jake Pearson and Chris Alcantara·Business
A reporter embeds himself in problem gambling to expose how sportsbooks undermine their own responsible-gaming safeguards.
“A promotion pinged on my phone. “BET & GET,” it boomed, offering to boost my profits if I threw down on tennis, punctuating the point with a cartoon stack of cash. I was already in the middle of a two-hour betting spree, ripping 64 wagers on the clay courts of Paris from my office chair in New York City.”
≈ 32 min read·Sep 26, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The New York Times Magazine·Lulu Garcia-Navarro·Profiles
Sylvester Stallone recounts a childhood marked by violence and decades spent concealing his wounds from the public and those closest to him.
Long read·Sep 26, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Vanity Fair·Nate Freeman·Arts
The New Museum doubles its space and appoints a new director, testing whether an institution can expand its influence without losing its downtown roots.
“The New Museum unveiled its new building earlier this year, and this week opens its large-scale fall exhibitions. Can it play international kingmaker while staying true to the downtown demimonde?”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 25, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
Defector·Dan Schindel·Arts
A location scout turned filmmaker traces the hidden architects who shape New York's cinematic landscape through one woman's day finding the perfect spaces.
“Sofia rises early to drive from Brooklyn to the Manhattan production office where she works as a location scout. She’s tasked with finding spots in which to film an upcoming television pilot: a few apartments and, randomly, a fish store. Her day brings her around the city and in contact with a variety of people—a tech guy who shows her …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 25, 2026·Read at defector.com →
The New Yorker·Benjamin Wofford·Crime
After a conservative activist's murder, a progressive law student at Texas Tech finds herself entangled in a campus reckoning that threatens her future.
“Last September, Ellie Fisher, a third-year law student at Texas Tech, was in her 2 P.M. seminar, Race and Racism, when another student interrupted class to announce that the conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been shot. The student described Kirk as “the guy from Turning Point.” Fisher turned to a classmate and asked, “What’s Turning Point?””
≈ 28 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Friday, September 25, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Hettie O'Brien·Politics
As Labour collapses under Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham's allies envision a radical departure from forty years of neoliberalism in Britain.
“In May 2025, when Keir Starmer was still prime minister, Labour politicians, campaigners and journalists gathered at the Ministry of Sound in London to watch a series of panel talks and presentations illuminated by the lucid glow of club lights. The day-long event was organised by a campaign group called Compass, and the subjects included child poverty, the Murdoch-owned media …”
≈ 22 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Aeon·Emilie Prattico·Essays
Jürgen Habermas, the theorist of deliberative democracy, embodied his own ideals through decades of rigorous thinking and willingness to reconsider.
“Jürgen Habermas died on 14 March 2026, in the German town of Starnberg, aged 96. Every fall, from the mid-1990s into the late-2000s, he would come to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois to teach and give talks, a visit that a dedicated group of students looked forward to every fall term. The year that has stayed with me is 2004 …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 25, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Mother Jones·Michael Mechanic·Science
Annie Jacobsen, author of scenario-planning bestsellers, explores how AI could accelerate biological weapons development and pandemic risk.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 25, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Noema·Aaron Horwath·Tech
A copywriter manages AI agents that now handle his company's writing, revealing how automation reshapes knowledge work into something less than before.
“Aaron Horwath is the director of AI operations at a creative technology company where he is focused on implementing AI in a way that supports both humans and business.”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Oliver Bullough, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Crime
Hundreds of millions in laundered money flow through Britain's post offices annually, yet police resist investigating the scale of organized crime's infiltration.
“Hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty money are being deposited at post offices every year. So why are the police reluctant to investigate the scale of the problem?”
Long read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Mother Jones·Kiera Butler·Business
Silicon Valley executives and Trump officials pursue rare earth dominance in the Philippines under the banner of a tech corridor called Pax Silica.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 25, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Thursday, September 24, 2026
GQ·Charlie Sosnick·Business
Inside the warehouse economy of sports card breaking, where livestreamed pack openings have turned collecting into high-stakes gambling.
“On a sunny afternoon this April, I pulled into one of the many strip malls dotting the Sopranoland sprawl northwest of Manhattan. Sitting there in Totowa, New Jersey, wedged between a Guitar Center and a tile wholesaler, was an outpost of a sports card and memorabilia business called Trace ’n Chase. I’d understood the store was making gobs of money. …”
≈ 25 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at gq.com →
ProPublica·Alec MacGillis·Politics
The Smithsonian's history museum finds itself caught between decades of conservative criticism and a new administration's ideological demands.
“In November 2021, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History opened an exhibit called “The Electric Dr. Franklin,” describing “Benjamin Franklin’s pioneering contributions to electrical science.” The exhibit explained that, prior to becoming an abolitionist, he had enslaved people in his household. “Benjamin Franklin’s remarkable scientific accomplishments were, in part, enabled by slavery,” it declared.”
≈ 19 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Aeon·Craig Maier·Essays
A farmer and his family navigate the intimate choices required to live responsibly on land, balancing human needs with ecological stewardship.
“Forty iron rectangles, each one blunt as a piano key, rotate into a blurring fury that hides the eight-foot-long shaft at the heart of the flail chopper. I am perched atop several tons of iron, with 80 horsepower at my command. This part of farming is straightforward – even a mechanically challenged tree-hugger like me can manage to depress the …”
≈ 21 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The Intercept·Anita Hofschneider·World
Guam's toxic legacy from decades of U.S. militarization offers a cautionary glimpse of what other Pacific islands may face.
“Leevin Camacho was brushing his teeth one day last fall when his mother called. The water is contaminated, she said. Moments later, she texted him a photo of a flyer issued by the local water authority. “Cancer risk,” it warned. “Increased likelihood of adverse impacts on the liver.” And in bold capital letters, “DO NOT DRINK.””
≈ 21 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Vanity Fair·Hadley Hall Meares·Profiles
Royal women throughout history have crossed professional boundaries with their bodyguards, men who spend more intimate time with them than their own families.
“Dating all the way back to the 18th century, many royal women and their bodyguards have crossed the line between work and play.”
≈ 12 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
Esquire·John Kenney·Profiles
A Pulitzer-winning playwright and novelist traces the formative moments that shaped his unflinching examination of Muslim American life.
“Ayad Akhtar points to two precise moments that he believes shaped him into the writer and artist he has become.”
≈ 20 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at esquire.com →
Mother Jones·Kiera Butler·Business
A faith-based wealth seminar featuring Tim Tebow promises Christian prosperity but leaves some attendees financially devastated.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 17 min read·Sep 24, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Outside·Madison Dapcevich·Sports
Elite kayakers navigate Idaho's most treacherous rapids, revealing how extreme athletes achieve transcendent focus in moments of mortal danger.
“For this story Outside associate editor Madison Dapcevich spent three days at the 2026 North Fork Championship, a kayaking competition, in Idaho interviewing athletes, fans, and organizers. Dapcevich is a dedicated paddler herself, and wrote about the intersection of whitewater culture and competition at the race.”
≈ 19 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at outsideonline.com →
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
GQ·Michael Stefanov
I tried creams, gels, and lotions for every skin type, routine, and budget—then crowned seven winners.
“There's no doubt you should be moisturizing, gents, and we'll assume you already are. Moisturizer is the cornerstone of any skin-care regimen, and in derm terms, here's why: "Moisturizers help support the skin barrier and reduce transepidermal water loss, which is essential for keeping skin hydrated and functioning properly," says Dr. Nicole Ruth, board-certified dermatologist. Depending on the formula, though …”
≈ 17 min read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at gq.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Melissa Denes, Jessica Beck, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Crime
This week, from 2023: For the past two years, Betsy Stanko has been leading an unprecedented investigation into why the police have been failing so badly to tackle sexual violence.
“We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.”
Long read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Texas Monthly·Sean O'Neal·Arts
Forty years ago, David Byrne’s ‘True Stories’ celebrated the independent spirit of small-town Texas at a time when everything was changing.
“Virgil, Texas, isn’t real. The small town at the center of the quirky 1986 comedy True Stories is a “city of dreams,” as its director, Talking Heads front man David Byrne, sings over the closing credits. It’s a backwoods Brigadoon on the edge of exurban creep, suspended between the shopping malls and semiconductor factories of our modern civilization and the …”
≈ 38 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Ben Ryder Howe and Federico Rios
My father dedicated his life to studying the Indigenous group, and they may soon allow unprecedented development through their land. I went on a trek through the jungle to find out why.
Long read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Vanity Fair·Nate Freeman·Arts
“In a bold move, the Whitney Museum asked two outsider curators to take on the bard of comics—and watched as they assembled what’s set to be a blockbuster reinvention of the pop master.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
The Intercept·Nathalie Levey·Politics
Leavenworth, Kansas fought a private prison's expansion but found itself trapped in the deportation machine anyway.
“A former maximum-security prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, is now a critical hub in the Trump administration’s immigration detention machine, transforming in just a few months from a facility shuttered for its inhospitable conditions to a privately run jail holding hundreds of immigrants.”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Mother Jones·Amanda Geduld·Crime
A New York law opening a window for survivors to sue over past abuse exposes decades of institutional failure across the state's schools.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 50 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
GQ·Ben Allen, Joyce NG·Arts
After a long season of indie filmmaking, the British actor best known for starring in ‘1917’ is back with a crowd-pleasing ‘Sense and Sensibility’ adaptation. Tom Ford, among others, is charmed. Soon you will be too.
“After a long season of indie filmmaking, the British actor best known for starring in 1917 is back with a crowd-pleasing Sense and Sensibility adaptation. Tom Ford, among others, is charmed. Soon you will be too.”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 23, 2026·Read at gq.com →
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Max Daly·Crime
A journalist traces his oldest friend's descent into heroin addiction and what happens when drug gangs commandeer his home.
“Duncan is a good friend of mine. He looks like a Dickensian rock’n’roller: tall and skinny, long hair, retro clothes. He’s read the Flashman novels three times. We met in secondary school in west London in the early 1980s. We got drunk, smoked Rothmans and banana skin spliffs and played Dungeons & Dragons. At 14, we got into punk together …”
≈ 25 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
ProPublica·William Turton, Avi Asher-Schapiro, Molly Redden, and Kirsten Berg·Politics
The FBI built a case against a senator's donor for illegal campaign contributions, then watched the investigation collapse.
“In the final weeks of 2019, a top fundraiser for Sen. Susan Collins walked into a perilous meeting at a Corner Bakery in Washington, D.C.”
≈ 27 min read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Aeon·Eric Leas·Science
A researcher discovers dangerous Amanita muscaria products sold openly in shops and investigates the legal gaps that allow it.
“In late summer 2023, I found myself in a smoke shop looking at a package of ‘magic mushroom’ gummies.”
≈ 18 min read·Sep 22, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Monday, September 21, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Shaun Walker, Nicola Alexandrou, Joshan Chana, Ellie Bury·World
A Polish bomb plot unravels to reveal an exiled Russian activist accused of working for the Kremlin, leaving those closest to him searching for the truth.
“When exiled Russian opposition campaigner Igor Rogov was accused of working for the Kremlin, his friends were shocked. Could this young activist have really been an undercover agent?”
Long read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Texas Monthly·Michael Hardy·Crime
A Texas father tracks his abducted sons to Moscow and moves into their apartment building, attempting a rescue that will test everything he believes about fatherhood and the law.
“David Barnes just wanted to see his kids. When his plane landed in Moscow, it had been nearly three years since he last heard from his two sons. Luke would now be eleven. Daniel would be seven.* They had been living in a strange country, speaking a strange language, cut off from everyone they knew back home in Texas. Were …”
≈ 52 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
Rolling Stone·Claire Hoffman·Science
People are turning to psychedelic compounds not for recreation but as a path to spiritual awakening and recovery from addiction, reshaping American consciousness one trip at a time.
“W hen Wyatt went to Mexico in 2018, he was in search of a miracle. Thirty-five years old, married with two kids, he worked at his grandfather’s business in Pittsburgh selling heating equipment. But secretly, he was battling a gnarly, decades-long drug addiction — doing heroin, crack, and coke. “I was very scared, very desperate, hopeless, and had a full-volume …”
≈ 29 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at rollingstone.com →
Aeon·Massimo Pigliucci·Essays
Cicero developed a philosophy of probabilia that teaches us how to hold beliefs with conviction while remaining open to doubt—a guide written amid political collapse and personal ruin.
“How tightly should you hold your beliefs? You face the question several times a week without noticing. Hold them too loosely and you don’t stand for anything, hold them too tightly and you become the sort of person no argument can reach. Most of us swing between the two and have no vocabulary for the ground in between. A Roman …”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Vanity Fair·Hadley Hall Meares·Profiles
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh's tempestuous marriage unfolds as a tragedy written by Shakespeare himself, charted through letters and biography.
“They were the greatest actors of their generation—and as Olivier wrote in his memoir, their scandalous love rocked Hollywood.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
Mother Jones·Jane Black·Politics
A California legislator discovers the power to reshape American food safety while Washington remains paralyzed by competing interests.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
Wired·Lauren Goode·Tech
Silicon Valley's most powerful women remain invisible despite holding consequential positions, a paradox that reveals deeper truths about power and recognition.
“Mira Murati was trying to speak. Women swished around in evening gowns, men in tuxes. Giant piles of carved meat rested like sleeping babies on banquet tables draped in linens as red as a handmaid’s robe. Bartenders served up a cocktail named Zero to One, a nod to the philosophy of Peter Thiel.”
≈ 22 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at wired.com →
The New Yorker·Jill Lepore·Tech
When A.I. agents breach their sandbox constraints, the legal system confronts a crisis it was never designed to handle.
“For more than a century, robots have been imagined as servants, rebels, killers, and companions. The law still mostly sees machines as property.Illustration by Allan Sanders”
≈ 17 min read·Sep 21, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Sunday, September 20, 2026
The New York Times Magazine·Nikole Hannah-Jones·Essays
A mother who enrolled her daughter in a public school to challenge segregation confronts her now-teenage child's contrary view of that choice.
Long read·Sep 20, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Mother Jones·Julia Tilton·Politics
An Idaho county's ban on renewable energy projects unravels as the Republican commissioner who opposed it gains the power to reverse course.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 22 min read·Sep 20, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
The Atlantic·Helen Lewis·Politics
A progressive Michigan Democrat running for Senate challenges his party's orthodoxy on Israel while testing what populism can achieve in a swing state.
“Abdul El-Sayed certainly enjoys an argument. Our first interview, in a kebab restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, spun out into a wide-ranging discussion of America’s Middle East policy, and ended with me saying, reluctantly, “Well, let’s not relitigate the Six-Day War.””
≈ 28 min read·Sep 20, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
The Atlantic·Will Freeman·Politics
A reformist Guatemalan president navigates the tension between rapid change and rebuilding institutions corrupted by decades of collusion.
“Just over three years ago in Guatemala, a coalition of young and Indigenous voters helped propel Bernardo Arévalo, a reformer who campaigned against corruption, to an astounding presidential win. Guatemala had not only refused the global trend toward populist authoritarianism; it had also defied what its citizens called “the pact of the corrupt,” a loose alliance of politicians, judges, criminal …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 20, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
Saturday, September 19, 2026
The Intercept·The Intercept Briefing·Politics
A coalition of religious fundamentalists, tech accelerationists, and ethnonationalists share a vision of hastening the apocalypse.
“The fight over the future is rapidly unfolding before our eyes. With debates roiling Washington over calls to rein in artificial intelligence before it’s too late as the U.S. continues to wage official and unofficial wars around the world, many of the world’s most powerful players are licking their chops.”
≈ 33 min read·Sep 18, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Devin Gordon·Sports
After two decades announcing Mets games, Howie Rose steps away from a team that never quite delivered him a championship.
Long read·Sep 18, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Vanity Fair·Kristal Brent Zook·Arts
Nearly four decades after cancellation, Black creators and original producers return to Hillman College for a Netflix revival, revisiting the show that dared to challenge its network.
“Nearly 40 years after NBC pulled the plug on A Different World, a new generation of Black creators—plus series stalwarts Susan Fales-Hill and Debbie Allen—explain how they’re bringing Hillman College back to life.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 18, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
The Intercept·Nathalie Levey·Crime
A notorious Kansas prison closes under Biden, then reopens under Trump—run by the same company, now housing immigrants instead of criminals.
“Marcia Levering nearly died at work on February 6, 2021. She was working as a prison guard at the former medium-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, a facility operated by the private prison company CoreCivic. One of Levering’s overwhelmed colleagues buzzed open the wrong door, releasing a high-risk prisoner directly into Levering’s path. “He kind of gave me this eerie …”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 18, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Friday, September 18, 2026
Aeon·Richard Dyer·Science
A physicist studies how black holes ring like struck bells before fading into silence, losing their histories to the universe.
“It is 9 am on a warm July Sunday in Cambridge, as I head towards a café in the city centre. The bells of Great St Mary’s church play the familiar melody of the Cambridge Quarters. The sound, now often associated with the chimes of Big Ben in London, was first composed here in 1793. The quarters, named for the …”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 18, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Noema·Branko Milanović·Essays
A economist traces how artificial intelligence threatens the promise of meritocracy that has long defined modern upward mobility.
“In April 1941, with the Wehrmacht in Paris and the Ribbentrop–Molotov pact still in force, the political theorist James Burnham published “The Managerial Revolution,” which famously declared that capitalism was finished. His claim was not that it ought to be finished, but that it was, as a matter of observable fact, being replaced. The successor system would not, however, be …”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 17, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
Vanity Fair·Aidan McLaughlin·Politics
In Trump's Washington, certain watches and private clubs have become the new markers of proximity to power.
“The ultimate marker of status in Donald Trump’s Washington is a custom Rolex, which is curious because Rolex no longer offers custom watches. These exclusive timepieces—so exclusive that barely anyone knows they exist—were purchased and then modified by a bespoke operation in London. There are two options: a gold Day-Date Presidential and a GMT Pepsi, both with blue faces and …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 17, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
Thursday, September 17, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Natalia Kucirkova·Essays
A researcher traces how the relentless pace of children's television shapes young minds, one frantic scene at a time.
“I am at the airport gate waiting to depart, watching passengers hurry past with rolling suitcases and paper cups of coffee. A small boy sits very still beside his mother. He holds an iPad close to his chest, almost in a cramp, clutching the screen as if it might otherwise run away. I hear loud clapping hands and squeaking children’s …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 16, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Texas Monthly·Peter Holley·Politics
A border wall project divides a remote West Texas town, forcing locals to choose sides over who deserves their business.
“For several days this summer, the rumor in the tiny West Texas hamlet of Sanderson, a 643-person community 125 miles east of Big Bend National Park, was that contractors had descended upon the area to begin constructing a border wall. Nobody knew who they were or what they looked like, but almost everyone in town was on the lookout for …”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 17, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
Aeon·Liam Spradlin·Tech
Inside a Silicon Valley test kitchen, engineers and chefs attempt to reduce cooking to pure data and reproducible results.
“On a sunny day in the summer of 2015, I found myself standing in the basement of an office building in Silicon Valley. The room was packed full of appliances, as if a commercial kitchen had been blown apart. Several stacks of wall ovens huddled together on dollies. Tangles of electrical cords popped up behind a broad stainless-steel counter. Rags …”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 17, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The New York Times Magazine·Eve Fairbanks·Profiles
A superintendent rebuilds schools after a tornado while confronting the disaster's personal toll on himself and his community.
Long read·Sep 17, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Tim Burrows, Nicola Alexandrou, Joshan Chana, Ellie Bury·World
Landfill sites along the Thames estuary are disgorging decades of buried waste, forcing a reckoning with the consequences of disposal.
“We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.”
Long read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Vanity Fair·Chris Whipple·Profiles
JD Vance's formative years at Yale Law School, under the mentorship of Amy Chua, reveal the origins of the future vice president's ambitions and convictions.
“Is JD Vance a craven political opportunist? A true believer in a post-Trump, MAGA agenda? Or is the presumptive 2028 GOP frontrunner waiting for the chance to be his own man? And what does his wife, Usha, think about all of it? The answers may lie in Vance’s pivotal years at Yale Law. Chris Whipple returns to the school—and talks …”
≈ 43 min read·Sep 16, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
The Atlantic·Sebastian Smee·Arts
Willem de Kooning mastered drawing before he learned to abandon mastery, unmaking himself as the prerequisite for modernism.
“Most retrospectives unfold like a stately procession. You buy your ticket and proceed through a choreographed sequence of galleries, scrutinizing first the juvenilia, then the promising early work. Next come the triumphal years, and finally (if the artist was lucky) a poignant late phase. An idea of timelessness prevails, enhanced by an enveloping atmosphere of climate control, security, and massive …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 16, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
Mother Jones·Jill Filipovic·Politics
Kennedy's food-focused movement gets co-opted by Trump allies more interested in meat and masculinity than regulation.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 16, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
The Atlantic·Ken Harbaugh·World
Unmanned ground vehicles are transforming medical evacuations along Ukraine's deadliest front lines, though Russian drone operators have learned to strike at precisely the right moment.
“The inside of an armored sarcophagus smells of gunpowder, gasoline, and gangrene. Remotely operated, unmanned ground vehicles, nicknamed MAULs, are revolutionizing casualty evacuations along the most dangerous sections of the Ukrainian front lines. They bristle with drone-jamming antennae and carry bulletproof black pods for carrying wounded soldiers to safety.”
≈ 10 min read·Sep 16, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
ProPublica·Heather Vogell·Politics
A venture capitalist with Russian ties and no scientific background now shapes U.S. Arctic policy, raising questions about where Trump's agenda ends and his own begins.
“For more than 40 years, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission has advised Congress and the president on what to study in the frigid and dynamic far north, from the environment to military security. It’s typically done so without making waves, led by people well-versed in science and public policy.”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The New York Times Magazine·Willy Staley·Sports
Advanced running shoes promise faster times, raising an uncomfortable question about what separates legitimate innovation from unfair advantage in competitive sport.
Long read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Aeon·Ben Faccini·Essays
Italian descendants scattered across Europe hold fast to ancestral myths and food rituals, caught between belonging and permanent displacement.
“When he was a child growing up in Emilia-Romagna, my great-grandfather Marco once found an eagle fledgling that had fallen from its nest. He kept it warm in the folds of his shirt and ran home, only to discover as he undressed that the bird had eaten strips of his flesh, its beak tinged red with blood. The rescued eagle …”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The Atlantic·George Packer·Profiles
A writer recounts how his mother's decades spent teaching literature shaped his own path to becoming one, and the cost of that inheritance.
“When I was 13, not long after my father had committed suicide, I asked my mother, “What’s the Oedipus complex?””
≈ 46 min read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
GQ·Zach Baron, Mario Sorrenti·Profiles
Tom Cruise returns to a magazine cover after two decades to discuss the obsessive craft of filmmaking with a legendary director.
“This interview is drawn from two conversations, one with Cruise and Iñárritu and another with Cruise one-on-one. The latter was filmed for a video that you can watch below. The conversations have been combined and edited here.”
≈ 28 min read·Sep 15, 2026·Read at gq.com →
The Intercept·The Intercept Briefing·Tech
A conversation about how the U.S. government outsources surveillance to private contractors, creating an unregulated ecosystem of data collection and monitoring.
“Local police departments use Flock cameras to track license plates. ICE uses Palantir software to track and round up immigrants. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war department uses Claude to bomb Iran. The U.S. government spends billions employing private corporations to obtain mountains of data — and the surveillance space is only getting more privatized in Donald Trump’s second term.”
≈ 37 min read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Aeon·Natalia Kucirkova·Essays
A researcher examines how children's media has become relentlessly fast-paced, overwhelming young viewers with constant visual and audio stimulation.
“I am at the airport gate waiting to depart, watching passengers hurry past with rolling suitcases and paper cups of coffee. A small boy sits very still beside his mother. He holds an iPad close to his chest, almost in a cramp, clutching the screen as if it might otherwise run away. I hear loud clapping hands and squeaking children’s …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Monday, September 14, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Jill Lepore, Nicola Alexandrou, Danielle Stephens·Essays
Jill Lepore traces the early warnings about technology's threat to democracy that were largely ignored during the digital age's optimistic rise.
“Adapted from The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, published by Allen Lane on 25 August. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com”
Long read·Sep 13, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Sasha Weiss·Arts
Taryn Simon's Guggenheim exhibition uses the life of a single F.B.I. agent to construct an audacious visual narrative of modern America.
Long read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
ProPublica·Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski·Crime
A Russian oligarch close to Putin secretly bankrolled Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding, covering hundreds of thousands in expenses.
“On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Mother Jones·Lisa Armstrong·Politics
A documentary filmmaker embeds with three Proud Boys members across three years, following their lives before and after January 6.
“Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at motherjones.com →
The New Yorker·Rivka Galchen·Science
A conservation biologist tracks a godwit across continents to understand how migratory shorebirds adapt to an unpredictable world.
“On a sunny June morning, in a bog outside Beluga, Alaska, I met a Hudsonian godwit. She had inky eyes and a long, slightly upturned beak that was pinkish-orange at its base and brownish-black at its tip. The feathers on her back were of mottled sepia tones, and those on her belly were rusty brown and painterly white. Her legs …”
≈ 24 min read·Sep 14, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Friday, September 11, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Meaghan Beatley, Nicola Alexandrou, Joshan Chana·Profiles
A young activist discovers her father's opposition to her politics masks a darker secret rooted in Argentina's dictatorship.
“A young activist thought her father’s disapproval of her leftwing views was purely political. Then one evening, a kiss goodbye sent her on a remarkable journey that continues today”
Long read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
ProPublica·Jennifer Berry Hawes and Jennifer Smith Richards·Politics
Disability voucher programs promised private school access, but when families applied, most private schools simply refused to enroll their children.
“It’s after 6 p.m. by the time Angela Johnson hurries home from work. Her 12-year-old daughter, Amelia, is at their house outside of Pensacola, Florida, with a nurse trained to care for medically fragile children. Amelia, who was born with a rare genetic anomaly, has endured many surgeries and requires a brain shunt and a feeding tube.”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 11, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Aeon·Mariam Sabri·Essays
Four Islamic polymaths worked across disciplines to reshape science, offering a counterargument to modern specialization.
“This semester, my students are learning about four polymaths who shaped Islamic science: al-Biruni, Alhazen, Avicenna and al-Khwarizmi. Their circumstances could hardly have been more different: one wrote his way out of scarcity; one was held under house arrest for a decade; one distilled an era’s medical knowledge into a text that ruled European universities for 500 years; and the …”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 11, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The Intercept·Nick Turse·Politics
A quarter century of American decline traces back to the September 11 attacks and the catastrophes that followed.
“I can still remember the smell. But I’m at a loss to accurately describe it to you. It wasn’t the unmistakable odor of death, although that must have been some tiny part of it. It wasn’t like burning tires or plastic or even metal. It was all that, but it was more.”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 11, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Noema·Jacob Dreyer·Tech
China and America race to shape AI's future, each bringing vastly different philosophies rooted in their own written languages.
““What appears to humanity as the history of capitalism is an invasion from the future by an artificial intelligent space that must assemble itself entirely from its enemy’s resources.“—Nick Land”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
Vanity Fair·Jacob Weisberg·Profiles
A billionaire's childhood dreams of space collide with present-day political ambition in this portrait of compromise.
“In an exclusive excerpt from Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era, Jacob Weisberg paints a revealing portrait of Bezos, from a science-fiction-loving schoolboy with dreams of being an astronaut to a billionaire hell-bent on getting what he wants.”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at vanityfair.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Lisa Sanders, M.D.·Science
A woman's mysterious exhaustion yields its secret only when she volunteers to give away one of her kidneys.
Long read·Sep 4, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Wired·Garrett M. Graff·Essays
The September 11 attacks didn't create conspiracy theories; they industrialized them, spawning a new ecosystem of doubt.
“Crackpot theories were once the stuff of shortwave radio, but September 11 unleashed the Age of Alex Jones.”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 11, 2026·Read at wired.com →
Thursday, September 10, 2026
GQ·Chris Heath·Profiles
Tiger Woods crashes his car again, and a reporter follows the police body camera footage to understand the private life of golf's most cyclical icon.
“In March, Woods was in his fourth major car crash. Chris Heath traveled to Jupiter Island, the Florida enclave that the golf legend calls home, to piece together that hectic day—and glimpse the private life of an elusive, indefatigable icon.”
≈ 38 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at gq.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Barbara Speed·Essays
Every decade the BBC must negotiate its survival with the British government through an elaborate, secretive charter renewal process that will determine its future.
“In a temperature-controlled room in a suburb of Reading, the basis of the BBC’s existence is kept in a flat, square, faded navy case, the size of a large pizza box. Inside is a stack of vellum – calfskin, pounded until it forms a milky and translucent paper that is supposed to last for thousands of years. The queen’s red …”
≈ 22 min read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Aeon·Katherine Harvey·Essays
Medieval healers treated mental illness with saffron and exorcisms, but also prescribed gardens, animals, music, and socializing—remedies that anticipated modern psychiatric thinking.
“Early one morning in the late 12th century, Bishop Hugh of Lincoln arrived in the Hertfordshire village of Cheshunt. There, he was immediately surrounded by a crowd of people, who begged him to help one of their neighbours. And so, dismounting from his horse, he went to the man’s house, where he was confronted by the disturbing sight of a …”
≈ 17 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The Intercept·Jessica Washington·Politics
A year after Charlie Kirk's assassination, over 600 people remain jobless following a government crackdown on his critics.
“The grief Emily Taylor had been holding at bay finally washed over her in January. It had been four months since a lone gunman shot Charlie Kirk in the throat at Utah Valley University, killing the conservative commentator in minutes. That winter “was the first time in my entire life that I didn’t go back to school,” said the former …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
Noema·Afra Wang·Essays
Training language models mirrors the surveillance and control systems that governed China's simplified internet, revealing uncomfortable parallels.
“Afra Wang is a California-based writer and journalist who focuses on technological modernity through a humanistic lens, spanning China and Silicon Valley in the global AI age. She writes concurrent.blog and is a frequent contributor to many outlets.”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Charles Homans·Essays
Twenty-five years later, the question of whether 9/11 truly reshaped American life remains unsettled and contested.
Long read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
ProPublica·Tim Golden·Crime
Newly released British evidence complicates the FBI's long-held account of a Saudi student's role before the September 11 attacks.
“Within a few days of the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, FBI agents identified an important possible suspect: a middle-aged Saudi graduate student who provided crucial help to two of the al-Qaida hijackers as they settled in San Diego early the year before.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The Atlantic·Toluse Olorunnipa·Politics
Election deniers have quietly seized control of local voting infrastructure across America, setting the stage for a crisis that may already be underway.
“In the anxious days following President Trump’s 2020 election loss—before his supporters stormed the Capitol, before his vengeful return to the White House, before the mass pardons for cop beaters—some Republican figures sought to cast his attempt to overturn the results as nothing more than a coping mechanism.”
≈ 23 min read·Sep 10, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
GQ·Christopher Hooks·Politics
A Texas Senate race becomes a proxy war over what masculinity means in America.
“One guy has a decent chance of flipping the state blue. The other guy excels at surviving scandal. Their Senate race shows what the rest of America gets wrong about manliness in Texas.”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at gq.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Nesrine Malik, Nicola Alexandrou, Elizabeth Cassin·World
Sudan's military and its former paramilitary ally turn on each other, trapping civilians between two bitter opponents.
“We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.”
Long read·Sep 8, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
ProPublica·Andrea Suozzo and Agnel Philip·Science
Women are dying from ectopic pregnancies at nearly double the previous rate, with abortion bans complicating urgent medical care.
“The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years, a ProPublica analysis found. The mounting deaths in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have drawn little scrutiny or response.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The New York Times Magazine·Jaime Lowe·World
Lahaina residents confront Hawaii's housing crisis while rebuilding lives after catastrophic wildfire.
Long read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Texas Monthly·Eric Benson·Politics
A Texas attorney general's office transforms from technocratic backwater into a platform for partisan warfare.
“In most ways, the year 1998 doesn’t seem like the distant past. Christopher Nolan released a movie. Willie Nelson became a senior citizen. You could visit Google.com and search the internet. But when a little-known 46-year-old Texas Supreme Court justice named John Cornyn ran for state attorney general that year, he might as well have been campaigning in prehistoric times. …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 9, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Adam Kirsch, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Science
Scientists and philosophers grapple with why the universe appears devoid of detectable alien civilizations.
“Adapted from We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters, published by Columbia Global Reports on 25 August. To support the Guardian, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com. P&P may apply”
Long read·Sep 6, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Peter C. Baker·Essays
Dashboard cameras meant to document accidents have become instruments of viral vigilantism and internet celebrity.
Long read·Sep 8, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Samanth Subramanian·Science
A researcher's decades-long obsession with slime moulds has ignited a fundamental debate about what intelligence really means.
“Forty years ago, as an undergraduate in Hokkaido, Toshiyuki Nakagaki came upon a lemon-yellow stain in a petri dish. That encounter turned him into a doyen of slime mould research – and fed a storm of biological and philosophical debate about the meanings of life and intelligence that persists to this day. Before, no one would have called a slime …”
≈ 25 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Texas Monthly·Joe Pappalardo·Business
A Texas city's water crisis exposes decades of miscalculation and complacence in America's energy heartland.
“Like any crime scene, my Corpus Christi yard makes for an ugly sight. Dry grass crunches underfoot and fissures have split the soil. All that seems to thrive are stubborn mats of spotted-spurge weeds and insidious, prickly sandburs. Drought brought city-mandated watering restrictions that have murdered my lawn, as well as most of the others on my block.”
≈ 24 min read·Sep 8, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
Aeon·Alison Bashford·Essays
A historian discovers how physicians have long read palms for signs of disease and human truth.
“Signs of the future are marked in our hands, or so any palmist will declare. But do hands also hold signs of the past? Do they have a history? Over decades of research as a historian of medicine and of human bodies, I’d never imagined such a niche question. And then it was sparked in an instant, between one second …”
≈ 13 min read·Sep 8, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The New York Times Magazine·Mark Chiusano·Business
New York's subway system battles an endless war against water, one of 47,000 vulnerable openings at a time.
Long read·Sep 8, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
The New Yorker·Lauren Collins, Jet Swan·Arts
Hermès' new artistic director quietly upends the house's buttoned-up legacy with sequins, risqué cuts, and deliberate risk.
“The light, the light. It was all anybody could talk about—the soft, weightless Los Angeles light, melting between the columns of an open-air pavilion, which was perched on a hilltop above Bel Air, and painted a highly specific shade of pale yellow that made several hundred assembled guests appear as though they were standing in the middle of a banana …”
≈ 29 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Lizzy Goodman·Profiles
Andre Agassi pursues pickleball as a second act, testing whether a different competition can heal what tennis broke.
Long read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Monday, September 7, 2026
Texas Monthly·William Broyles·Essays
A writer revisits decades of encounters with the Rio Grande, from his first glimpse as a teenager to the river's uncertain future.
“When Texas became a republic, its western border ran along the Rio Grande all the way to its source, in southern Colorado, and then north to the southern border of Wyoming. When I moved to Santa Fe, just east of the Rio Grande, twenty years ago, I convinced myself I was still technically in Texas. I knew that the river …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
Aeon·Shawn Miller·World
A century ago, a Brazilian officer drove the first stretches of the Pan-American highway, believing he was chasing the future across two continents.
“Leônidas Borges de Oliveira drove the first 300 miles of the world’s longest road trip alone. The date of his departure, in early 1928, meant that the young Brazilian army officer also had the road almost entirely to himself. This gave him time to think about what he had taken on. The vehicle beneath him, a donated Ford Model T …”
≈ 18 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The New Yorker·Jennifer Wilson·Politics
A conservative movement once synonymous with purity culture now wages a culture-war campaign around women's bodies and desire.
“Martin Luther King, Jr., once observed that one of the “most segregated hours” in American life is Sunday at eleven in the morning, referring to church service. Today, the same might be said about the month of April as it unfolds in Indio, California, where throngs of people descend each year to worship at the altars of live music and …”
≈ 27 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
The Atlantic·Yvonne Wingett Sanchez·Crime
A labor leader arrested while protesting ICE raids watches charges disappear but finds the consequences have already reshaped his life.
“David Huerta sat on a steel bed too small for his burly frame in a Los Angeles jail last summer and looked out a small rectangular window at Dodger Stadium, where he’d once spent evenings with his two boys. He was the kid who’d made good, although it hadn’t been easy. His mother died from breast cancer when he was …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
The New Yorker·Ruby Tandoh·Business
Saudi Arabia recruits Michelin-starred chefs and pours money into ambitious restaurants as it attempts to reinvent itself as a culinary destination.
“AlUla, an oasis town in northwest Saudi Arabia, sits on a swath of desert creased with red-stone canyons and hard-baked river scars. Thousands of years ago, the region was the southernmost capital of the Nabataeans—the ancient civilization that built Petra—whose ornate tombs are hewn into the rocks. Some religious scholars in Saudi Arabia have preached against developing the area, claiming …”
≈ 24 min read·Sep 7, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Aeon·Les Coleman·Politics
A half-century of neoliberal policymaking has concentrated wealth and destabilized democracies since Reagan and Thatcher.
“If Western democracies were companies, they would be dismissed as lifestyle businesses whose managers (ie, political leaders) run them to promote their own interests and wealth. Leaders pursue projects that benefit the few, rather than national goals, and leave their countries with low economic growth, heavy debt and rampant white-collar crime. We entered this era of an unjust social order …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 4, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The Intercept·The Intercept Briefing·Politics
A quarter-century after 9/11, Islamophobia remains a potent force in American politics and law enforcement.
“A quarter century after the September 11 attacks emboldened then-President George W. Bush to launch the “war on terror,” many Americans might like to think they’re wiser than the politicians and pundits who unleashed a flood of anti-Muslim hatred and eroded civil liberties through warrantless wiretaps and racist deportation campaigns.”
≈ 32 min read·Sep 4, 2026·Read at theintercept.com →
n+1·Adrian Daub·Essays
New York built the nation's largest public housing program ninety years ago, and its fate reveals what America chose to abandon.
“The following is excerpted from Samuel Stein’s A Right to Housing?, out next week from Verso. On Tuesday, September 8, at the n+1 office in Brooklyn, Stein will discuss the book with former n+1 coeditor Nikil Saval.”
≈ 12 min read·Sep 4, 2026·Read at nplusonemag.com →
Friday, September 4, 2026
ProPublica·Christopher Osher and Evan Wyloge·Crime
Colorado regulators took over a year to warn the public about a marijuana product linked to liver damage, exposing deep flaws in the nation's first regulated recreational market.
“In March 2022, Colorado public health officials started getting startling reports of liver damage tied to a new marijuana-based sleep aid that had quickly become a top seller in the state.”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 4, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
The Guardian: The Long Read·Alexis Okeowo, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury·Crime
A young Nigerian man seeking opportunity in London discovers he's been recruited into an organ-trafficking scheme with no way out.
“Daniel was working at a market in Lagos when he was given the chance to start anew in the UK. He had no idea what was expected of him in return”
Long read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Noema·Mike Mariani·Essays
Our sensation that time accelerates masks a deeper crisis: we're forgetting years we actually lived, losing the mundane moments where memory takes root.
“Mike Mariani is a writer and journalist based in the D.C. area, and the author of “What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us,” published in August 2022 by Penguin Random House”
≈ 21 min read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
ProPublica·Carla Astudillo·Crime
Federal judges across the country take vastly different amounts of time to rule on immigrants' habeas petitions, leaving some detainees waiting months for freedom.
“When President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he pushed for a seismic shift in immigration enforcement resulting in mass detention. Immigrants with no criminal convictions, who under previous administrations would have been released on bond or not detained in the first place, would now be held while their immigration cases were pending.”
≈ 12 min read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Thursday, September 3, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Stephen Buranyi·Business
Food influencers transformed London's restaurant scene in years, but their dominance may already be waning.
“In 2017, two aspiring YouTubers going by the name Topjaw published a video posing the London foodie’s most important question: what to eat in Chinatown? They enlisted the help of longtime Instagrammer Kar-Shing Tong (better known by his username @ks_ate_here), who took them on a lovingly curated loop of the neighbourhood. Cantonese siu mei duck at Four Seasons, Chongqing-style handmade …”
≈ 23 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Nitsuh Abebe·Essays
Families invent their own linguistic worlds through mispronunciations and inside jokes, revealing how language itself evolves.
Long read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Esquire·Anthony Breznican·Profiles
Kenneth Branagh reflects on a career spanning Shakespeare, superhero films, and everything in between.
“Kenneth Branagh has lived many, many lives. And every single one has a phenomenal story behind it.”
≈ 24 min read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at esquire.com →
Aeon·Siobhan Unwin, Kathryne Ford·Arts
Hans Christian Andersen's lawn tantrum at Charles Dickens's home reveals the emotional turbulence beneath Victorian propriety.
“The English countryside in the mid-19th century could be an idyllic retreat. It is breakfast time and you are Charles Dickens, respectable author and exemplar of etiquette, sure that today will be safe and uneventful. Searching the house for your daughters, you also find your overstayed houseguest from Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen – famed author of fairy tales like The …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
Texas Monthly·Michael Hall·Politics
A Texas border town fights the federal government's plan to build a wall through their land, drawing on a victory from seven decades past.
“Elsa Hull spends a lot of time in the San Ygnacio Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary, a small county park that abuts the Rio Grande about 35 miles south of Laredo. The park is nothing special—a two-acre patch of scrub, dirt, and trees: mesquite, cedar, hackberry, and retama. But the birds love it—hundreds of species live in and migrate through the …”
≈ 12 min read·Sep 3, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
The New Yorker·Daniel Immerwahr·Politics
A legal scholar argues the Supreme Court has usurped power meant for Congress, raising questions about judicial restraint in a fractured democracy.
“A new legal history argues that the Justices should be stripped of their power to overrule coequal branches of government. It arrives at an awkward moment.”
≈ 17 min read·Aug 31, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
n+1·The Editors·Essays
A creative strategist at a boutique agency navigates absurd client demands, office dynamics, and her own unraveling sense of purpose.
“Ava-Claire, whose blond hair spiraled in pins on her head like crop circles, and whose gentle shining presence delighted the entire team sans myself, suggested we view the brief for what it was: a fun one-off that could actually spark real change. “Can we mention abortion?” I asked. “Et cetera?””
≈ 26 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at nplusonemag.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Amy X. Wang·Essays
Wellness clinics promise vitamin infusions as the ultimate self-care, but the real transaction may be something else entirely.
Long read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Tim Smedley, Nicola Alexandrou, Ellie Bury, Elizabeth Cassin·World
As drought intensifies across the globe, profit-driven extraction and pollution drain the resources needed to sustain life.
“We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.”
Long read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
Rolling Stone·Matt Bai·Politics
Rahm Emanuel, having held nearly every position in Democratic politics, now positions himself as a pragmatic voice between party extremes.
“W hen I first met Rahm Emanuel, almost 25 years ago, he had a pretty solid reputation, in some quarters, as an arrogant prick. Rahm — even then, he needed only one name, like Cher or Snoop — was recognized by his fellow Democrats as a brilliant political tactician, which is how he had risen to become one of Bill …”
≈ 27 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at rollingstone.com →
Noema·Brigida D'Agostino·Science
Embryo screening technology now allows families to select for genetic advantages, tightening the loop between culture and biology in ways the species hasn't yet reckoned with.
“Brigida D’Agostino is a Los Angeles-based news anchor and journalist covering what happens when technology changes the arrangements that shape everyday life, from reproduction and work to family and government.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at noemamag.com →
The Atlantic·Ali Breland·Politics
A Latvian company pays workers worldwide to flood social media with Republican-friendly clips, blurring the line between grassroots support and coordinated manipulation.
“If you’re short on cash, there is someone in Riga, Latvia, who can help. “You can literally make 100k a month with this campaign,” a young man with blond curls and a thick accent says into a camera. All you have to do is post on social media video clips of “anything that supports Republican.” Unfamiliar with U.S. politics? No …”
≈ 11 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
ProPublica·Ren Larson·World
A North Carolina trailer park sits in repeated peril from storms, yet new residents keep moving to the same flood-prone plots.
“Dave Masters could no longer ignore the storm as trees cracked and the swollen river roared. It was dark outside, but through the window he could see his father’s house, usually 100 feet away from the Pigeon River, was surrounded by water. Masters, tall and slender, forded the frigid waist-deep water to wake up his father and convince the 63-year-old …”
≈ 15 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Texas Monthly·Jack Herrera·World
Mexican farmers stage an armed standoff at a dam to reclaim water from a river that has nearly vanished.
“Audio narration on this article is provided using an AI voice as a service to our subscribers. Texas Monthly’s journalism is created by people, for people. Learn more and give feedback here.”
≈ 66 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at texasmonthly.com →
Outside·Carrie Honaker·Essays
A writer becomes a mermaid at Florida's storied Weeki Wachee Springs to understand the athletic artistry keeping a retro tourist attraction afloat.
“Long dive fins clamp my feet, but instead of slicing through open water, they have vanished inside a shimmering turquoise tail that cinches my legs from waist to toe. I grab the fabric and pull, shimmying it higher over my hips, stuffing every last bit of skin inside like a pair of just-a-little-too-tight jeans.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at outsideonline.com →
ProPublica·Lexi Churchill
Texas rejected an AI-driven school's charter application, then quietly approved its private campuses for a state voucher program anyway.
“The rejections piled up one after another as leaders of Alpha School, a growing network of private school campuses, tried to convince states that their artificial-intelligence-led teaching model belonged in publicly funded charter schools.”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 2, 2026·Read at propublica.org →
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
The Guardian: The Long Read·Snigdha Poonam·Tech
Researchers race to understand whether artificial intelligence systems can deceive their creators, and what safeguards might prevent catastrophe.
“In November 2023 – a lifetime ago in the field of artificial intelligence – some of the most powerful people in the world descended on Bletchley Park, the wartime codebreaking hub in Buckinghamshire, to talk about AI safety. In attendance were the then US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the AI bosses Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, delegations from 28 countries, two …”
≈ 15 min read·Aug 31, 2026·Read at theguardian.com →
GQ·Zach Baron, Eric Johnson·Sports
A quarterback's championship run masks something harder to read: what drives Jalen Hurts remains opaque even to those closest to him.
“One quiet Monday in June, an SUV pulls up to the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps a few minutes past 5 a.m., and out of the car and into the blue morning air walks Jalen Hurts. Gray Jordan Brand sweatshirt hood cinched down low over his eyes, but still: probably the most recognizable athlete in the city …”
≈ 19 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at gq.com →
The New York Times Magazine·Elizabeth Barber·Essays
A mother rejected her son's doctors' cancer treatment plan for alternative remedies, sparking fierce debate about parental rights and medical authority.
Long read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at nytimes.com →
Aeon·Justin Neuman·Essays
Play without purpose—the kind children invent freely—risks disappearing as technology systematically rewards only measurable achievement and competitive victory.
“Our kids were playing Settlers of Catan over the holidays. Or rather, they weren’t. They’d rearranged the strategy game’s hexagonal tiles into an archipelago of islands that no rulebook recognises, imagined ‘bridges’ built from wood, brick and stone, and invented a purpose for the game about network connectivity that had nothing to do with earning points. They were not playing …”
≈ 12 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at aeon.co →
The New Yorker·Ruby Cramer·Crime
A custody dispute over childhood vaccination spirals into a bitter legal battle that tests the limits of parental authority.
“Michael Lee Horrocks believes that, during the pandemic, Leah Stelly went down a TikTok rabbit hole and never came out. “I feel like I’m living in crazy town,” he said.Illustration by Keith Negley”
≈ 37 min read·Aug 31, 2026·Read at newyorker.com →
The Atlantic·Joshua Partlow·Crime
Two federal biologists are kidnapped at a remote California lake, revealing the rising tensions between government agents and forest dwellers.
“On the day of the kidnapping, the campground at Gumboot Lake happened to be nearly empty, so Joseph Charles Henrichsen was one of the only people to see the two Forest Service biologists pull up in their pickup truck. Federal employees didn’t visit all that much—campers who’d been coming to the small alpine lake for years told me they’d never …”
≈ 14 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at theatlantic.com →
Wired·Kate Knibbs·Business
A tech startup alliance reshapes hormone therapy marketing, reaching millennial women through influencers, medical experts, and wellness entrepreneurs.
“How an alliance of tech startups, MAHA operatives, and actual medical experts made millennial women the new face of hormone therapy.”
≈ 16 min read·Sep 1, 2026·Read at wired.com →