Damned to Fail
Unregulated dams across Texas are increasingly failing—putting people and property in jeopardy.
What Was the Washington Post Afraid Of?
The paper spiked a #MeToo story. Why?
Commonwealth v. Mohamed
A car crash in Kentucky left a 13-year-old girl dead. A Sudanese refugee was charged with her killing. The story of the trial that followed.
The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs
Millions of Americans have taken antidepressants for many years. What happens when it’s time to stop?
The Curious Case of Sidd Finch
A profile of a previously unknown rookie pitcher for the Mets who dropped out of Harvard, made a spiritual quest to Tibet, and somewhere along the line figured out how to throw a baseball much, much faster than anyone else on Earth.
Death by a Thousand Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong
The U.S. government claimed that turning American medical charts into electronic records would make health care better, safer, and cheaper. Ten years and $36 billion later, the system is an unholy mess.
Every Living Creature
A modern-day Noah’s Ark operation on a Caribbean island devastated by a volcano.
The Day the Dinosaurs Died
A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth.
Sky Ferreira Returns
With an uncompromising vision and the studio hours to back it up, the enigmatic singer is back with a new single—and a promise that her first album in six years will be worth the wait.
The Interior Stadium
The joys of watching baseball.
How a Couple Worked Charter School Regulations to Make Millions
California has more charter schools than any other state. But the way they’re overseen is flawed—and questionable operators are making millions.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Spring in 2024"
Childhood, basketball, getting lost.
The World’s Cheapest Hospital Has to Get Even Cheaper
Cancer surgery for $700, a heart bypass for $2,000. Pretty good, but under India’s new health-care system, it’s not good enough.
Heaven Can Wait: The Hidden Genius of Elaine May
A profile of Elaine May, one the most important figures in American pop cultural history—and one of the most hidden.
The Amateur Sleuth Who Searched for a Body—and Found One
When authorities fail families, Lissa Yellowbird-Chase steps in.
Wesley Morris is a critic at large for The New York Times, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, and the co-host of Still Processing.
“I think that the taking of extra time to be more thoughtful and less reactive is, to the extent that I have any wisdom to impart, that is it. Just wait a second. Because someone’s going to get there before you get there anyway.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
On the Trail of the Robocall King
An investigator set out to discover the source of one scammy robocall. Turns out, his target made them by the millions.
"The Big Error Was That She Was Caught"
The untold story behind the mysterious disappearance of Fan Bingbing, the world’s biggest movie star.
Joe Rogan's Galaxy Brain
How the former Fear Factor host’s podcast became an essential platform for “freethinkers” who hate the left.
The Underground Railroad of North Korea
“Any North Korean knows that escaping their nation is nearly impossible.”
Louisiana’s Disappearing Coast
The state loses a football field’s worth of land every hour and a half. Now engineers are in a race to prevent it from sinking into oblivion.
Columbine Survivors Talk About the Wounds That Won't Heal
After all these years, it’s still there, in the back of her mind, lurking. No matter how good things are going, it never quite goes away, this feeling that she should have died that day. And her brush with death is the first thing that strangers tend to notice about her, like a limp or a disfigurement. Once they find out where she went to high school, that’s all they want to talk about.
Buc-ee’s: The Path to World Domination
The making of a convenience store empire.
Evan Ratliff, a co-host of the Longform Podcast, is the author of The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.
“We’re all less moral than we think we are, including myself. I’m interested in the justifications people provide for themselves to get deep into something that starts as one thing and ends up as a murderous criminal cartel. Paul Le Roux, sure—but also doctors and pharmacists. It’s interesting to think about where the pressures in our lives create moral ambiguity that we didn't think was there, and why we do things that we’ve said we'll never do. We look at someone else and think that they’re really bad or evil, but then we’ve never experienced those pressures. That cauldron of factors is something I’m very interested in because I think it applies to everyone.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
The Feminist Paradox of Cathy Guisewite
A profile of “Cathy” creator Cathy Guisewite.
