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Great articles, every Saturday.

January 9

Crime Science

Larry Farwell Claims His Lie Detector System Can Read Your Mind. Is He a Scam Artist, or a Genius?

Thirty years after it was first pioneered, the Brain Fingerprinting system is finally being put to the test.

Tim Stelloh OneZero Jan 2021 20min Permalink

January 8

The Joys of Being an Absolute Beginner—For Life

The phrase ‘adult beginner’ can sound patronising. It implies you are learning something you should have mastered as a child. But learning is not just for the young.

Tom Vanderbilt Guardian Jan 2021 15min Permalink

Politics

These Are the Rioters Who Stormed the Nation’s Capitol

The mob that rampaged the halls of Congress included infamous white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

Sabrina Tavernise, Matthew Rosenberg New York Times Jan 2021 10min Permalink

The Day the Great Apes Died

Twenty-five years ago, the tragedy at the World of Primates building broke the city’s heart and raised a loaded question: What, exactly, do we owe the animals in our care?

Sandy Hingston Philadephia Magazine Dec 2020 20min Permalink

January 7

Best Article Politics

American Grotesque

Insane birthers and Glenn Beck-worshipping tea-partiers, proud racists and gun-toting antigovernment loons—they’re all here, and they’re all angry about something.

John Jeremiah Sullivan GQ Jan 2010 Permalink

January 6

Science

The Last Two Northern White Rhinos On Earth

What will we lose when Najin and Fatu die?

Sam Anderson New York Times Magazine Jan 2021 30min Permalink

Business

The Market Value of My Father

When his parents marriage imploded, the author’s mother said his father was worthless, a con man. A bad investment in their lives. But years later, a mysterious book about Wall Street showed up—a gift from his father—that began to change the story.

Joshua Ferris Wealthsimple Magazine Dec 2020 20min Permalink

January 5

Sex World

Behind Claude’s Doors

She was once the “world’s most exclusive madam.”

William Stadiem Vanity Fair Sep 2014 25min Permalink

Health

What the Bay Area Can Teach Us About Fighting a Pandemic

The region’s hyper-local response has lessons for us as we confront the winter wave and begin to distribute vaccines.

Jay Caspian Kang The New Yorker Jan 2021 25min Permalink

Politics

Knocking on Two Million Doors

Control of the Senate could hinge on Black voters—and on an ambitious effort to get them to the polls in the largest numbers ever for the Jan. 5 runoff elections.

Audra D. S. Burch The New York Times Magazine Dec 2020 30min Permalink

Politics

Sarah McBride’s Neighborhood

The new Delaware state senator is making history in her hometown.

Brock Colyar The Cut Jan 2021 20min Permalink

January 4

World

The Factories in the Camps

Observers have long warned of rising forced labor in Xinjiang. Satellite images show factories built just steps away from cell blocks.

Alison Killing, Megha Rajagopalan Buzzfeed Dec 2020 20min Permalink

Science Health

Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us

As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.

Ed Yong The Atlantic Dec 2020 25min Permalink

In Praise of Idleness

An argument for working less.

Bertrand Russell Harper's Oct 1932 20min Permalink

January 3

Health

How the School Reopening Debate Is Tearing One of America’s Most Elite Suburbs Apart

In a district where parents are epidemiologists and health policy experts, the meltdown happened one Zoom meeting at a time

Noreen Malone Slate Dec 2020 30min Permalink

January 2

Tech Media

Is Substack the Media Future We Want?

The newsletter service is a software company that, by mimicking some of the functions of newsrooms, has made itself difficult to categorize.

Anna Wiener New Yorker Dec 2020 20min Permalink

January 1

Science Health Travel

The Secret Formula

Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer? One man thought so—and spent a lifetime trying to prove it.

Steven Lance The Atavist Magazine Dec 2020 1h10min Permalink

Music

The Mask of Doom

A profile of MF Doom.

Ta-Nehisi Coates New Yorker Sep 2009 20min Permalink

December 31, 2020

Science

The Amateur Cloud Society That (Sort Of) Rattled the Scientific Community

A cloud enthusiast becomes an advocate for a new type of cloud.

Jon Mooallem New York Times Magazine May 2016 20min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "Rhiannon"

A teenage girl's mysterious disappearance(s).

Sophie Kearing The Lumiere Review Dec 2020 Permalink

Health Travel

The Cruise Ship Suicides

Confined mostly to tiny cabins as the pandemic unfolded, crew members struggle to cope.

Austin Carr Bloomberg Businessweek Dec 2020 20min Permalink

Arts Health

These Precious Days

The author’s chance encounter with Tom Hanks leads to a dear and lasting friendship with his assistant.

Ann Patchett Harper's Dec 2020 1h20min Permalink

December 30, 2020

Best Article Sports

Rapture of the Deep

Carried away by love—for risk and for each other—two of the world’s best freedivers went to the limits of their sport. Only one came back.

Read more

Gary Smith on the Longform Podcast

Gary Smith Sports Illustrated Jun 2003 35min Permalink

Crime Politics

Inside Trump and Barr’s Last-Minute Killing Spree

Private executioners paid in cash. Middle-of-the-night killings. False or incomplete justifications.

Isaac Arnsdorf ProPublica Dec 2020 20min Permalink

December 29, 2020

Business Crime World

Vegas on the Black Sea

A trip to Batumi, Georgia.

Tara Isabella Burton Roads and Kingdoms Sep 2015 Permalink

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