As NATO leaves, the Afghan National Army grapples with a resilient Taliban.

Tales of mayhem on the set of The Canyons.

“For people who pay close attention to the state of American fiction, he has become a kind of superhero.”

“I read an article a few years ago that said when you practice a sport a lot, you literally become a broadband: the nerve pathway in your brain contains a lot more information. As soon as you stop practicing, the pathway begins shrinking back down. Reading that changed my life. I used to wonder, Why am I doing these sets, getting on a stage? Don’t I know how to do this already? The answer is no. You must keep doing it. The broadband starts to narrow the moment you stop.”

On the reality TV empire of Thom Beers, creator of Deadliest Catch.

On a business that sells packaged pre-sliced apples as snack food.

A species of jellyfish that can transform itself back to a polyp at any time appears to debunk the most fundamental law of the natural world — you are born, and then you die.

The story of a rookie clinging to his dream, as told by his uncle.

Ashlyn Blocker, 13, has a “congenital insensitivity to pain.”

The challenges of parenting genius.

A non-erotic journey.

Why do Ikarians live so long—and remain mentally sharp until the end?

Zaranj: the bloody border of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

JPMorgan Chase’s $6 billion mistake and the woman who took the fall.

At 66, Young sobers up.

The failed deposal of a university president.

The old and the new in New York.

How meteorologists are improving their predictive powers.

The Buckeye State’s fortunes and the fight for credit.

When jobs vanish, Southern men find new ways to contribute.

Freedom, the GOP, and a rhesus macaque on the loose.

How “grand metaphors” drive politics.

On a former Louisiana preacher who converted to Atheism.

As a young community organizer in Chicago, Barack Obama concluded that to make a real difference, he needed to gain power. A look at how that plan has worked thus far.