The author of True Grit on growing up in Arkansas during World War II.

Archaeological discoveries are shattering scholars’ long-held beliefs about how the earliest humans organized their societies—and hint at possibilities for our own,

In the days after 9/11, a photo of an unknown man falling from the South Tower appeared in publications across the globe. This is the story of that photograph, and of the search to find the man pictured in it.

The story of the meeting that led to the creation of ISIS, as explained by someone still on the inside.

A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth.

Applying big data analysis to Internet Adult Film Database, the IMDB of porn.

A retired fighter worries that he has all the symptoms of CTE.

Violence convulses the city of Chicago after dark. Reporting on it leaves its own scars.

An account of the 60 minutes after a heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden that left one boxer with permanent brain damage.

An early attempt to explain the world-changing power of computer software—and the minds of young programmers like Bill Gates—to a mass audience. “Software,” the article begins, “is the magic carpet to the future.”

After years of outsourcing, many essential staff work for the NHS without receiving its benefits. In one London hospital, the fight is on for a better deal.

On Ambien and the search for the next blockbuster insomnia drug.

Scientists quarrel about the fate of animals living in the 1,600 square mile exclusion zone.

How one company is rethinking the business of sex toys.

The story of a school shooting in Townville, S.C. and what happened to the first-graders who saw it all happen.

On the cusp of delivery, a mother-to-be recounts the anxiety-laden path to parenthood.

The story behind an Instagram sensation is the story of a changing coastal Maine.

He was the father of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (a school of therapy that some would liken to scientific brainwashing), a guzzler of cocaine, and a highly paid lecturer with fabricated credentials. He was present when a young woman shot herself in Santa Cruz—but did he pull the trigger? A “parable for the New Age.”

“This is the story of Billy Conn, who won the girl he loved but lost the best fight ever.”

On the anger that led to the Watts Riots of 1965, the mistakes made during those six days in August, and how little changed afterward.

A profile of the “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” director.

The epidemics of the early 21st century revealed a world unprepared, even as the risks continue to multiply. Much worse is coming.

A profile of the “acrobatic genius of the trapeze”:

As he spoke, he looked up at the pipes and swings in the arena ceiling. A mechanic was working on the rigging, but Tito spoke thoughtfully, for he seemed to be seeing something else. "Sometimes I see movies of myself in the air and I say, 'Jesus, how can I do that?' I wonder who do I think I am ... but, yes, I do admire myself in films sometimes as if I am watching another person. I have sometimes dreamed my tricks at night, you know, and then tried to master them from the dream."

He’s their hero, but he’s also their soulmate, the one person in the world who understands them. That’s why Stephen Wesley and the legions of fans like him can’t get enough of the Mountain Goats. And that burden is crushing Darnielle.

On the passionate relationship between fans and John Danielle of the Mountain Goats.