Scenario-based forecasts on the future of America, in the style of the C.I.A’s National Intelligence Estimate.

The enigmatic life and death of Bruno Zehnder, who obsessively photographed penguins in the ice fields outside of a Russian base in Antarctica.

“If genius is hard to define, madness is even more so.” One chess champion’s take on the tortured life of another.

A team of researchers has a controversial plan to root fake data out of science.

A profile of Beatty on the heels of Bonnie and Clyde.

On water in the West, climate change, and how the birth of modern environmentalism lies at the bottom of Lake Powell.

The life of a modern-day indentured servant involves a truck, mountains of debt, and moving goods for America’s biggest retailers.

Booker winner Howard Jacobson on the bumper crop of sex worker memoirs and what they say about our understanding of paid sex.

A profile of the radio legend who helped launch the career of Ira Glass and many more.

A 42,000-word, 3-continent spanning “hacker tourist” account of the laying of the (then) longest wire on earth.

How the killing of a 20-year-old woman upended a nation’s sense of itself.

A profile of Paul Manafort, “a great normalizer of corruption” who “weakened the capital’s ethical immune system.”

Forty years ago, a trio of student teachers created the most popular educational game of all-time.

With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable.

A profile of Harmony Korine, the creator of Kids, Spring Breakers, and The Beach Bum.

How a night of drunken mischief led to the death of a rare endangered fish and a rare prosecution.

Sara Tirschwell accused her Wall Street boss of misconduct, but that was just the beginning of her troubles.

The untold story of Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s two visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.

A profile of the writer and star of Fleabag.

In southwest Florida, the Myakka River Valley—a place of mystery and myth—is under threat of development.

A profile of Erik Prince, then the CEO of America’s largest and most controversial mercenary force, Blackwater, who happened to be a C.I.A. agent.

The immersive mise en scène of a 2010 Hollister flagship store, redolent of California beach towns that don’t exist, “lazy, hygienic sexuality,” and weed.

In Gujarat, India, a special breed of camel is not constrained by land—but cannot escape the many forces of change.

Hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter have been exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin. The consequences have been profound.

Hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter have been exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin. The consequences have been profound.