A profile of Kermit Oliver, a reclusive, critically acclaimed artist who designs scarves for Hermès and works nights at the Waco post office.

A profile of the singer as he took to the stage for the first time in a dozen years.

A profile of Fiona Apple.

The Grateful Dead’s afterlife.

Blockbusters in the age of “corporate irony.”

A profile of the Mexican newsweekly, a lone voice in reporting on the narcos.

The story behind the story that ended Dan Rather’s career.

On the Daily Mail’s dominance of England.

A profile of Rebekah Brooks, who started as a secretary at News of the World and became CEO of News International by 41, developing an incredibly close relationship with Rupert Murdoch along the way.

The history of Pitchfork and its prescient take on the relationship between culture and consumption.

On the mysterious disappearance of a beloved coding legend (and his code) with stops along the way for a short history of programming languages, an ethnography of code-based communities, and an inquiry into what it means to “die young without artifact.”

An exposé of Internet Marketers.

The story of a bizarre—and bizarrely effective—smear campaign.

In a dark echo of Rear Window, a wheelchair-bound hacker seizes control of hundreds of webcams, most of them aimed at young women’s beds.

Why the future feels frozen in time, as framed by Marshall McLuhan (“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”) and William Gibson (“The future is already here; it is just unevenly distributed.”)

Searching for Dave Chappelle ten years after he left his show.

A few days in the life of Miley Cyrus.

An ode to Saunders.

A visit to Star Axis, a desert art installation that connects you to the cosmos.

On photographer Garry Winogrand and the unedited archive of more than half a million exposures he left behind.

The Supreme Court justice on the Devil, among other topics.

Pope Francis introduces himself.

The interview that kicked off the season of Kanye.

How at least one person still makes lots of money off books.

The writer re-emerges after more than a decade.

A long vacation to the Siberian wilderness.

How the corpses of Hitler’s victims haunt modern science.

When New Yorkers lived knee-deep in trash.

How the Hollywood publicity racket evolved.

What people have eaten when they’ll never eat again.

In a Plano bowling alley one night, Bill Fong came so close to perfection that it nearly killed him.

The strange case of Kip Litton, road race fraud.

The story of a high school star who died minutes after hitting a game-winner to end an undefeated season, and the family and friends he left behind.

A youth wasted on pro-level Ultimate Frisbee.

In Argentina, where the fútbol underworld controls everything from t-shirt vending to murder, and “rowdy gangs” have turned the stadium into a battleground.

How a Mexican drug cartel makes its billions.

How the U.S. lost out on iPhone work.

How a loathsome band makes gobs of money.

Reporting undercover from inside the online-shipping industry.

Frank Firetti, a 54-year-old pool salesman in Virginia, and his fading American dream.

The emerging political consciousness of Silicon Valley.

On recreational genetics and the vulnerability of family secrets.

Inside the real program to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facilities.

How the city will drown.

Boomtown San Francisco, as seen from the “Google Bus.”