Animal nature, human racism, and the future of zoos.

Vegetables are "blue" in Japanese and other observations on the uneasy relationship between color and language.

Part 1 • Part 2

On being the parent of a micro preemie.

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

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

A profile of Taylor Wilson, who achieved nuclear fusion at age 14.

The rise and fall of the “most far-flung, most organized, and most brazen example of homosexual extortion in the nation’s history.”

The story of William Morgan: American, wanderer, Cuban revolutionary.

In 1810, a freed slave named Tom Molineaux fought one of the most important bouts in boxing history.

The legacy of a secret Cold War program that tested chemical weapons on thousands of American soldiers.

The evolution of currency as “a complete abstraction.”

An obsessive marine biologist gambles his savings, family, and sanity on a quest to be the first to capture a live giant squid.

A trip to a lobster festival leads to an examination of the culinary and ethical dimensions of cooking a live, possibly sentient, creature.

Stalking the disappearing bluefin tuna, the world’s most valuable wild animal.

A trip to Scotland and an investigation of enduring belief.

On the mysterious and moderately intelligent giant Pacific octopus.

A profile of a celebrity whale.

In 1992, a Chinese freighter tipped violently in a storm dumping a load of plastic floating infant toys—7,200 red beavers, 7,200 green frogs, 7,200 blue turtles, and 7,200 yellow ducks—to the open sea. This is their story.

In February 2010, a killer whale named Tilikum dragged his SeaWorld trainer into the pool and drowned her. It was the third time the orca had been involved in a death during his 27 years in captivity. This is his story.

The story of the loneliest whale in the world.

The complicated post-baseball days of Joe DiMaggio.

Basketball’s iconoclast is now a broke recluse at 37.

Five years after they leave the league, 60 percent of NBA players have nothing left. In the NFL, it’s closer to 80 percent after just two years. A breakdown of the economics of retirement.

Terrell Owens at 38: unemployed, nearly bankrupt after losing his shirt in a electronic-bingo entertainment complex development plan gone bust, father of four children (one of which he has never met), frequent bowler.

Before he was a Twitter savant, Jose Canseco was a juiced-up terror.

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling needed funding for his ambitious video-game startup. Rhode Island politicians needed jobs and a vision for how to transform the state’s beleaguered economy. The story of a $75 million bet gone bust.

The crumbling of an American icon.

On Stephon Marbury’s (not totally sad!) NBA exile in China.

Baseball legend Lenny Dykstra’s on-field brilliance and private-life disasters, from drunk driving to failed investment and publishing ventures.

A profile of Jordan at 50.

A writer considers America as he dies.

On waiting tables.

A personal history of “America’s most misunderstood religion.”

Guns, race, and childhood in Mississippi.

On the shifting nature of time.

An interview with Maurice Sendak.

An interview with Pavement’s Bob Nastanovich.

An interview with a john.

An interview with Kate Boo.

An interview with Spike Lee.