A game called Spacewar is developed by early computer engineers in their spare time, improved in university comp-sci labs, and ultimately made available in coffeeshops for 10 cents per game.

Advice from 1982 on how and why one should buy a personal computer.

The Silcon Valley origin story.

A conversation with a 29-year-old Jobs.

Ted Nelson’s Xanadu project was supposed to be the universal, democratic hypertext library that would help human life evolve into an entirely new form. Didn’t turn out that way.

A 42,000-word, three-continent spanning “hacker tourist” account of the laying of the (then) longest wire on earth, FLAG, fiber-optic link around the world.

An early take on the dark side of cyberspace.

The definitive story of a ubiquitous software. PowerPoint’s origins, its evolution, and its mind-boggling impact on corporate culture.

How a Mexican drug cartel makes its billions.

The story of a young man killed in Juárez.

How a middle-class jock from a Texas border town became La Barbie, one of the most ruthless and feared cartel leaders in Mexico.

The author travels to Mexico to meet a retired assassin and kidnapper, now himself a target of the faceless cartels that once employed him.

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

Cracking down on corruption in Tijuana.

The struggle to put the drug war into context.

A jailhouse interview with Steve Washak, who made millions selling “natural male enhancement” pills.

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

On the Adderall days of college.

New medicines can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Are they worth it? A look at how a pair of pharmaceutical companies set their prices.

The pharmaceutical quest to give women a better sex life.

During the last decade, more than 1,500 Americans died after accidentally taking too much of a drug renowned for its safety: acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.

Fifty years ago, birth-control pills gave women control of their bodies, while making it easy to forget their basic biology—until, in some cases, it’s too late.

The story of Christopher and Jeffrey George, the twin proprietors of a pain clinic empire.

Undercover at a dealership to learn the tricks of the trade, of which there are many.

Undercover in the online-shipping industry.

Undercover in a women’s insane asylum. On an island. In 1887.

Undercover as a Juggalette.

Undercover going through airport security.

Undercover with Afghanistan’s drug-smuggling border police.

Undercover in high school.