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.”

It was one of the most arresting viral photos of the year: a horde of climbers clogged atop Mount Everest. But it only begins to capture the deadly realities of what transpired that day at 29,000 feet.

Half a century ago, a legion of idealists dropped out of society and went back to the land, creating a patchwork of utopian communes across Northern California. Here, the last of those rogue souls offer a glimpse of their otherworldly residences—and the tail end of a grand social experiment.

“A story is a kind of biopsy of human life.”

The rise of the Night Wolves, a Kremlin-backed biker gang, and what it says about the Russian political condition.

On the assassination of a half-Palestinian, half-Jewish cultural revolutionary.

An investigation into the family of the accused Boston Marathon bombers.

How a once-lauded psychiatrist became a prolific prescriber of painkillers in one of Virginia’s poorest and most isolated counties.

A profile of CeaseFire, a group of “violence interrupters” attempting to prevent street shootings by treating them like an infectious disease.

A profile of former Bosnia Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, whose war crimes trial began, and was abruptly suspended, this week.

The controversy surrounding the death of Uche Okafor.

Looking back on the making of Sam, Bill, and Neal.

The rise of the Peoples Temple through the lens of an earlier group: Father Divine’s Peace Mission.

Vignettes of the residents of South Elliot Place.

Full six-part series on the rise and fall of Viktor Bout, the most notorious arms dealer of the modern era.

On the mysterious life story of blues icon Blind Willie Johnson and a half-century of attempts to fill in the blanks.

The revival of a landmark 1921 musical opens a door on the deep and twisted roots of black performance in America.

A brief history of churchyards, cemeteries, and the ghosts that haunt them.

Every month, thousands of deportees from the United States and hundreds of asylum-seekers from around the world arrive in Tijuana. Many never leave.

Rojava becomes the Spanish Civil War of modern times for a ragtag group of leftists revolutionaries.

On the difficulty of diagnosing chronic lyme disease and the persistent struggle to do no harm.

How the #MeToo movement paved the way for a new era of food writing.

A discussion of the “limited but important” power of Occupy Wall Street’s open blog, “We Are the 99%.”

A profile of England’s pre-eminent scholar of race, culture, and nationalism.