Confessions of a white-collar heroin addict.

Remembering the loss of a parent and the birth of an addiction.

A father on his son’s meth problem.

Three years lost to Grand Theft Auto.

Giving yourself over to poker.

On quitting cigarettes.

Seventy-five years after its founding, it’s still hard to explain exactly why Alcoholics Anonymous works.

Growing up among the tall waves and schoolyard bullies of Hawaii.

On surfer girls in Maui: the story that led to the film Blue Crush.

A profile of Ken Bradshaw, who at 45 surfed the tallest wave in recorded history.

A visit to the massive Northern California surf break.

The underground culture of big waves and wild times in 1961 Malibu, and the gang of teenage boys who worshiped at the feet of the beach’s dark prince, surfing legend and grifter Miki Dora.

Getting away from it all in Mexico.

On surf legend Eddie Aikau and the complicated history of Hawaii.

A trip to the French island of Réunion to report on a bloody battle between surfers and sharks.

On surfing, and surfing in San Francisco, and surfing with a San Francisco surfing fanatic.

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.

How the CIA used a fake science fiction film to sneak six Americans out of revolutionary Iran. The declassified story that became Ben Affleck’s Argo.

Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, media outlets including the New York Times and CBS News provided the CIA with information and cover for agents. Then everyone decided to pretend it had never happened.

Erik Prince, the boyish CEO of America’s largest and most controversial mercenary force, Blackwater, also happened to be a CIA agent.

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

When a CIA operation in Pakistan went bad, leaving three men dead, the episode offered a rare glimpse inside a shadowy world of espionage. It also jeopardized America’s most critical outpost in the war against terrorism.

On the CIA’s early operations.

A spy takes on his own agency.

A three-part series on the U.S. intelligence system post-9/11.