One cyclist rides west, another rides east. They meet on an empty stretch of road in a Kazakh desert.

With only a single breath, Alexey Molchanov, history’s most daring freediver, is reaching improbable depths—and discovering a new kind of enlightenment as he conquers one of the world’s wildest sports.

Attracted by lax regulations, industrial agriculture has descended on a remote valley, depleting its aquifer — leaving many residents with no water at all.

“It’s more than soup.”

Last year, a group of young Romanians stole millions of euros worth of art from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. They had previously only robbed homes and thought the artwork would be easy to sell. It was not. So they secreted it back home, where, in an effort to save her son, the leader’s mother burned it.

Kidnapping and international adoption.

Remembering Patrice O’Neal.

The story of Attila Ambrus, who was released from jail this morning in Hungary. Nicknamed the Whiskey Robber because witnesses always spotted him having a double across the street prior to his heists, Ambrus only stole from state-owned banks and post offices, becoming a Hungarian folk hero during his seven years on the lam. While on his spree he was also the goaltender for Budapest’s best-known hockey team and was arguably the worst pro goalie ever to play the sport, once giving up 23 goals in a single game.

Excerpted from Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts.

Mo Pinel spent a career reshaping the ball’s inner core to harness the power of physics. He revolutionized the sport—and spared no critics along the way.

What makes a great show?

How the Oglala Lakota healed from a massacre.

On the clip that captured a society falling apart.

A physician becomes convinced he’s dying.

How the veterinary industry went corporate.

Two very different fates at the Chicago Marathon.

It was the worst AIDS crisis in years—until it wasn’t.

On the modern era’s answer to James Baldwin.

Tracking down the very best in Grateful Dead concert concessions.

A jailhouse interview.

Doing mushrooms in space.

A reporter returns to My Lai.

How Sherwin Shayegan pulled off a 3,000-mile, piggyback ride-fueled road trip.

On rongorongo, which no one can decipher.

The paper spiked a #MeToo story. Why?

On living in dark times.