It’s now routine for corporations to outsource the task of generating new ideas. A look at the consulting firms who meet that need.

How J.C. Penney gamed Google and became the top result for searches on everything from “area rugs” to “skinny jeans.”

Searching for the line between courage and humility on an expedition to Cirque of the Unclimbables, a remote ring of perfect rock-climbing mountains in Canada.

“Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.”

We like to believe that the blame for wrongful convictions falls on individuals: the racist prosecutor, the crooked cop. It doesn’t always work that way.

A young Brazilian couple from “an impoverished northeastern city that’s been described as ground zero of the Zika epidemic” struggle to care for their daughter.

Two bodies wash up in Northern Europe, wearing identical wetsuits. The search for their identities leads authorities to a camp in Calais.

Africa’s most important economy now appears to function for the benefit of one powerful family—the Guptas.

The need for a new letter on an old manual machine leads the author to the shop of Martin Tytell — repairman, historian, and high priest of typewriters.

When patients turn to crowdfunding for medical costs, whoever has the most heartrending story wins.

What happened to the National Enquirer after it went all in for Trump.

On Bill May, considered to be the greatest male synchronized swimmer who ever lived, and his long quest for Olympic gold.

Deep in southwest Arkansas is a state park that charges visitors $10 to search for gems that can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For some Americans, history isn’t the story of what actually happened; it’s the story they want to believe.

For 50 years, Enthusiastic Sobriety programs have promised to help teenagers kick drug and alcohol addiction. But former followers say ES doesn’t save lives—it destroys them.

How Chicago is key to a business moving tons of drugs for billions of dollars.

“Americans find it hard to believe that foreigners are unalterably foreign, for they have seen generations of immigrants who became Americans.”

How two couples found a way to play the preschool system for profit.

An Italian town plagued by mysterious fires turns to science, the church, and the law in a search for answers.

The author travels to Dubai; Arab children see snow for the first time, which is made by a Kenyan.

A profile of the Navy Seal who killed Osama bin Laden and came home to a life in shambles.

More than 100 years after they were discovered, we’re still looking for an answer as to why blood types exist.

How an entire industry built itself convincing lead-paint poisoning victims to sign over settlement payments for a fraction of what they’re worth.

Who was Ashraf Marwan working for when he fell to his death from the balcony of a London flat?