Policing the world of experimental research in the age of TED talks and Freakonomics.

The fall of PCCare247, an Indian company in the business of selling fixes to problems that didn’t exist.

A 15-year-old Russian has a shorter life expectancy than a peer in Bangladesh, Cambodia, or Yemen.

Alfred Dellentash Jr. chartered the Rolling Stones in private jets while smuggling planeloads of Pablo Escobar’s drugs on the side.

Mementos left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the man in charge of cataloging them.

How a disgraced Civil War general became one of the best-selling novelists in American history.

A look at the Mexican drug wars from the point of view of a narco’s mistress in Juárez.

On the blurry ethical lines in the part-time Texas state legislature, where politicians and CEO’s are one and the same.

How the foreclosure crisis ignited a new form of activism in Chicago’s vacant homes.

Memories of living with the writer Andrew Lytle late in his life.

On working in a war zone to pay the bills.

When the best three months of your life are “called three of the uglier months in the recent history of the National Football League.”

A father’s life, one year after the death of his three daughters in a fire.

With abortion access limited in many states, should some home abortions still be a crime?

How the government cleared the streets in advance of the 1988 Olympics.

The story of Deso Dogg, a German rapper-turned-ISIS propagandist who may or may not have been killed in an airstrike.

Colossal corruption. Political chaos. The worst recession in its history. How a once-booming nation fell.

A decade in the life of America’s wiliest coyote.

How Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and his Airbus A320 landed safely in the Hudson.

The story of an 86-year-old Norwegian man who tired to circumnavigate the globe, solo, in an engineless sailboat he built himself.

Five cars (all bought with $3,000 or less) containing 13 men (some in costume) race from New York City to California.

The Southern Baptist church, which has its origins in a split over slavery, at an election-year crossroads.

He stole over $1 million in chips – then checked himself into casino’s hotel to live like a king.

On the shootings, and the response, in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights, and Dallas this summer.