What happens when a pacemaker outlives the brain.

“Will you show me all of the man-in-the-street, sympathetic, mayoral candidates? The last time I met one of them on the subway was a long time ago. Let’s not get too carried away.”

A two-week island experience involving a 70-year-old interloper, his mannequin girlfriend, a couple of dogs and very little else.

Translation of an exclusive interview with Syrian President Bashar al_Assad:

“Have they not realised that since the Vietnam War, all the wars their predecessors have waged have failed? Have they not learned that they have gained nothing from these wars but the destruction of the countries they fought, which has had a destabilising effect on the Middle East and other parts of the world? Have they not comprehended that all of these wars have not made people in the region appreciate them or believe in their policies?”

What prompts a woman to exit society and marry God? Inside a modern convent in Texas.

How real-time information can make you a better human.

Adventures with a group of young Hasidic men looking for God in psychedelic drugs.

Chris, a 25-year-old black man, tries to get a good job.

A 27-year old reporter is kidnapped in Somalia and held hostage for over a year.

On the dysfunctional community colleges of San Francisco.

A profile of long-time White House butler Eugene Allen. This article served as inspiration for the recent movie “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”

Fast cars and bad decisions in a race through Southern Europe known as the “Gumball 3000.”

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

A melancholic Billy Ray Cyrus on the trauma of being the father of a famous 18-year-old girl, his friendship with Kurt Cobain, and his favorite mullet nicknames (Kentucky Waterfall and Missouri Compromise).

On not making the NBA.

How volunteer firefighters responded to a lethal West, Texas explosion.

A profile of the actor.

What kind of New York is Mayor Mike leaving behind?

Roy Petersen was blind in one eye, had two replaced hips, and was twice divorced. His job was to solve a gold mine robbery case in the Peruvian Andes. He would need some help.

Her grandfather, she found out decades after he died, was not her grandfather. Who did that make her?

“Joe’s hand began to tingle, and he called the group together. The toxins would leave his system in 48 hours, he said. He’d be conscious the whole time.”

Departing Marrakech by car with a plan to record music for the Library of Congress.

An interview with Murphy at the apex of his power, just before the release of Harlem Nights.

Women who left their careers to be stay-at-home mothers reflect on the decision ten years later.