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What is killing sugar-cane workers across Central America?

Danger zone: sugar crop workers in Bajo Lempa, on the west coast of El Salvador. Photograph: Will Storr for the Observer It is stage five they fear the most. Stage five is the mysterious sickness in…
AUTHOR:Will Storr
PUBLISHED: Oct. 14, 2012
LENGTH: 11 minutes (2923 words)

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SOURCE:t.co

Reefer Madness

In the state of Indiana a person convicted of armed robbery will serve about five years in prison; someone convicted of rape will serve about twelve; and a convicted murderer can expect to spend…
LENGTH: 41 minutes (10277 words)

The Most Dangerous Gamer

Like many wealthy people, Jonathan Blow vividly remembers the moment he became rich. At the time, in late 2008, he was $40,000 in debt and living in a modest San Francisco apartment, having just…
LENGTH: 10 minutes (2632 words)

The evolution of death

This article is an adapted excerpt from the new book "The Undead," from Pantheon Books. Michael DeVita of the University of Pittsburg recalls making the rounds at a student teaching hospital with…
PUBLISHED: March 18, 2012
LENGTH: 13 minutes (3286 words)

The Man Who Broke Atlantic City

Don Johnson finds it hard to remember the exact cards. Who could? At the height of his 12-hour blitz of the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, last April, he was playing a hand of…
LENGTH: 8 minutes (2248 words)

Will Putinism see the end of Putin?

On a Friday night last November Vladimir Putin was running three hours late. A group of foreign academics, journalists and selected Russian TV cameras were quarantined in a restaurant in an…
PUBLISHED: Feb. 27, 2012
LENGTH: 14 minutes (3669 words)

Among the asexuals

"OK," writes Annette, in an introductory email: "I am 47 but look younger, probably because I take good care of myself and also do not have the stress of a husband and kids." At first glance it…
PUBLISHED: Feb. 26, 2012
LENGTH: 9 minutes (2371 words)
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