“Mukherjee was fascinated with cells early on. But then he was interested in so many things.”
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Is the Cure for Cancer Locked in Shrunken Heads from the Amazon?
Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer?
Longreads Best of 2018: Essays
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in essays.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Moira Donegan, Leonora LaPeter Anton, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Linda Besner, and Geraldine DeRuiter.
My Father’s Body, at Rest and in Motion
A reported, scientific essay in which physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee considers the body’s proclivity for homeostasis, which kept his elderly father’s failing body alive for longer than seemed to make sense, after he had begun failing, and falling.
Fast or Slow: What’s the Best Way to Die?
Sometimes death takes a torturously slow, scenic route.
Ten Translations of Care
Mary Wang recalls the ways in which she and her family in China conspired to hide her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis from her.
Ten Translations of Care
Mary Wang recalls the ways in which she and her family in China conspired to hide her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis from her.
A New View of Crime in America
What does incarceration do for the member of a family that views prison as a rite of passage? A New York Times reporter takes a close look at intergenerational criminality.
We Are Scientists
A scientist examines the connections between his Indian immigrant father and the brilliant but overlooked Indian scientist Yellapragada Subbarow.

