Editor’s Pick

Inside 19th Century London’s sewers with “toshers,” who made a living by scouring for trash and waste to be resold: “They were mostly celebrated, nonetheless, for the living that the sewers gave them, which was enough to support a tribe of around 200 men–each of them known only by his nickname: Lanky Bill, Long Tom, […]

Now that LeBron James has his first championship ring, his narrative is complete. A brief history: “Finally, after several drama-clogged months, LeBron James announced his intentions. He called a public meeting in the Roman Forum, at the very spot from which Marc Antony had addressed his countrymen after the death of Julius Caesar. (Some found […]

A look at anthropologist Tanya Lurhmann, and on how it is possible for people to experience the voice of a higher being: “In the name of research, Luhrmann attended Sunday church where members danced, swayed, cried and raised their hands as a sign of surrender to God. She attended weekly home prayer groups whose members […]

How Udacity, Coursera and other online universities are changing the way we learn—and changing who has access to higher education: “‘It turns out that two-thirds of our students are from outside the United States,’ Stavens, now the CEO of Udacity, said. ‘It’s about a third US, a third from ten other countries you might expect—western […]

[Not single-page] A visit to one of Philly’s most iconic summer camps: “White’s runner arrived at the stage first, and Tyler, a Villanova bunk member who’d been watching older campers do this for years, thrust his face into the dessert topping. A chant rose: ‘Eat that pie! Eat that pie!’ About five minutes into the […]

On what drives the MSNBC star, and how she’s attempted to move her show beyond partisan shouting: “Back in 2008, shortly after Phil Griffin called Maddow and told her he was giving her a prime-time television show of her own, she inherited the staff of Verdict With Dan Abrams, a show that embodied the gimmicky […]

Men rarely become porn stars, but James Deen has found a large following simply by being “average”: “James Deen, whose real name is Bryan Sevilla, grew up in Pasadena, California. His parents are both, after a fashion, rocket scientists. His father is a mechanical engineer for NASA. His mother does data analysis for the space […]

[Not single-page] Does having more money make a person have less empathy? “Earlier this year, Piff, who is 30, published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that made him semi-famous. Titled ‘Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior,’ it showed through quizzes, online games, questionnaires, in-lab manipulations, and field studies […]

A couple learns about a cancer diagnosis: “I watch your hand starting to shake as you write down information that will sit on a small square of paper for months, impossible to get rid of. I stand two feet away and watch your lips. I hear you say, Is that all you can tell me…. […]

On March 2, 2012, a tornado hit the village of Moscow, Ohio. A look at how the residents fared: “At approximately 4:47 p.m., it hits the riverfront homes. In the first second, a tornado can break every window in a house. It rips shingles loose and pries the roof free, moving over it like air […]