‘Fuck’-ing Around

The history of swearing is more than just an evolution of social mores — it’s also a politically charged narrative at the “intersection of anger and gaiety.”

Published: Jan 23, 2017
Length: 12 minutes (3,235 words)

Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology

Author Alec Nevala-Lee surveys the fiction of L. Ron Hubbard, gaining new insights into the life of the founder of dianetics and the origins and nature of Scientology itself.

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 1, 2017
Length: 30 minutes (7,744 words)

The Bartleby Strategy

Civil disobedience, Herman Melville style.

Source: Boston Review
Published: Feb 1, 2017
Length: 6 minutes (1,573 words)

Breaking Elgar’s Enigma

How a former insurance adjuster claims to have solved the 118-year-old cryptographic mystery of a hidden message in Edward Elgar’s infamous Enigma Variations.

Published: Feb 1, 2017
Length: 16 minutes (4,179 words)

The Forgotten History of Japanese-American Designers’ World War II Internment

Revisiting the link between detention and design history, 75 years after FDR’s executive order.

Source: curbed.com
Published: Jan 31, 2017
Length: 19 minutes (4,976 words)

Does An Octopus Have A Soul? This Author Thinks So

In this interview, Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, reflects on the uncanny intelligence, intuition, and surprising sex lives of octopuses.

Published: Jun 10, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,198 words)

Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze

Alcohol isn’t just a mind-altering drink: It has been a prime mover of human culture from the beginning, fueling the development of arts, language, and religion.

Published: Feb 1, 2017
Length: 22 minutes (5,715 words)

One Man’s Quest to Hack His Own Genes

Biologist Brian Hanley is testing out gene therapy by injecting copies of a gene he has designed into his own body.

Published: Jan 10, 2017
Length: 10 minutes (2,550 words)

Typecast as a Terrorist

The Night Of and Rogue One star Riz Ahmed describes what life, work, and passing through airports is like as a British Pakistani.

Author: Riz Ahmed
Source: The Guardian
Published: Sep 15, 2016
Length: 11 minutes (2,792 words)

The Desperate Battle to Destroy ISIS

The Nineveh Province swat team are part of the multi-agency effort to take Mosul back from ISIS, but their approach differs from other groups. The elite force is composed entirely of Iraqis who ISIS has physically or personally injured, and who want revenge. Their war is personal, and they will not back down.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Feb 6, 2017
Length: 77 minutes (19,470 words)