Louisiana Loses Its Boot

Floodwaters and erosion are erasing Louisiana’s physical borders, changing its shape from the boot we know and love to something quite different. Brett Anderson traces the borders of his home state, in order to reflect the truth about a sinking place.

Source: Matter
Published: Sep 8, 2014
Length: 30 minutes (7,603 words)

On Barbs and Demogorgons: A Stranger Things Reading List

Whether you’re still high on the show’s well-calculated nostalgia or already experiencing symptoms of Upside Down withdrawal, here’s a two-part selection of stories to keep you going: from deep dives into the design of the show’s title sequence to a sprawling interview with its creators.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 17, 2016

When JFK Airport Was Shut Down Because of a Terror Attack that Wasn’t

A false alarm in New York’s biggest airport causes stampedes and delays, and makes one passenger wonder about the War on Terror’s effect on our collective psyche.

Published: Aug 15, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,202 words)

The Bizarre Tale of President Nixon and His Basic Income Bill

In 1969 President Richard Nixon was on the verge of implementing a basic income for poor families in America. It promised to be a revolutionary step – had the President not changed his mind at the last minute. This is the incredible and largely forgotten tale of just how close the U.S. came to stamping out poverty altogether.

Published: May 17, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,762 words)

The Genius of James Brown

As big a musical figure as James Brown is, it’s hard for some of us to appreciate how much Brown defined the 1960s while avoiding being contained by them. A non-traditional book eschews standard biography in order to make sense of the complex, contradictory, lingering genius of the Godfather of Soul ─ Mr. Dynamite himself ─ without expecting all the answers.

Published: Aug 15, 2016
Length: 14 minutes (3,566 words)

Mind Your Own Business

Mindfullness apps: is there actually any benefit to this kind of bite-sized meditation. And what, exactly, are we trying to be mindful of?

Source: The Baffler
Published: May 1, 2015
Length: 9 minutes (2,294 words)

The Strange Brain of the World’s Greatest Solo Climber

Neuroscientists studied the brain of free solo climber Alex Honnold and discovered that he doesn’t experience fear like the rest of us.

Source: Nautilus
Published: Aug 11, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,864 words)

The House Where You Live Forever

The reversible destiny of Madeline Gins, who had an elaborate theory suggesting that death may not in fact be inevitable.

Published: Aug 16, 2016
Length: 28 minutes (7,065 words)

The Sandwich That Ate the World

The Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich is one of the world’s most delicious creations. Fortunately it has endured without the colonialism and xenophobia that marked its origins.

Published: Jun 21, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,117 words)

Cleaning Up the Herbal Healers

Between reliable traditional remedies for malaria and diabetes to used motor oil dressed up as an immune booster, Ghana’s herb market generates millions annually and provides 70% of Ghana’s citizens with most of their healthcare. Regulators are trying to deal with the massive scale of its herbal drugstores, clinics and claims without destroying the system.

Source: Mosaic Science
Published: Jul 26, 2016
Length: 18 minutes (4,651 words)