Hex Factor: Inside the Group Offering $250,000 for Proof of Superpowers

“Applicants come from all over the world and make all kinds of claims, but the one thing they have in common is that every single person appears to genuinely believe they do, in fact, possess abilities that science cannot explain.”

Source: OneZero
Published: Feb 23, 2021
Length: 11 minutes (2,951 words)

OCD is Not a Joke

“People with obsessive-compulsive disorder are often depicted as Type A clean freaks. The reality is much worse.”

Source: The Walrus
Published: Mar 1, 2021
Length: 12 minutes (3,114 words)

Everybody Knows You When You’re Down And Out

Amanda Petrusich on blueswoman Bessie Smith: “She got what she wanted by working hard at it, finding new ways to profit from a cultivated skill. Some of the notes she hits are so robust, so fixed and powerful, listening to them feels like walking directly into a sliding glass door. You are stunned and embarrassed, looking around to see who else saw. Her forcefulness just sneaks up like that.”

Source: Oxford American
Published: Nov 10, 2020
Length: 15 minutes (3,914 words)

Once Upon a Tree

“Before a disastrous blight, the American chestnut was a keystone species in eastern forests. Could genetic engineering help bring it back?”

Source: Sierra Magazine
Published: Feb 25, 2021
Length: 14 minutes (3,685 words)

She Was Trafficked into a Giant Brothel. Now She Runs It

“Monowara (as she is known in the brothel) was trafficked into Kandapara as a child over 30 years ago. Since then, armed with little more than her wits, she has learned to navigate the institution’s intricate hierarchies, cruelty and violence. Today she is one of the most powerful women in the brothel.”

Source: The Economist
Published: Feb 19, 2021
Length: 22 minutes (5,741 words)

A Joyless Trudge? No, thanks: Why I Am Utterly Sick of ‘Going For a Walk’

“Joylessly trudging around the same bit of my neighbourhood, for the fourth day in a row, in the interests of scavenging a crumb of mental health? Thanks, but no.”

Source: The Guardian
Published: Feb 27, 2021
Length: 7 minutes (1,789 words)

The Dogs That Grew Wool and the People Who Love Them

“The dogs did more than provide fur. They were also part of village life: sometimes, a favorite wooly dog would keep a weaver company.”

Source: Hakai Magazine
Published: Feb 23, 2021
Length: 16 minutes (4,105 words)

A Lifetime Of Labor: Maybelle Carter At Work

In rural America in the early part of last century, women who did full-time labor to keep households and farms running while raising children were considered unemployed unless they earned a wage. Country music pioneer Mother Maybelle Carter often did double duty, laboring at home by day, raising children, and playing shows at night for years.

Source: NPR
Published: Aug 14, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,080 words)

Cat and Mouse

“With dozens of felines turning up dead around London, a pair of pet detectives set out to prove it was the work of a serial killer.”

Author: Phil Hoad
Source: The Atavist
Published: Feb 28, 2021
Length: 56 minutes (14,000 words)

‘Our fates are going to be the same.’

They won the Alaska newspaper giveaway. Then the pandemic arrived.

Published: Feb 23, 2021
Length: 8 minutes (2,211 words)