Vagabonds, Crafty Bauds, and the Loyal Huzza: A History of London at Night

In the 16th & 17th centuries, “nightwalking” was a transgressive act in a city still on the brink of total nighttime illumination, but with complex implications depending on your social status.

Source: Verso Books
Published: Jun 29, 2015
Length: 40 minutes (10,129 words)

Prison Born

Research shows that prison nurseries that allow babies to remain with their incarcerated mothers leads to lower recidivism rates for mothers and better outcomes for their children.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jun 24, 2015
Length: 24 minutes (6,245 words)

I Made A Linguistics Professor Listen To A Blink-182 Song And Analyze The Accent

A linguist explains the “California accent,” and why pop punk vocals sounded so whiny.

Source: Atlas Obscura
Published: Jun 18, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,000 words)

A Chloe Caldwell Reading List

She’ll show you her demons if you’ll show her yours—her style is deeply personal, almost confessional, but Chloe never seems to write from a place of exhibitionism.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 28, 2015

‘I Don’t Believe in God, but I Believe in Lithium’

Jaime Lowe writes about her bipolar disorder, which has been managed by lithium pills for most of her adult life. She fears what will happen when she stops taking it.

Author: Jaime Lowe
Published: Jun 25, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,419 words)

The Death Doulas

A hundred years ago, dying in America was a far more intimate experience. A look at how the realities of death became so distant and industrialized, and the small group of women who are fighting to reconnect us to the process of dying.

Published: Jun 24, 2015
Length: 24 minutes (6,050 words)

Overnight Success

With The Overnight and Creep—two feature films, released within 24 hours of each other via contrasting distribution methods—indie director Patrick Brice made his feature directorial debut twice in the same day. Kevin Lincoln looks at what Brice’s career says about about the film industry’s future-now.

Source: Grantland
Published: Jun 18, 2015
Length: 15 minutes (3,753 words)

How Minions Destroyed the Internet

The strange world of Minions memes.

Source: The Awl
Published: Jun 23, 2015
Length: 6 minutes (1,679 words)

What Makes Work Meaningful? Ask a Zookeeper

Many people feel stuck in a meaningless job, but zookeepers might be the exception—a 2009 paper studied zookeepers and found that the profession was about the closest anyone in the modern, secular world comes to having a calling.

Source: JSTOR Daily
Published: Jun 24, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,190 words)

Science, Chance, and Emotion with Real Cosima

Through her work on clone-thriller Orphan Black, science consultant Cosima Herter has helped open our eyes to the possibilities and perils of synthetic biology and the pursuit of genetic perfection.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 24, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,889 words)