My Weekend at a Conference for the Super-Happy

In Miami, a motley crew of scientists, new-age gurus, and TED-flavored influencers join forces to help us all “choose happiness.”

Source: Outside
Published: May 4, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,177 words)

The Thieves Who Steal Sunken Warships, Right Down to the Bolts

How pirates are diving down to wrecks on the sea floor in search of scrap, and in the process are stealing 6500-ton ships — in their entirety — leaving only the imprint of the massive hulls on the sea floor.

Source: Outside
Published: May 2, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,398 words)

Going It Alone

Rahawa Haile shares her story of hiking the Appalachian Trail as a queer black woman in the spring of 2016 — traveling through hundreds of miles in states that staunchly supported Donald Trump in the election.

Source: Outside
Published: Apr 11, 2017
Length: 15 minutes (3,787 words)

The Wildest Party on Earth

Eva Holland profiles the sweaty, rhino-skinned, costumed competitors of Horseshoe Hell — a competitive rock-climbing race in Arkansas, in which participants attempt to complete as many climbs as they can in a 24-hour period in blazing temperatures.

Source: Outside
Published: Mar 21, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,358 words)

How 1,600 People Went Missing from Our Public Lands Without a Trace

From cougars to stalkers to falls down deep canyons, America’s 640 million acres of public land offer countless ways to disappear. The 1,600 people who already have is only an estimate, since no reliable system exists to track their numbers and cases, or to find them.

Source: Outside
Published: Mar 13, 2017
Length: 21 minutes (5,433 words)

Our Lady of Strays

The world’s greatest dog sanctuary is on a small farm in Costa Rica, where hundreds of canines run wild over the land—eating huge piles of food and slobbering happily on Lya Battle and her small band of dedicated volunteers.

Source: Outside
Published: Feb 22, 2017
Length: 19 minutes (4,826 words)

The Detective of Northern Oddities

A profile of Kathy Burek, a veterinary pathologist who performs necropsies on animals (whales, sea otters, polar bears) that mysteriously turn up dead in Alaska.

Source: Outside
Published: Jan 4, 2017
Length: 24 minutes (6,045 words)

What Happened to Eastern Airlines Flight 980?

In 1985, Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashed into the side of a 21,112-foot mountain in Bolivia. No bodies were recovered at the crash site, and the plane’s black box was never found. More than 30 years later, two friends from Boston organized an expedition to figure out what happened.

Source: Outside
Published: Oct 18, 2016
Length: 29 minutes (7,296 words)

The Future of Disaster Relief Isn’t the Red Cross

Team Rubicon breaks rules to put veterans to work and assist people in need. Is this the facelift the aid industry needs?

Source: Outside
Published: Aug 25, 2016
Length: 20 minutes (5,009 words)

A Terrifying Journey Through the World’s Most Dangerous Jungle

Jason Motlagh joins US-bound migrants as they traverse the guerilla-ruled area around the Colombia-Panama border.

Source: Outside
Published: Jul 19, 2016
Length: 38 minutes (9,688 words)