Showcasing stories from Julia Webster Ayuso, Abe Beame, Tracy Thompson, Will Boast, and Gary Grimes.
Search results
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we are featuring stories from Piper French, Jordan Blumetti, Zing Tsjeng, Ryan CantĂş, and Luke Winkie.
The Wonder of Make Believe
In this excerpt, Mac Barnett recalls how dull “early reader” books inspired him to write books for kids.
Did a Legendary Trout Really Ride the Rails from California to Missouri?
“Scientists use DNA to solve genetic puzzles in waters around the world. But in Crane Creek, the mystery got deeper.”
4 Dead Infants, a Convicted Mother, and a Genetic Mystery
“Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of killing her babies. One scientist suspected the real culprit was mutant DNA—and went on a tireless quest to prove it.”
My Unlikely Existence
Is AI helping prospective parents game the fertility lottery? Should it?
What Neko Case taught me about curation and the week’s Top 5
“When the media covered women in the grunge and alternative scene, it treated them like a genre unto itself. This genre, though, received almost no in-depth profiles or features.” Books are one of the great joys in my life. The other is music. I’ve been following singer songwriter Neko Case since 1997, after picking up […]
How Your Family Tree Could Catch a Killer
“Genetic genealogists like CeCe Moore are cracking cold cases and transforming policing. As DNA analysis redefines ancestry and anonymity, what knowledge should we be permitted to unlock?”
The Meaning of Tattoos and Our Top 5 of the Week
“When my father-in-law was growing up in Baltimore and misbehaved in Hebrew school with his friends, their teachers would calmly unbutton their cuffs and roll up their sleeves, revealing their tattoos from Auschwitz. I’ve seen worse, the tattoos said. Or perhaps, This could happen to you.” What does your tattoo mean? It’s a question often asked of […]
The Cowtown Killer
Glen McCurley was living a quiet life in Fort Worth when new DNA evidence linked him to a notorious crime: the killing of a teenager named Carla Walker, more than 45 years prior. Police suspect it wasn’t his first murder — or his last. The story of how he got caught takes some surprising turns, […]


