Three asylum seekers navigate coronavirus and climate change at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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What Does a Post-Apocalyptic Gated Community Look Like?
For wealthy Americans, a dystopian future includes underground golfing in South Dakota.
How the Unchecked Power of Judges Is Hurting Poor Texans
“In Texas, the crisis is exacerbated by a key structural flaw: indigent defense is largely overseen by judges. Contrary to the American Bar Association’s principles of public defense, which call for defense lawyers to be independent of the judiciary, judges in most Texas counties decide which lawyers get cases, how much they are paid, and […]
How a DNA Testing Kit Revealed a Family Secret Hidden for 54 Years
A personal essay by memoirist Dani Shapiro about discovering, accidentally through DNA testing, that the father she knew was not her biological parent. In the piece she advocates for the rights of children produced through assisted reproduction, after decades in which those of parents and donor prevailed, and children were kept in the dark about […]
Tramp Like Us
Can an American family learn to become outdoorsy in New Zealand, where the natural world is part of the national DNA? Sort of.
The Neanderthal
Jen Gilman Porat seeks a genetic excuse for her husband’s barbaric table manners.
On Truth and Lying in the Extra German Sense
What’s the German word for “the world’s most forthright people have deceit in their DNA”?
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Elizabeth Weil, Neena Satija, Dan McDougall, Leslie Jamison, and Amos Barshad.
The Fertility Doctor’s Secret
“Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever know. Then DNA testing came along.”

