“People who have not loved a dog will never experience the most honest, pure and unconditional relationship a human can have. But to love a dog is to sign up for heartbreak.” What would you sacrifice for your pet? When Shawna Richer’s dog, Scout, became paralyzed, she had to make a choice: would she put […]
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A 4-Year-Old Trapped in a Teenager’s Body
Like all the men in his family, Patrick Burleigh carried an extremely rare genetic mutation, which led to “precocious puberty” and a confusing, challenging childhood in which he experienced dramatic physical changes — like pubic hair — as early as age 2.
Me and You
Two friends, Hurricane Katrina, a suicide, and the pain and beauty that holds us all together.
Smoking: A Legal Weed Reading List
The economy, the culture, and the promise of cannabis.
Why Bugs Deserve Our Respect
Fruit flies helped us win six Nobel prizes in medicine. Architects have been inspired by termite hills. Ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson explains why bugs are so essential to the world we live in.
At Risk, at Home and Abroad
As Joy Notoma grapples with uterine fibroids, harmful biases in the medical establishment, and a move from Brooklyn to West Africa she wonders where, as a black woman, she can find safety.
The Geography Closest In
In her new book, Miranda Ward explores the unique place of almost-motherhood — an uncertain landscape characterized by waiting, wanting, hoping, and not-knowing.
Communiqué from an Exurban Satellite Clinic of a Cancer Pavilion Named after a Financier
Anne Boyer encounters a familiar system — that grand and easy-to-mistake-for-everything system — at the cancer pavilion.
The Specialized Field of Fetal Surgery
It’s a field as small as the people it operates on, and for many parents, it’s the only hope their children have.
Hating Big Pharma Is Good, But Supply-Side Epidemic Theory Is Killing People
New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
