We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in investigative reporting.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe
Launched in 1977, the Voyager spacecraft are still out there, monitored by nine flight-team engineers who are fluent in an archaic programming code known only to them. They are forgoing retirement to squeeze every last watt out of the 40-year-old spacecraft, which will run out of energy by 2030 at the latest.
Posted inScience & Nature
The Engineers Who Can’t Quit Voyager
The nine flight-team engineers of the 1977 mission have been putting off retirement to see through one of NASA’s most successful spacecraft all the way to the end.
Posted inNonfiction
United States of Conspiracy: An Interview with Anna Merlan
“Most people in America believe in one conspiracy to some extent, but the far end of the pool … is this desire to show that you really do reject all knowable authority.”
Posted inNonfiction
Nashville contra Jaws, 1975
In their time, “Jaws” and “Nashville” were regarded as Watergate films, and both were in production as the Watergate disaster played its final act.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2018: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks
Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, Nonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
Mars Needs Women… Scientists
At the top of the SLS will be the Orion, the capsule designed to take astronauts—men and, yes, now women—as far as Mars (come the 2030s).
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
In My Own Voice, Redefining Success and Failure
Lauren DePino looks back at her ambitions as a singer, and re-evaluates the rejections she once allowed to define her.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
In My Own Voice, Redefining Success and Failure
Lauren DePino looks back at her ambitions as a singer, and re-evaluates the rejections she once allowed to define her.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Business & Tech, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Uncategorized
Not Quite Democracy: Lucie Greene on the Civic Aspirations of Tech Giants
Lucie Greene’s new book “Silicon States” is about the danger of concentrating so much power in so few hands.
