Language has always changed, but the introduction of technology means it is adapting in ways we have never experienced before.
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I Entered the World’s Longest, Loneliest Horse Race on a Whim, and I Won
Somehow, implausibly, against all the odds, I became the youngest person and first woman ever to win the Mongol Derby. What made me so sure I was ready, when I was totally unprepared?
Research and Rescue: Saving Species from Ourselves
We’re developing high-tech genetic tools to pour new life into animals lost to human destruction. Deciding how — and whether — to use that power is as complex as the science behind it.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Gabrielle Hamilton, Nicholas Thompson, Anna Badkhen, Alex Perry, and Caleb Johnson.
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Orchids
Sometimes a flower is just a flower, and sometimes it’s a powerful vehicle for giving free rein to our worst colonialist and misogynist impulses.
Seagulls Who Eat People Food Poop People Food on Protected Lands
Fast food is killing the human world. Now it could be killing California gulls’ protected island habitat.
Pretty and Dumb? Tell It to the Avocado
New arrivals didn’t hand Natives the keys to the modern world — but took the tools that built its foundations.
Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA: Part I
A nature writer in Los Angeles tackles her genre’s fundamental problems, which is also the problem of how modern Americans relate to the natural world. And yes, there is nature in L.A.
All Hail the Rat King
From Martin Luther to The Nutcracker, Germany’s original national nightmare was a tangled knot of writhing rats.
Brené Brown: ‘I think we’re looking for each other.’
“In a country where nobody can agree on much, we seem to agree on Brené Brown.”

