Campaigners want circus elephants placed in specially built sanctuaries. But their owners insist being separated from their human “families” would be traumatic.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Twin Cities resistance, psychedelic self-reinvention, guardians of the ranch, a file of fragments, and Pantone’s political white.
Victoria Amelina: Ukraine and the Meaning of Home
“Hopefully, I will have turned out to be one of the worst investments the Russian Federation ever made.”
A Dog’s Inner Life: What a Robot Pet Taught Me About Consciousness
“The creators of the Aibo robot dog say it has ‘real emotions and instinct’. This may seem over the top, but is it? In today’s AI universe, all the eternal questions have become engineering problems.”
The Joy of Sweat and the Week’s Top 5
“To move in spin class only for the sake of moving, of the joyful challenge itself, of sweating and pushing and dancing, is cool water in my throat. To be loved, simply for showing up, is pure golden sun in my chest.” Happy Friday and welcome to (unofficial) autumn! If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere […]
The Toll of War and the Week’s Top 5
“Tesfaye wan’t sure where the gunfire was coming from, and with service outages across Mekelle, he couldn’t look online for answers. He was certain something was very wrong. But what could he do? He got dressed and did what he did most mornings. He went to work.” Every month, we share an excerpt from our […]
My Unlikely Existence
Is AI helping prospective parents game the fertility lottery? Should it?
The Children of War and Our Top 5 Stories of the Week
“When there’s a long, deafening roar outside that makes the windows tremble, or a series of more distant thumps, I’m the only one who flinches. The baby wriggles, then sleeps.” This coming weekend, the clock falls back for many of our readers and we’ve got some excellent stories to help fill that found hour. In […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re recommending stories by Moira Donegan, Danyel Smith, Dan Kois, Michael Aylwin, and Becky Ferreira.
Interspecies Communication, An Ultra-Incredible Recovery, and Our Top 5
“From the mycelial ‘wood wide web’ to smart slime molds and political honeybees, science is demonstrating that humans don’t monopolize language or intelligence.” With advancements in artificial intelligence, scientists are learning more about the ways non-human species communicate with each other—and how they might communicate with us. In this week’s new reading list, “Wild Talk,” Sam […]


