Samira Shackle’s reporting in this piece for The Guardian is both impressive and moving. Investigating the full-scale commando raid that took place after a distress call from the Nave Andromeda, Shackle finds the seven confused, and innocent, stowaways at the heart of it. Almost three weeks after they had climbed on to the rudder in […]
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Brenna Ehrlich, Yiyun Li, Claire L. Evans, Nicholas Casey, and Kent Russell.
A Forgotten Deportation, a New Questionnaire Series, and Our Top 5
An essay about a forgotten deportation and the reckoning it left behind, a glimpse into Maria Popova’s writing and reading life, and our five recommended stories of the week.
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 Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this week’s Top 5 we have lessons from apartheid, clever Claude, feeling bodies anew, the power of wax, and free mining.
Strong Mothers, Boundless Lives, and the Week’s Top 5
We connect in such curious ways; thus are we transformed.
How to Love a Swamp (and Our Top 5)
“But here’s the thing about swamps: They don’t go down easy. Swamps don’t protest, they insist.” I recently completed a road trip across the Canadian prairies, traveling through the mountains to the southwestern coast of British Columbia. I was relaxed at the wheel, and I enjoyed the chance to think, unencumbered even by radio stations along […]
Disneyland of the Dead
London’s Highgate Cemetery shows us just how hard it is to keep the dead buried.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from Jason Motlagh, Rhaina Cohen, Lydia C. Buchanan, Molly Young, and Forrest Wickman.
The Plot Thickens (and the Week’s Top 5)
“Accommodating the dead, like accommodating the living, has always entailed a head-on collision with the awkward reality that we have a finite amount of physical space.” Okay, yes, sure, maybe you weren’t expecting a quote about dead bodies to kick off your Friday morning. But I assure you that our new feature, “Disneyland of the […]


