In this edition: subsea storytelling, a preservation paradox, achieving serpentine symbiosis, an investigation into infinity, and a marijuana mystery.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Laura Nahmias, Victor Luckerson, Arianne Shahvisi, Roberto José Andrade Franco, and Apoorva Tadepalli.
Becoming Human Again: A Reading List for the Extremely Offline
Think it’s time to get off social media? Then this is the reading list for you.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Hannah Dreier, Jason Fagone and Julie Johnson, Shruti Swamy, John Jeremiah Sullivan, and Kristen Arnett.
4 Dead Infants, a Convicted Mother, and a Genetic Mystery
“Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of killing her babies. One scientist suspected the real culprit was mutant DNA—and went on a tireless quest to prove it.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from Ryu Spaeth, Kit Chellel, Dave Eggers, Holly Haworth, and John Semley.
A Lab of Her Own
“Sheltered in her bedroom during World War II, Rita Levi-Montalcini discovered how the nervous system is wired.
The Enduring Joy of Maps (and the Week’s Top 5)
“Empty spaces on maps were so terrifying to ancient mapmakers that they filled them with decorations, fictional landscapes, and monsters. We moderns miss the beautiful monsters, but what if they never actually disappeared? What if the monsters were always part of the map, part of mapping itself?” After many months of hearing about how great […]
The (Un-)Happiest Place on Earth and the Week’s Top 5
“I left Trip House at 8:12 on Saturday morning, having not been murdered, and drove to the Magic Kingdom. The woman at the ticket window asked if I’d come to Disney World to celebrate anything special, and I laughed. If I answered that question truthfully — using unmagical words like ‘genital,’ ‘student loan,’ and ‘gentrification’ […]
Fabulous Fungi and Our Top 5 of the Week
“To a reading list on these mind-bending entities at a planetary tipping point, welcome. What you see here are only some fruiting bodies, the rest lies underneath.” I first learned about the parasitic fungus that takes over a bug’s body and commandeers its brain back in 2023, when I picked Zhengyang Wang’s “The Last of […]


