The first recorded cases of cancer show how the Ancient Egyptians used cauterisation (using red-hot instruments to burn off tissue and seal off wounds) to destroy tumours and to treat a variety of infections, diseases and bleeding lesions. Until the mid-18th century, surgery was the only effective option for addressing several conditions. But it was […]
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A Sociology of the Smartphone
Smartphones have altered the texture of everyday life, digesting many longstanding spaces and rituals, and transforming others beyond recognition.
Into the World of Mushrooms: A Reading List
In the following five pieces, you’ll meet foragers, hikers, researchers, anthropologists, drug dealers and puppies.
Modern Grief: Digital Ephemera and Coping with Loss
Nancy Westaway explores the nuances of grief in our digital society — how our tweets and emails can comfort our loved ones after we’re gone.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
The best stories of the week, as chosen by the editors of Longreads.
Getting Out the Message To Save Himself
In Don Waters’ short story “Full of Days,” a grieving Las Vegas man uses an anti-abortion billboard to justify his own pained existence.
The Admission
Stacy Torres recalls the mixture of frustration and relief that came with checking herself into a New York City psych ward at the age of 20.
Tig Notaro on Going Topless Onstage, Post-Double Mastectomy
Last week, ‘Tig’, a documentary about stand-up comic Tig Notaro–whose career reached new heights in 2012 after she opened a set by announcing she had breast cancer–debuted on Netflix. In January, at Vulture, Jada Yuan spoke with Notaro about the film, the assorted grave misfortunes from 2012 that are now behind her, her plans for […]
Truther Love
Uncovering the dating habits of conspiracy theorists and the challenges they face.

