“The human egg is a precious resource, exchanged in markets open, gray or black.”
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The Pill Messiah
“Douglas Randall Smith would have you believe he’s on the verge of a medical breakthrough that could end the opioid epidemic and keep millions of people alive.”
Nights and Days
“Maybe anybody who can become transparent to experience and articulate it truthfully and without distortion is a poet. Even if the facts are scary or horrible, what comes out, if true, might be beautiful.”
Will the Ozempic Era Change How We Think About Being Fat and Thin?
“A popular, growing class of drugs for obesity and diabetes could, in an ideal world, help us see that metabolism and appetite are biological facts, not moral choices.”
On the Trail of the Fentanyl King
“An Iraqi translator for the US military emigrated to Texas to start a new life. He ended up becoming one of the biggest drug dealers on the dark web.”
If My Dying Daughter Could Face Her Mortality, Why Couldn’t the Rest of Us?
“Perhaps part of Orli’s legacy is insisting on this conversation.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
We’re recommending stories by Eric Boodman, Ann Neumann, Amos Barshad, Rosecrans Baldwin, and Danielle Elliot.
A Family Doctor’s Search for Salvation
“Instead of turning inward after the death of his son, Dr. Greg Gulbransen turned outward: toward documentary photography and people whose lives he might be able to save.”
My Never-Ending Search for Adderall
“I was diagnosed with ADD in 1985 at the age of five. Doctors swore I’d grow out of it.”

