“History was unmade last year, as engineers began the massive project of ripping the first-ever transoceanic fiber-optic cable from the ocean floor. Just don’t mention sharks.”
Infrastructure
Posted inEditor's Pick
What US Tech Did to Ireland
“The country is alarmingly reliant on Meta, Google and Apple.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Nonstop Gay Sex Party on the Mexico City Subway
“The city’s metro hosts—and authorities unofficially sanction—a queer institution unlike any other.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Other Side of the World’s Largest Dam Removal
“Removing dams from the Klamath River in Northern California seems like a clear win for fish and rivers. Why do some locals hate it?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Rebuilding the Maze
“After a crucial section of a California freeway collapsed, this formidable construction boss pulled off one of the fastest, riskiest, most high-stakes reconstructions in U.S. history.”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Josh Dzieza, Mark Krotov, Wendy Brenner, Paul Brown, and Andrew Normal Wilson.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Cloud Under the Sea
“The Ocean Link was one of a small number of ships that maintain the subsea cables that carry 99 percent of the world’s data.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Memory Machines
“Data centers have proliferated across Ireland, at great cost.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Secret Life of the 500+ Cables That Run the Internet
“Laced across the cold depths of the world’s oceans is a network of multimillion-dollar cables, which have become the vital connections of our online lives.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Tokyo Became an Anti-Car Paradise
“The world’s biggest, most functional city might also be the most pedestrian-friendly. That’s not a coincidence.”