In this edition: Bad medicine, imperfect sound forever, know when to fold ’em, brainiacs, and a call of the wild.
science
Posted inEditor's Pick
AI Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive
“Mini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could outthink neural networks.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Children a Scientist Took Home
Carleton Gajdusek won the Nobel Prize for his work on a disease in Papua New Guinea. But his biggest experiment was on the children he took from the field to the US—many of whom he sexually molested, with the knowledge and, in some cases, approval of his professional peers and colleagues: In his journals and […]
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Emi Nietfeld, Brendan Borrell, Boyce Upholt, Fernando Pinho, and Vann R. Newkirk II.
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Would It Mean to See a New Color?
“Olo can be described as the ‘greenest green,’ though it can never be captured by a camera. But its development tells us a lot about our color vision.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Fatal Reaction
“A cutting-edge gene-editing trial in China went disastrously wrong. A family wants accountability.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Gaza’s Deadly Soil
“Amid tight Israeli restrictions, new remote research is starting to make visible the scale of toxic fallout across the Gaza Strip.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Is It Like to Be a Cucumber?
“The biologist Michael Levin has spent his life trying to prove that minds show up in places we’d never think to look.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Anti-Sunscreen Movement Is Coming for You
“Sunscreen—one of the only products scientifically proven to reduce the risk of skin cancer—is in the middle of a PR crisis, with skeptics claiming it’s hazardous to your health. Experts dismiss the claims as misinformation, but has the damage already been done?”