The Kung Fu Nuns Of Kathmandu

They call themselves the "fearless ones." They've built a reputation not just for their martial arts prowess but for teaching girls to stand up for their rights. And they love watching horror movies.

The Man Who Went to War With Canada

For centuries, the United States and Canada’s only remaining land border dispute has been kept alive by a single family.

A Bizarre 1970 Arctic Killing Offers a Road Map for How Not to Deal With Mu

Murder will happen in outer space. This 50-year-old death on a now-melted chunk of ice shows how complicated it will get.

https://orionmagazine.org/article/deep-intellect/

The Dangerous Undersea Search for Missing Military Heroes

From the English Channel to the Pacific, one band of volunteer divers look for the remains of American M.I.A.s. I joined and discovered this mission can be perilous — even deadly.

The Political Education of Killer Mike

How Michael Render—a rapper from Atlanta who also happens to be a Second Amendment–loving, Bernie Sanders–boosting, unapologetically pro-Black businessman—became one of the loudest and most original political voices in the country.

An Icy Conquest | Susan Dunn

“We are starved! We are starved!” the sixty skeletal members of the English colony of Jamestown cried out in desperation as two ships arrived with provisions in June 1610. They suffered from exhaustion, starvation, and malnutrition as well as from a strange sickness that “caused…

From cow to customer, a $20 cheeseburger’s tumultuous journey during a pandemic

A cash-strapped rancher, a virus-stricken meatpacker, an underpaid chef, a hungry engineer: All their lives have been upended

On Knowing the Winged Whale | Hakai Magazine

Humpbacks are some of the most watched whales in the world, and yet so much of their lives remains a mystery.

Unlucky Charms: The Rise and Fall of Billion-Dollar Jewelry Empire Alex and Ani

Astrology, private equity, a $1.1 billion gender discrimination lawsuit, and a precariously built bangle behemoth

How Cars and Hygiene Killed the Middle-Class Hat | by Hanna Brooks Olsen |

Don’t blame JFK

The Not-So-Simple Life

The farm-to-table frenzy has thousands of urbanites trading in their desks for the idylls of agriculture. But one eager young couple learns the hard way that organic utopia is easier dreamed than achieved.

The Stranger-Than-Fiction Secret History of Prog-Rock Icon Rick Wakeman

The Yes keyboardist defined Spinal Tap–esque excess, until he staked everything on his eccentric dream of an Arthurian rock opera on ice. Now, the tale of his epic spiral and long, slow comeback can finally be told.

The Wondrous Lives of Julius Shapiro

He was a Lower East Side gangster, wartime chemical researcher and secretive color television pioneer. An inquisitive daughter wants the full story, but he would rather drink his coffee and read his book in peace.

Blast From the Past

40 years ago, a U.S. satellite detected the telltale signs of a nuclear explosion. An analysis of the evidence today points to a clandestine nuclear test, a Carter administration cover-up, and only one country that was willing and able to carry it out: Israel.

Why Gravity Is Not Like the Other Forces

We asked four physicists why gravity stands out among the forces of nature. We got four different answers.

The White Man in That Photo

Riccardo Gazzaniga | Sometimes photographs deceive. Take this one, for example. It represents John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s rebellious gesture the day they won medals for the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics in...

The Rise of the Cyber-Mercenaries

What happens when private firms have cyberweapons as powerful as those owned by governments?

The Untouchables

Why it’s getting harder to stop multinational corporations.

Sort By Controversial

[Epistemic status: fiction] Thanks for letting me put my story on your blog. Mainstream media is crap and no one would have believed me anyway. This starts in September 2017. I was working for a sm…

Leonard Cohen: Remembering the Life and Legacy of the Poet of Brokenness

We look back on the many chapters of Leonard Cohen's long, remarkable life, from teenage poet to midlife monk and beyond.

The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think - bellingcat

Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On May 26th, crowds gathered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to protest the death of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of the city’s police department. Floyd was black. Many of the protesters were people of color. The department fired four…

The Remaking of Steve Buscemi

In a rare interview, Hollywood's most beloved misfit opens up about anxiety, loss, and the hard work of getting through it all.

The Drug Runners

The Tarahumara, of Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains, are the world’s greatest ultramarathoners. But in recent years, their legendary endurance has been put to a sinister use—in service of the narcos.

The Chernobyl Syndrome | Sophie Pinkham

On the night of April 25, 1986, during a planned maintenance shutdown at the Chernobyl power plant in northern Ukraine, one of the four reactors overheated and began to burn. As plant engineers scrambled to regain control of it, they thought for a moment that there had been an…

The Twilight of the Iranian Revolution

For decades, Ayatollah Khamenei has professed enmity with America. Now his regime is threatened from within the country.

Why This Woman Chooses to Live in a Ghost Town

As one of the only inhabitants of an abandoned railway stop in eastern New Mexico, Debra Dawson has been social distancing for decades. Attracted to its history and surrounding landscape, she's found happiness far away from just about everyone.

On the Shoulders of Giants — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

How Single Lock Records unites the hometown legends of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, music with the new generation.

A Mystery at Oxford

A renowned scholar claimed that he discovered a first-century gospel fragment. Now he’s facing allegations of antiquities theft, cover-up, and fraud.

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

UPDATE Several years ago on my 68th birthday I wrote up 68 bits of advice for my adult children, and posted them here. Here are the first five bits: Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even … Continue reading →

Exxon’s Humbling Fall From Oil Juggernaut to Mediocre Company

The industrial giant missed the shale boom, overspent on projects, and saw its debt rise to $50 billion as its stock plummeted.

The Day Treva Throneberry Disappeared

The North Texas teenager went missing in the late eighties. For years, no one knew where she was, or even if she was still alive-no one, that is, except a mysterious young woman two thousand miles away.

The Rise of the Valkyries

Dirty money piling up in L.A. as coronavirus cripples international money laundering

With storefronts closed, supply chains in disarray and the global economy in peril, money laundering schemes are hobbled and cash is piling up in L.A., the city's top drug enforcement official said.

“This Land Is Your Land”: The Story Behind America’s Best-Known Protest Song

It has been a staple of kindergarten classrooms for decades. But Woody Guthrie didn’t intend for the song to be a ringing endorsement of American exceptionalism—he wrote it for those who were getting left behind.

Sherry Goes with Everything

In Jerez, a sherry maker and a criminologist have embarked on a quest to find the oldest, most potent casks of amontillado (and discover why it just makes food taste better)

The Mysterious Bronze Objects that Have Baffled Archaeologists for Centuries

The first dodecahedron was discovered nearly 300 years ago, yet no one is certain just what they were used for.

10 Incredible Long-Reads That’ll Transport You to Another Time and Place

There’s nothing like getting lost in a fascinating story—and now is a better time than any to dive into another world.

Joey Santore: Oakland’s Stealth Arborist

Guerrilla gardener Joey Santore has planted more than 300 trees, encouraging a new appreciation of our habitat—and one another.

The Adventures of a Pakistani in Texas

A young woman from Karachi doesn’t discover how intense Islam can be…until moving to Texas.

“Just Like at Madrid, Comrades!” | Lapham’s Quarterly

Following three Spanish Republicans from civil war to the North African campaign.

The value of lives saved by social distancing outweighs the costs

Social distancing means a net benefit of $5.2 trillion, according to the analysis.

A Man Who Designed Ghost Armies and Opera Houses (2016)

The storied career of the centenarian and acoustician, Leo Beranek.

Baking Bread in Lyon

For a newcomer to the city, a boulangerie apprenticeship reveals a way of life.

The Maine Farmer Saving the World's Rarest Heirloom Seeds

Will Bonsall has spent a lifetime scattering seeds across the country. But will his efforts fall among the thorns?

Looking for a distraction? Here are 25 of our favourite long reads

The long read: If you feel like reading about something other than coronavirus – and filling some more time during lockdown – then dive into a few of these highlights from the long read archive

Every Inch of Earth

Sebastian Meyer and Kamaran Najm co-founded a photo agency in Iraq and teamed up to document a new era in Kurdistan, a region with a long history of suffering. Until Kamaran was captured by ISIS.

Total recall: the people who never forget | Science | The Guardian

The Long Read: An extremely rare condition may transform our understanding of memory

Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo

The long read: Are you sitting comfortably? Many people are not – and there are some who insist the way we’ve been going to the toilet is all wrong

Cold-Case Cure: Inside New Era of Hunting Serial Killers

New advances in DNA technology — and new databases allowing law-enforcement searches — means more unsolved murder cases are being closed.