Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient

Each generation revises his myth. Here’s the true story.

Radical Solutions

French mathematician Évariste Galois lived a full life. When he wasn't trying to overthrow the government, he was reinventing algebra.

Everything on 'Naked and Afraid' Is Real—and I Lived It | Outside Online

When the Discovery Channel invited me to audition for its popular survival-challenge reality show, I knew it was going to be rough. What followed was one of the most intense experiences of my life.

The Hunt for Planet Nine - Longreads

What will it take to find the biggest missing object in our solar system?

How China's 'Bat Woman' Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there

Victorian Culinary Trading Cards Are a Feast for the Eyes

But maybe not for your stomach.

Why Japan is obsessed with paper

For a country often depicted as the pinnacle of high-tech living Japan has a surprising and enduring obsession with paper. That might finally be changing.

It’s been brought to my attention not every single human being has had the privilege of watching this phenomenal German commercial. It…

— Diego Lopez (@thisdiegolopez)

How to Become an International Gold Smuggler

Harold Vilches, a 23-year-old Chilean, exported $80 million in contraband gold. It all started with a Google search.

Nothing Compares to Yuzu

The knobbly-skinned Japanese fruits are among the most exquisite members of the citrus family, and yuzu kosho—a fiery-hot condiment of chiles, zest, and salt—shows off all that’s wonderful about them.

The Shipwrecked Sailors & the Wandering Cod

In the remote archipelago of Lofoten, Arctic cod have been dried on oceanfront racks since the age of the Vikings. This is the unlikely story of how the humble fish became king of Norway

Chasing the Pearl of Lao Tzu

A tale of ancient philosophers, alien abductions, murder-for-hire—and how the world’s largest pearl came to be the centerpiece of an 80-year-old hoax.

The Recipe to Bob's Red Mill's Supreme Recipes

If you've ever cooked a recipe from the back of one of the company's 400+ products, you have one very busy pastry chef to thank.

How One Man and His Dog Rowed More Than 700 Kākāpōs to Safety

In the late 19th century, Richard Henry laid a blueprint for modern conservation in New Zealand.

In Search of Darkness

In a world where everything is illuminated, something essential is lost.

Louis Armstrong, the King of Queens

The jazz musician’s impeccably maintained home in a modest New York City neighborhood is a testament to his — and midcentury design’s — legacy.

Singular science

“N of 1” studies aim to answer medical questions one person at a time

Overcoming Bias : How Bees Argue

The book Honeybee Democracy, published in 2010, has been sitting on my shelf for many years.

The Hacker Classics

The Best Little Museum You Never Visited in Paris

The Museum of Arts and Crafts is a trove of cunning inventions

Unnamed and Unsurveilled

Craigslist feels like an island in the slipstream, evidence of an online past where improvisation and commonality superseded hierarchy and standard practices.

Why Japan Is Obsessed With Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas

Thanks to the successful “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” (Kentucky for Christmas!) marketing campaign in 1974, Japan can't get enough KFC on Christmas Day

Grand Theft Cobalt: Rotterdam

Thieves are pulling off audacious metal heists at Europe’s largest port. They’re even stealing from the Cobalt Jesus.

The Legend of John Holmes Jenkins

A renowned rare books dealer left many unanswered questions when he died, none more intriguing than the circumstances of his death.

Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek (2012)

Fresh powder beckoned 16 expert skiers and snowboarders into the backcountry. Then the snow gave way.

The Guerrilla Car Washers of N.Y.C.

Development is finally coming to the top of Manhattan. Are its carwash vans doomed?

He Is Building a Home. And a Career in the N.B.A.

Pat Connaughton, a reserve guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, is forging his own path in basketball while continuing a family tradition of working in real estate.

The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

Stereo images of Arrokoth (2014 MU69) are used to map its geological units and date its surface using impact craters.

The Donkey Farmer’s Magical Matchmaking Book

In the era of online dating, one septuagenarian Irishman clings tight to a method passed down through the generations—and thousands of happy couples are luckier for it.

The quest to explore Colombia’s untouched jungle

Colombia is on a mission to make sense of its rich biodiversity, isolated thanks to years of war. For researchers, it is a golden opportunity – and a breathtaking adventure.

The Grand Unified Theory of Rogue Waves | Quanta Magazine

Rogue waves — enigmatic giants of the sea — were thought to be caused by two different mechanisms. But a new idea that borrows from the hinterlands of probability theory has the potential to predict…

Keeping the Country — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

In southwest Florida, the Myakka River Valley — a place of mystery and myth — is under threat of development.

The Family That Couldn’t Say Hippopotamus

The origins of language are not what inherited disorders seemed to suggest.

The Ghost Hunter - The Atavist Magazine

For hundreds of years, there were rumors of a shipwrecked treasure on the Oregon coast. But no one found anything, until Cameron La Follette began digging.

The Great Heavy Metal Hoax

This down-on-his-luck headbanger fabricated a persona, faked a tour and promoted himself as a hard-rock savior

‘The Story of a Weird World I Was Warned Never to Tell’

Pauline Dakin's childhood in Canada in the 1970s was full of secrets, disruption and unpleasant surprises. She wasn't allowed to talk about her family life with anyone - and it wasn't until she was 23 that she was told why.

A Battle for the Soul of Marfa

What happens when a wealthy patron wears out his welcome?

This Is the Secret Michelin-Star Capital of the World

The best place to eat in Germany is in a little village in a forest.

The Untold Story of the Vegetable Peeler That Changed the World

The origin story of one of the great icons of 20th-century industrial design.

A Pilgrimage to the Pub at the End of the World

For decades, the Old Forge was the holy grail of the British outdoors community. The UK's remotest pub, it could only be reached via boat or a three-day walk through one of Britain's last true wildernesses, the Knoydart peninsula in Scotland. A dispute between some locals and a…

How 17 Outsize Portraits Rattled a Small Southern Town

Newnan, Ga., decided to use art to help the community celebrate diversity and embrace change. Not everyone was ready for what they saw.

The Most Dangerous Job: The Murder of America’s First Bird Warden

When the hunting of a profitable bird is outlawed, enforcing the law means dealing with armed and angry lawbreakers.

Bring up the bodies: the retired couple who find drowning victims

The long read: Gene and Sandy Ralston are a married couple in their 70s, who also happen to be among North America’s leading experts at searching for the dead

Overtaken by Frigid Seas, Hours From Help, There Was Little Chance of Survival (Published 2020)

For an Alaskan fishing industry with an improving safety record, the sinking of the Scandies Rose was a devastating loss. It also began an astonishing tale of endurance.

How to Spot a Perfect Fake: The World’s Top Art Forgery Detective

Forgeries have become so good – and so costly – that Sotheby’s has brought in its own in-house fraud-busting expert.

How New York’s Bagel Union Fought — and Beat — the Mafia

The mob saw an opportunity. Local 338 had other ideas.

This Flood-Savaged Hamlet Proves Climate Change Isn’t Just a Coastal Concern

Nine inches of rain nearly wiped Richwood, West Virginia, off the map. As waters rise around the globe, this tiny town offers a terrifying vision of our future—if we don’t act.

They Started a Ned Flanders Metal Band. Then ‘The Simpsons’ Called

What started as a joke between friends has become official Simpsons lore.

The Chef Restoring Appalachia's World-Class Food Culture

A coal fortune is fueling the revival of a cuisine it nearly destroyed.

Red Sea Diving Resort: The Holiday Village Run by Spies

Arous was an idyllic holiday resort in the Sudanese desert, on the shores of the Red Sea. But this glamorous destination was also a base for Israeli agents with a secret mission.