The Flu May Never Be the Same
Scientists haven’t spotted one of influenza’s most mysterious lineages for more than three years. Is it truly gone?
Air Has More Substance Than You’d Expect
Ben Affleck manages to turn a mega-company’s best-known win into an actually suspenseful story.
Phones Will Never Be Fun Again
I tried to shop for a flip phone. All I found was slabs.
When the Human and the Artificial Collide
Our fears about technology reflect what we value about personhood: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Why Britain Stinks
Thanks to decades of underinvestment and mismanagement, sewage is flowing into rivers and seas.
The Power of a Public Apology
An Australian prime minister’s remorse for his nation’s treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities provides a model for the United States.
How Wisconsin Republicans Got So Angry
They’ve lost four major statewide elections since 2018, for starters, and this year’s supreme-court election exposed their growing vulnerability.
Why the Government Is Good at Helping Banks but Not People
State capacity is downstream of ideological commitments: When we have political consensus, we have state capacity, and when we don’t, we don’t.
An Ode to Bananas
Their cartoon yellowness, their absurd curvature, their fragility, their cordial blandness
Photos of the Week: Stork Nesting, Kart Crash, Frosty Blossoms
Tomb Sweeping Day in Hong Kong, a new 125-foot-tall bronze statue in India, the arraignment of former President Donald Trump in New York City, wildfires in Spain, and much more
The Week That Made Modern America
The widely forgotten story of the week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, and how it altered the nation’s history, as explained by Vann R. Newkirk II
What Does DEI Even Mean?
People can’t agree on what college diversity offices should do.
We Settled for Catan
Klaus Teuber’s creation captured hearts, and wallets, because everyone could tolerate it.
The Scariest Part of a Relationship
For partners to make it “official,” they have to survive the period between acquaintanceship and closeness. But that’s when people tend to be especially bad at communicating.
Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy
Why is America congratulating the winner of this disastrous election?
How Rural America Steals Girls’ Futures
Death in a dying town
The Poisonous Atmosphere That Pervades Iran
Mass poisonings reported in schools across the country have inflamed fears of what pro-regime hard-liners are willing to do.
The God That Couldn’t Possibly Fail
An afternoon at the New York Young Republican Club in Manhattan, now a house of worship for Trump
Parasocial Relationships Are Just Imaginary Friends for Adults
If you get too invested in a fake friendship, your real ones might suffer.
‘Notice All That Disappears’
Jorie Graham is a poet facing down the end of the world.