/media/img/mt/2025/07/2025_06_25_Gdrive_mpg_1/original.gif)
The AI Birthday Letter That Blew Me Away
Google is ushering in an era of custom chatbots.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.
What Trump—And the U.S.—Can’t Understand About Air Strikes
American leaders refuse to learn from allies and overestimate the benefits of showy tactical attacks.
Lamentations
A short story
The Whole Country Is Starting to Look Like California
Housing prices are rising fast in red and purple states known for being easy places to build. How can that be?
An AI That Couldn’t Care Less About Humans
The quirky show Murderbot suggests that intelligent machines might be interested in something other than humanity.
A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement
Both parents and adult children often fail to recognize how profoundly the rules of family life have changed over the past half century.
Why China Isn’t a Bigger Player in the Middle East
Iran and Israel came to blows, and Beijing mostly ducked.
Ken Casey: ‘I’m Not Going to Shut Up’
A conversation with the Dropkick Murphys front man about punk, politics, and Donald Trump
The Ciceronian Secret to Happiness
To feel good, do good.
What Moving Your Body Can Mean
Sometimes it takes a new community or type of exercise to reset your relationship with working out.
The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard—It’s Worse
Humanity is set to start shrinking several decades ahead of schedule.
It Has Pockets!
How Claire McCardell changed women’s fashion
The Feminine Pursuit of Swoleness
Casey Johnston’s new book, A Physical Education, considers how weight lifting can help you unlearn diet culture.
‘Success Addicts’ Choose Being Special Over Being Happy
The pursuit of achievement distracts from the deeply ordinary activities and relationships that make life meaningful.
The Making of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle
How the novelist turned the violence and randomness of war into a cosmic joke
The ‘Dirty and Nasty People’ Who Became Americans
How 13 colonies came together
Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think
Here’s how to make the most of it.
The Last Children of Down Syndrome
Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning.
Trump’s Betrayal of Ukraine
Bridget Brink, the former ambassador to Ukraine, on that country’s war with Russia, America’s betrayal of Ukraine, and why she resigned