South Africa's corruption-riddled African National Congress (ANC) returns to office after winning parliamentary election once again.

Alabama postpones a vote on what would be the country's most restrictive abortion ban.

“It’s work porn. It’s exhilarating work porn.” A study of the subtly professional media rollout of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new baby.

Your weekend white paper: "Immigrant groups are more likely to assimilate when a new out-group appears that ranks below them in the social hierarchy."

Being seen with or simply near a gang member can be enough to be added to CalGang, a controversial California database filled with errors.

When Google thinks your phone number is the number for customer support at Facebook, you get a lot of calls.

Restaurant employees say Google Duplex—used for making reservations—is convincingly human and extremely polite.

China has a troubled history of brain surgery for drug addiction. Now DBS—deep brain stimulation—is being used on opioid addicts.

The new race to the moon isn’t among superpowers, but businesses who want to break altogether new ground.

Read more stories like this in our editors' longreads picks.

Related/unrelated: In case you've been waiting for a big Adam Gopnik take-down.

Podcasts intensify our saturation while pretending to relieve it. Maybe loneliness is better.

The medieval studies field struggles in the 21st century with the far-right's “weaponization” of the Middle Ages.

Jessa Crispin: Contemporary feminists misunderstand great women artists by domesticating them.

In Lithuania, to get lost while picking mushrooms is a common enough occurrence to have its own word: nugrybauti.

Pretty gorgeous: “Dune Studies” from photographer John Francis Peters.