Save the Humans
Environmentalists are increasingly hugging people, not trees. Can solving climate change and achieving “climate justice” become the same thing?
business
A collection of 19 issues
The Economic Benefits of Alien Abduction
According to economists, if intelligent life elsewhere wants to kidnap earthlings, there must be a reason—and a business model.
Voices of the Walmart
There are eight million stories in a city. How many are there at Walmart? Random telephone calls made to hear about life inside.
What Think-Piece Writers Get Wrong About Lobotomies
The web is full of pundits looking to turn every topic into think-bait. One writer commits himself to thinking much, much deeper.
The Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi
Where there’s smoke, there’s smuggling. Before the Ukrainian border became a dangerous war zone, it was a profitable bootlegging arena.
Our Better Shelves
After visiting more than 2,000 independent bookstores—at least virtually—the Amazon annihilation, Orwell misquotes and all, doesn't seem quite so inescapable.
Water From Elephants
Humans have kept elephants for thousands of years, longer than we've domesticated chickens. Yet the great animals’ capacity to cry for freedom comes as a shock.
Bang for Your Buck
Two dozen people—a banker, a sex worker, a pastor, “the World’s First Publicly Traded Person”—tell us the best way to invest a single dollar.
Who Goes There
The Heartbleed Bug exposed a well-known secret: Passwords suck. But that’s really nothing new—just ask the Romans. Explaining the password’s past and future.
One Small Store
Two men, separated by more than 150 years, discover the folly of attempting Western-style capitalism in Micronesia.
An Unthinkably Modern Miracle
In today’s health care system, medicine often comes with a strange, Faustian bargain—including a plan for almost everything except the price.
League Loves All Women
For decades, the NFL has been supported by ads that degrade women. But something changed in 2013—and it’s got everything to do with concussions. Prepare for the battle of mama-friendly beer spots.
My Brief, Binding Road
Since the closing down of Silk Road, the number of drug dealers selling online has increased nearly 50 percent. A former customer waits in fear, wondering why he used his real name.
Cool Colors
This summer in Manhattan, it was important to wait in line for an hour to see light designed by James Turrell. Many bought the hype. Many were angry afterward.
A Spot for Tea
It’s easy to hate Starbucks until you admit it’s responsible for nearly everything good in today’s coffee culture. Now the behemoth is poised, with a recent acquisition, to introduce America to hundreds of years of tea culture. A tea maker is grateful.
Ninety-Nine Bottles of Pee on the Wall
Everyone says they’ve got a book inside, but hundreds of people actually write them—and are preyed upon by scam artists. The greatest story of literary vigilantism ever told.
Arts and Crafts and Money
When “small batch” equals big dollars and one-person companies are supported by corporate-size websites, is “hand-made” what we think it is? A report from North America’s largest consumer craft fair, where the competition for puppet dollars is intense.
The Funny Man
When asked, focus groups describe the funny man as "untalented, successful, bad husband and father." He had been at the top, but is now heading toward the bottom. An excerpt from John Warner's forthcoming novel, The Funny Man, published by Soho Press.
The Day Borders Got the Wobblies
As Borders liquidates its merchandise, a former employee of store #21 looks back at a glorious workplace—of quirky managers, Borders gypsies, the odyssey to stack more than Hobby/Collectibles—and the moment when salvation seemed at hand to save the chain.