This week features pieces from Sabrina Imbler, Natan Last, Lulu Miller and John Megahan, Casey Cep, and David Grimm.
science
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Venus Flytrap and the Golf Course
“The Endangered Species Act is thought of as wildlife’s ’emergency room.’ Are we doing enough to prevent species from landing there?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Work of Love
“Before gay marriage was legal, illustrator John Megahan was called to work on a revolutionary secret project: bringing to life, in painstaking scientific detail, the queer lives of the animal world.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Kind Of Future Does De-Extinction Promise?
“De-extinction promises not a true reversal of time but a selective one.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Are Farm Animals Thinking?
“New research is revealing surprising complexity in the minds of goats, pigs, and other livestock.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What If Psychedelics’ Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect?
“Some neuroscientists now believe that the drugs’ mental-health benefits don’t come from tripping.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
“How can someone even function as a human being without the ability to imagine pictures and sounds?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Great Psychedelic Experiment
“Researchers mined an old drug forum and fed the entries to an AI. The result could augur a new class of psychedelic-based antidepressants.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Rachel Greenley, Annalisa Quinn, Amit Katwala, Jamie Loftus, and Werner Herzog. (Yes, that Werner Herzog.)