Recent editors’ picks

Buckle Up for Bumpier Skies

Burkhard Bilger | The New Yorker | March 2, 2026 | 8,262 words

“With climate change, the skies are becoming more turbulent. Can today’s planes still keep us safe?”

Recursive Resemblance

Patrick R. Crowley | Artforum | March 1, 2026 | 2,882 words

“On the feedback loops of mimesis, from the ancients to AI.”

The Ballad of Ollie Jackson

Eric McHenry | Eric McHenry | February 22, 2026 | 6,850 words

“How the baddest man int he St. Louis underworld failed to become a folk hero.”

25 Years of iPod Brain

Molly Mary O’Brien | The Dial | February 25, 2026 | 1,552 words

“Changed for good.”

The Man Who Broke Into Jail

James Verini | The New Yorker | March 2, 2026 | 13,480 words

“In Nashville, a criminal-justice activist commits a baffling crime.”

Poisonous Objects

Carolina A. Miranda | The New York Review of Books | February 19, 2026| 3,576 words

“Two exhibitions in Los Angeles respond to the racist monuments to Confederate soldiers that have been erected all over the United States.”

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending stories by Gaby Del Valle, Sheila Heti, Chris Pomorski, Louise Bokkenheuser, and Lida Zeitlin-Wu.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Eve Fairbanks, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Rochelle L. Johnson, Joseph Winters and Tik Root, and Miles Ellingham.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Andy Greenberg, Darshana Narayanan, Lauren Lee White, Sarah Stillman, and Gabriel Furshong.

Recent editors’ picks

Who Can I Dance With?

Arash Dabestani | Guernica | February 15, 2026 | 4,312 words

“From sneaking into underground basements in Tehran to learning to dance with almost no words in Northern California, I had done everything I could.”

Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man

John Hendrickson | Esquire | February 18, 2026 | 5,915 words

“In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first taught him: his father.”

When Do We Become Adults, Really?

Shayla Love | The New Yorker | February 25, 2026 | 2,272 words

“Scientists define the stages of life in biological, societal, and chronological terms—but none of them quite capture what it’s like to grow up.”

Why Conservationists Are Making Rhinos Radioactive

Matthew Ponsford | MIT Technology Review | February 24, 2026 | 2,663 words

“Rapid DNA tests, x-ray fluorescence guns, and other technologies are being deployed in the fight against wildlife trafficking.”

The Man Who Stole Infinity

Joseph Howlett | Quanta Magazine | Feburary 25, 2026 | 5,793 words

“In an 1874 paper, Georg Cantor proved that there are different sizes of infinity and changed math forever. A trove of newly unearthed letters shows that it was also an act of plagiarism.”

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