Big Man Walking
“Not many people change the world. Fewer still are thanked for it.” – Neal Ascherson reviews a biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who joined that small group when he helped to bring about its end.
The Sense of an Endling
A piece examining endlings, the final members of species, and human attempts to progress with something that was previously only referred to in science fiction novels – “De-extinction”.
A Lost World of Shipwrecks Is Found
A trove of extremely well preserved vessels has been found in the Black Sea, some a thousand years old.
Ruffled Feathers
The story of the conservation efforts dedicated to preserving the majestic whooping crane, and the unlawful killing of two of their flock.
ELLE on Earth
A journalist secures an interview for ELLE with the legendary and secretive head designer at fashion house Comme des Garons. Things go very wrong.
What Happens If China Makes First Contact?
Just as the US seems to be turning away from trying to make contact with extra-terrestrial life, China has built a huge custom radio dish for the very purpose. The author visits the dish, examines China’s long history of astronomy and reviews its current attempts to drive scientific innovation.
An interview with Paul Kimmage: Team Sky’s charade has been exposed
An explosive interview with a cycling journalist on the controversy currently plaguing Team Sky.
A New Theory for why Voters are so Angry – That Actually Makes Sense
An interview with a professor who researched a recent book through numerous interviews with people living in rural communities in Wisconsin. These conversations convinced her that while fact-driven policy did come into their electoral choices, it had far less impact than fundamental questions of identity, tied up in numerous issues, but boiling down to – “Who am I for, and who am I against?”.
Hiroshima
The New Yorker devoted its August 31st 1946 issue in its entirety to this article on the nuclear bomb attack on Hiroshima a year earlier. The article would later be described, in the same magazine’s August 31st 2016 issue, as “a landmark in journalism, in publishing, and in humanity’s awareness of itself and its own awful potential.”
Jacques Hyzagi Interview
A journalist secures an interview for ELLE with the legendary and secretive head designer at fashion house Comme des Garons. Things go very wrong.