A.I. Versus M.D.
A story examining what happens when artificial intelligence gets better than human doctors at medical diagnosis.
The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
A less than flattering profile of Vice President Pence, looking at his time as Governor of Indiana and his elevation to his present office. The article provides an insight into his political ideology, as well as bizarre anecdotes such as Pence calling his wife “Mother” at a dinner with state legislators.
Pin Kings
They were wrestling teammates and friends. Then they ended up on the opposite side of the drugs trade – one a DEA agent, the other a large scale cocaine smuggler.
Four Months Undercover As a Private Prison Guard
A journalist spent four months undercover as a guard at a prison in Louisiana. He recorded the experience in this shocking article, accompanied by secretly recorded video footage of prison life.
The Nastiest Feud in Science
A piece looking at a bitter fight amongst geologists, stemming from the assertion made by a Princeton academic that the so-called fifth extinction (the one that got the dinosaurs) “was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions.” The debate is still relevant today, as scientists try to predict future extinction events that risk wiping us out.
The Astonishing Tale of the Man Mueller Calls “Person A”
Straight from the pages of a Cold War thriller, this is the story of Konstantin Kilimnik, the long time right-hand man to Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign Chairman. Kilimnik is now believed to have been an asset of Russian intelligence for a significant portion of his career as a consultant to a range of figures in international politics and business. Robert Mueller’s enquiry charged him on June 8th with two charges relating to obstruction of justice. For more on his former boss Manafort, see these from previous Journal editions (bit.ly/atlantic-manafort & bit.ly/slate-manafort).
The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code
A gambler made a fortune betting on the trickiest of markets – horses. This piece tells the story of how he made close to a billion dollars betting on Hong Kong races.
Overlooked
An initiative by The New York Times aiming to address the imbalance of coverage in their obituary section starts with profiles of fifteen women who were overlooked at the time of their death. The set includes remarkable figures from many walks of life – from great writers such as Charlotte Bront and Sylvia Plath, to the early civil rights campaigner and journalist Ida B. Wells, and to Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken from her body without permission and used for medical research.
Murder in Hampstead: did a secret trial put the wrong man in jail?
A look at the contentious circumstances surrounding a murder case that went to a secret trial and put a long-time MI6 informant in jail.
Aliens in our midst
Whilst we look for alien life on other planets, this piece examines ctenophores – creatures closer to home that are “profoundly different from any other animal on Earth” – so much so in fact that they may be on an entirely different evolutionary path to their planetary cohabitants.