Revenge of the Tabloids
British tabloid newspapers were thought by many to be in irreversible decline due to falling print circulation and repeated scandals, yet they have had their enduring influence dramatically underlined by events in 2016.
A Kingdom for a Horse
A look at the history, culture and future of Kazakhstan anchored in an account of one of its national sports – kokpar – where teams of mounted riders compete to score goals with a goat carcass.
How the sandwich consumed Britain
If you have been looking for a deep dive into the macroeconomics, microeconomics, design process, supply chain, and key players of the sandwich industry, then this is for you. A surprisingly engaging piece looking at a phenomenally successful £8bn industry, that will also teach you the meaning of the term “goblin caves”.
A Physicist Who Models ISIS and the Alt-Right
An interview with a scientist using adaptive modelling techniques to predict extremist activity.
Urban Dreams
A look at the plan to build an Indian state capital from scratch, the fifth such project and perhaps the most ambitious yet.
The Lost Children of ‘Runaway Train’
The 1991 music video for the smash hit by Soul Asylum featured images of runaway children. This thoughtful piece follows up on their stories a quarter of a century later.
He Had His Reasons
A piece looking at how murder and domestic violence is reported in the press, recounting a terrible recent case in County Cavan, Ireland.
Welcome to the Center of the Universe
A look at the work of the Deep Space Network, the nerve center for all communications between Earth and its “its robotic emissaries in deep space – anything from the moon and beyond”.
Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet
Though it is currently the 7th most visited site in the world (and 4th in the US), it’s easy to underestimate the sheer scale of Reddit, the self-styled “front page of the internet”. That scale, and its anarchic traits, have made it the front line in figuring out what is acceptable online behaviour. This insightful and often darkly funny piece meets the people trying to draw the lines.
The Last of the Iron Lungs
A profile of three of the last polio sufferers in the US using an iron lung. The piece examines what life is like spent in one of these contraptions, used in a medical context for nearly 100 years.