The Curse of the Bahia Emerald, a Giant Green Rock That Ruins Lives
The story of a huge gem, weighing over 300kg, that has attracted trouble ever since its discovery.
Ruffled Feathers
The story of the conservation efforts dedicated to preserving the majestic whooping crane, and the unlawful killing of two of their flock.
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.
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.”
The Wreck
The dramatic tale of the sinking of a passenger steamer in the Atlantic, 150 miles from Boston, the personal consequences for those involved, and efforts by treasure hunters to find the wreck.
Europe’s Famed Bog Bodies Are Starting to Reveal Their Secrets
This is the story of Tollund Man, found in a peat bog in Denmark in 1950. He was in remarkable condition given that he had died 2,300 years previously – his face wearing a cryptic half-smile, much of the rest of his body intact, and a noose tied tight around his neck.
The Syria Catastrophe
An analysis of the civil war in Syria that calls for an antimilitarist approach whilst recognising the challenges standing in the way of such a resolution.
Framed
The story of how a parent teacher association head was allegedly framed for possession of hard drugs by parents with a grudge. The story seems at times to be straight out of a legal procedural TV show – one of the accused writes self-published crime novels in which she imagines ingeniously executed crimes, a firefighter lover arrives at the accused’s house for a tryst at the same time as the police and has to make a hasty exit – and yet it is not.
Dry, the Beloved Country
A piece that examines the response to a severe drought in Cape Town. Whilst undoubtedly a crisis, it has also become “a kind of vast, unplanned, crazy—and fabulous—social experiment”.
China’s Selfie Obsession
A piece examining the phenomenal success of MeituÕs social apps, installed on over a billion devices, and changing self-image across their user base.