Something in the Water Opposition to water fluoridation, while vocal, has been largely a fringe crusade. But solid evidence for fluoridation’s value is surprisingly hard to find. By Charles C. Mann.

How to Tackle a Giraffe The planet’s tallest animal is in far greater danger than people might think. Saving it begins with a daunting act of physical courage. By Ed Yong.

What Happened to Jake Millison? When a young rancher went missing, his family said he’d skipped town. But his friends knew him better than that, and refused to let him simply disappear. By Rachel Monroe.

The Diplomat Who Disappeared - In 1974, John Patterson was abducted by the People’s Liberation Army of Mexico—a group no one had heard of before. The kidnappers wanted $500,000, and insisted that Patterson’s wife deliver the ransom. By Brendan I. Koerner.

How Will We Remember the Pandemic? - The science of how our memories form—and how they shape our future. By Melissa Fay Greene.

Private Schools Are Indefensible
By Caitlin Flanagan

The Internet Doesn’t Have to Be Awful
By Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev

We Mourn for All We Do Not Know - The Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives provide a rare window into Black American heritage. By Clint Smith

A Forgotten Founder - Prince Hall’s life deserves to be reinserted into the tale of America’s creation. By Danielle Allen

When America Became a Democracy - The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally delivered on the stated ideals of this country. Now it hangs by a thread. By Vann R. Newkirk II

How Far Should Biden Go?
When it comes to exposing the
misdeeds of Trump and his
enablers, the new president
should pick his battles carefully.
By James Fallows.



The Committee on
Life and Death
As COVID-19 has overwhelmed
hospitals, the lack of clear bioethical
guidelines has meant that
doctors have had to make wrenching
life-and-death decisions on
the fly. As the country prepares to
distribute vaccines, we’re at risk of
reprising this chaos.
By Jordan Kisner.


The COVID-19
Manhattan Project
Never have so many researchers
trained their minds on a single
problem in so brief a time.
Science will never be the same.
By Ed Yong.

e Historian Who Sees the Future
Peter Turchin believes he has discovered iron laws that dictate the rise and fall of civilizations. He predicts a dire decade for the United States.
By Graeme Wood

When a Child Is a Weapon
Family courts are often at a loss when one parent turns a child against the other in a divorce. Some judges are forcing kids to attend “reunication camps” with the mom or dad they hate.
By Barbara Bradley Hagerty

"CIVIL WAR IS HERE NOW" By Mike Giglio - The president’s supporters on the militant right are bracing for conflict.

The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents the desperation is palpable. By Ruth S. Barrett.

The Election That Could Break America - If the vote is close, Donald Trump could easily throw the election into chaos. Who will stop him? By Barton Gellman.

The Next Reconstruction
The United States has its best opportunity in 150 years to fulfill its promise as a multiracial democracy.
By Adam Serwer

Make America Again
We may be on the cusp of an era of radical reform that advances citizens’ rights, restores opportunity, and repairs our broken democracy.
By George Packer

Toby Dorr’s Great Escape
Ever thought about breaking free, abandoning your responsibilities, running away from your life?
By Michael J. Mooney

When China Sees All - Xi Jinping is using artificial intelligence to enhance his government’s totalitarian control—and he’s exporting this technology around the globe. By Ross Andersen.

What Is MasterClass Actually Selling? The ads are everywhere: Learn to serve like Serena Williams or write like Margaret Atwood. But MasterClass delivers something altogether different. By Carina Chocano.

Protest Works How the Black Lives Matter demonstrations will shake up the 2020 election—and reshape American politics for a generation to come By Daniel Q. Gillion.

OPENING ARGUMENT
A Presidential Guide to Crisis Management
What Trump should have learned from his predecessors
By John Dickerson

MATERIAL WORLD
The Triumph of the Slob
How the virus redeemed clutter
By Amanda Mull

OMNIVORE
“How Did I End Up Like This?”
Seamus Heaney’s journey into darkness
By James Parker

Operation firstfruits
Where is the line between journalism and espionage? And what happens when your own government thinks you’ve crossed it?
By Barton Gellman

The Case of the Phantom Papyrus
A renowned Oxford scholar claimed that he discovered a first-century gospel fragment whose text closely matched modern Bibles. Now he’s facing allegations of antiquities theft, cover-up, and fraud.
By Ariel Sabar

“At 14, I Could’ve
Pointed Out Everybody
Who Would Be Dead”
Nikki King grew up
surrounded by the opioid
epidemic. Now she’s leading
a novel and promising
program to help people in
rural areas.
By Beth Macy.



What China Wants
Chinese leaders’ combination
of superiority and insecurity
is growing more dangerous.
­e U.S. needs a new
strategy to reflect that.
By H. R. McMaster.


Being Friends With
Philip Roth
During his last two decades,
we spent thousands of hours
in each other’s company. Ours
was a conversation neither of
us could have done without.
By Benjamin Taylor

THE NUCLEAR FAMILY WAS A MISTAKE By David Brooks The family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. It’s time to figure out better ways to live together.

The 2020 Disinformation War Deepfakes, anonymous text messages, Potemkin local news sites, and opposition research on reporters—a field guide to this year’s election and what it could do to the country By McKay Coppins. 

The Abortion Doctor and His Accuser When a reproductive-rights activist accused one of the most respected physicians in the movement of sexually assaulting her, everyone quickly took sides. The divide exposed differences among women that are typically expressed only in private. By Maggie Bullock

20,000 Feet Under the Sea Mining companies are preparing to extract minerals from the bottom of the ocean that could wean the Earth from fossil fuels. Scientists are still discovering what habitats these companies might destroy in the process. The race between the two groups may determine the fate of the oceans—and the planet. By Wil S. Hylton.

Retreat, Christian Soldiers Members of a conservative- Catholic group have built a thriving community in rural Kansas. Could their flight from mainstream society be a harbinger for the nation? By Emma Green.

Why It Feels Like Everything Is Going Haywire Social media has destabilized democracy. What can we do? By Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell.

What Would Mister Rogers Do? He’s never been more revered—or more misunderstood. By Tom Junod.

Too Much Democracy Is Bad for Democracy America’s primary system is a radical experiment—and it’s failing. By Jonathan Rauch and Ray La Raja.

Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan BY FRANKLIN FOER What he wants for his empire and himself, and what that means for the rest of us.

The End of Silence BY BIANCA BOSKER In Chandler, Arizona, on the edge of the desert, a low whine began. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. And it wouldn’t stop.

GoFundMe Nation BY RACHEL MONROE The largest crowdfunding site in the world puts up a mirror to who we are and what matters most to us. The reflection isn’t always pretty.

The Man Who
Couldn’t Take It Anymore
BY JEFFREY GOLDBERG
“I had no choice but to leave,”
General James Mattis says of his
decision to resign as President
Trump’s secretary of defense.


When the Culture War Comes for the Kids BY GEORGE PACKER
Caught between a brutal
meritocracy and a radical new
progressivism, a parent tries to do
right by his children while navigating
New York City’s schools.


Succession
BY MCKAY COPPINS
Who will control the next
generation of the Trump dynasty?

Life With Lyme BY MEGHAN O’ROURKE After years of being ill, I found myself with one of medicine’s most bitterly contested diagnoses. But new insights are at last accumulating.

What Happened to Aung San Suu Kyi? BY BEN RHODES She was a human-rights icon. Now she serves a government that has been accused of genocide. An inquiry into her fall from grace.

Meritocracy’s Miserable Winners BY DANIEL MARKOVITS The system that’s widened the gap between the rich and everyone else has also turned elite life into an endless, terrible competition. Maybe there’s a way out.

Raj Chetty’s American Dream BY GARETH COOK The economist whose work dispelled the myth of social mobility in the U.S. has a plan to make it a reality.

The True-Crime Writer in Cellblock B4 BY RACHEL MONROE Matthew Cox was a master of mortgage fraud, spinning tales and scamming his way into millions of dollars. Now he’s got a new game: selling stories that are true.

The Metamorphosis BY HENRY A. KISSINGER, ERIC SCHMIDT, AND DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER AI will bring many wonders. It may also destabilize everything from nuclear détente to human friendships. We need to think much harder about how to adapt.

The End of Expertise BY JERRY USEEM Step aboard a cutting-edge Navy ship where specialization is out, learning never stops, and one sailor does the job of five. Is this the future of work?

The Problem With HR BY CAITLIN FLANAGAN For 30 years, human resources has been charged with preventing and addressing workplace sexual harassment. How’s that working out?

Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think BY ARTHUR C. BROOKS Here’s how to make the most of it.

The Peculiar Blindness of Experts BY DAVID EPSTEIN Credentialed authorities are comically bad at predicting the future. But reliable forecasting is possible.

Autocorrect BY JONATHAN RAUCH How advances in real-time fact-checking might improve our politics.

How I Hacked Facebook BY JOE PINSKER Algorithms have made the social network predictable and dreary. My quest to make it random and fun.

The Penance of Doc O BY SAM QUINONES Lou Ortenzio was a trusted doctor who got his patients— and himself—hooked on opioids. Now he’s trying to rescue his community from an epidemic he helped start.

The Trouble With Dentistry BY FERRIS JABR You likely don’t need to go to the dentist every six months. Those microcavities might heal without a filling. And you may want a second opinion before getting that root canal.

Kamala Harris Takes Her Shot BY ELIZABETH WEIL The senator from California has always been cautious, but since announcing her candidacy she’s grown bolder. Can a black woman win the presidency today?

Will John Bolton Bring On Armageddon… Or Stave It Off? BY GRAEME WOOD His critics shuddered when he was appointed national security adviser. But he may be our best hope for saving the world from Donald Trump’s impulses.

How Much Immigration Is Too Much? BY DAVID FRUM We need to make hard decisions now about what will truly benefit current and future Americans.

The Fertility Doctor’s Secret BY SARAH ZHANG Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever know. Then DNA testing came along.

The Case for Impeachment BY YONI APPELBAUM Starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs.

"Nobody Is Going to Believe You" BY ALEX FRENCH AND MAXIMILLIAN POTTER The director Bryan Singer has been trailed by accusations of sexual misconduct for more than 20 years, largely without consequence. Here, his alleged victims tell their stories.
 
The Yuck Factor BY KATHLEEN MCAULIFFE Study after study shows that a high “disgust sensitivity” tends to go hand in hand with traditionalism, religiosity, support for authority, and distrust of outsiders. Does biology influence ideology? And if so, why?

How Tibet Went Crazy for Hoops BY LOUIE LAZAR A sport’s unlikely ascent in a remote corner of the globe.

In Case of Emergency BY ELIZABETH GOITEIN In a crisis, the president can invoke extraordinary authority. What might Donald Trump do with this power?

Why Are We So Angry? BY CHARLES DUHIGG The untold story of how we all got so mad at one another.

The Democrats’ White- People Problem BY JOAN C. WILLIAMS Donald Trump likes to pit elite and non-elite white people against each other. Why do white liberals play into his trap?

Trump’s Trade Warrior BY ANNIE LOWREY Meet Peter Navarro, the madman behind the president’s “madman theory” of global trade negotiation.

How to Almost Learn Italian BY DAVID H. FREEDMAN Language apps are addictive— but not particularly effective.

Newt Gingrich Says You’re Welcome BY MCKAY COPPINS He turned politics into a vicious blood sport. Now he’s reveling in his achievements.

The Martyr and the Pope BY PAUL ELIE What the canonization of Óscar Romero says about the Catholic Church and its embattled leader.

The Pentagon Wants to Weaponize the Brain. What Could Go Wrong? BY MICHAEL JOSEPH GROSS DARPA has a new mission: to fold computers into the  rain and nervous system—or vice versa.

A Warning From Europe BY ANNE APPLEBAUM Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the U.S. follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.

Losing the Democratic Habit BY YONI APPELBAUM Americans once learned self-governance by practicing it constantly—in lodge halls, neighbor hood associations, and labor unions. As participation in these institutions has dwindled, so has public faith in democracy.

What Really Killed the Dinosaurs? A Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. Her fight with the asteroid camp may be the nastiest feud in all of science.

How ICE Went Rogue A long-running inferiority complex, vast statutory power, a chilling new directive from the top—inside America’s unfolding immigration tragedy.

Finding the Formula for Team Chemistry BY BEN ROWEN The search for an elixir that turns good teams into great ones. Does it exist?

When the Next Plague Hits BY ED YONG The epidemics of the early 21st century revealed a world unprepared, even as the risk of pandemics continues to multiply. Much worse is coming. Is Donald Trump prepared?

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