Longform

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For the Serengeti's Maasai, a Bitter Irony Unfolds

'Atlantic' explores how they're losing land they've carefully tended in the name of conservation

(Newser) - On the surface, the news might please those with a conservationist bent—Tanzania setting aside more and more land for preservation. Look a little closer and what emerges is the brutal toll being exacted on the Maasai—pastoralists who are "among the lightest-living people on the planet"—in...

He Wanted to 'Forget' His Life, Until He Got a Diagnosis

John Paul Scotto writes about learning at 35 that he was autistic

(Newser) - John Paul Scotto has become obsessed with many things—among them internet poker, drinking, and movies—and one of those movies was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Like Jim Carrey's character in the film, there was a time when Scotto wanted to forget things—in his case, as...

NM City Illustrates Problems of America's Drinking Water

Sunland Park has had illegal levels of arsenic for years, with no resolution

(Newser) - Big headlines occasionally surface about serious problems with drinking water in American cities, as with Flint, Michigan , and Jackson, Mississippi . But the Washington Post reports that the issue may be more widespread than is realized five decades after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The newspaper zeroes in...

What It's Like to Run a Walmart Supercenter
The Bane of Walmart
Managers: 'NIL Picks'
longform
Apr 20, 2024 4:40 PM CDT

The Bane of Walmart Managers: 'NIL Picks'

'WSJ' spends a day in the life of a $240K-a-year manager in Texas

(Newser) - Walmart managers typically pull in six figures—even up to $400,000 if the store is big enough—and the Wall Street Journal spent a day with one such manager to get a sense of the job. Nichole Hart runs the Supercenter in Bellmead, Texas, and made about $240,000...

A Fast-Fashion Juggernaut Shows a Darker Underbelly
Shein Brings Fast Fashion
to New Extremes
longform
Apr 20, 2024 5:30 AM CDT

Shein Brings Fast Fashion to New Extremes

'Guardian' explores the ethical issues in the world of cheap, disposable clothing

(Newser) - Quick, name the most-Googled clothing brand on the planet. As Nicole Lipman explains in the Guardian , the answer is Shein, a retailer founded in China that has become a juggernaut in the world of "fast fashion." And "fast" might be an understatement—in a 12-month span during...

A Family Emerged From the Bush. Then the Mystery Began

Dan Kois delves into the disappearance of the Phillips family

(Newser) - A father and his three children vanished in New Zealand in September 2021. But it was only after they turned up 17 days later that "the real mystery started," writes Dan Kois in a lengthy piece for Slate . Tom Phillips had custody of his three young kids, then...

Are You a Pinnacle or a Suite? The 'Cult' of Cruise Ship Life

Author Gary Shteyngart spends a week aboard the world's biggest cruise ship

(Newser) - In a first-person account for the Atlantic , Gary Shteyngart joins the odd subgenre of authors writing about their time on a cruise ship, one famously begun by David Foster Wallace in 1996 . But Shteyngart has some bragging rights: He's not just on any ship, but on Royal Caribbean's...

Chinese Mafias' New US Goldmine: Gift Cards
Chinese Mafias' New US
Goldmine: Gift Cards
longform
Apr 14, 2024 5:45 AM CDT

Chinese Mafias' New US Goldmine: Gift Cards

ProPublica: 'Card draining' is a thing, and the feds have established a task force

(Newser) - It's not your typical story about organized crime— ProPublica reports that Chinese mafia groups are ripping off American consumers and stores through mundane gift cards. And for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security has launched a task force to fight what's known as "card draining....

This Story Is About Gaslighting. Or Is It?
This Story Is About
Gaslighting. Or Is It?
longform
Apr 7, 2024 9:33 AM CDT

This Story Is About Gaslighting. Or Is It?

Leslie Jamison takes a deep dive into the amorphous meaning of the term these days

(Newser) - Have you ever been gaslit? The answer is without a doubt yes given the hard-to-pin-down nature of the term that has exploded in popularity . Leslie Jamison digs in at the New Yorker , beginning with the dictionary definition—the "psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of...

He May Be the World's First Incel Terrorist
He May Be the World's
First Incel Terrorist
longform
Apr 7, 2024 9:03 AM CDT

He May Be the World's First Incel Terrorist

Maclean's explores the groundbreaking case of Oguzhan Sert in Toronto

(Newser) - Oguzhan Sert is serving a life sentence in Canada as a convicted terrorist, but as Lana Hall writes in Maclean's , he appears to be the first person in the world convicted of his particular brand of terrorism. As a 17-year-old, Sert walked into a massage parlor in Toronto in...

3 Decades Ago, a Reporter Posed as a High School Senior

Today, she's not sure her monthlong ruse for the 'San Francisco Chronicle' was ethical

(Newser) - Thirty-two years ago, a 26-year-old reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle posed as a high school student for a month to get an inside look at how students and teachers were coping with severe budget cuts. Only the principal and guidance counselor at George Washington High School, along with the...

Possible Culprit in Mysterious Havana Syndrome: Unit 29155

Media investigation suggests Russian intelligence unit deployed sonic weaponry

(Newser) - Last year, the US government declared that it could find no evidence linking a foreign adversary to the mysterious ailment striking diplomats known as Havana Syndrome . A joint investigation by the Insider , CBS News , and the German outlet Der Spiegel begs to differ and points the finger at Russia:
  • The
...

China Was Tesla's Savior. It's Becoming Its Thorn
China Was
Tesla's Savior.
It's Becoming
Its Thorn
longform
Mar 31, 2024 5:00 PM CDT

China Was Tesla's Savior. It's Becoming Its Thorn

The 'NYT' looks at Elon Musk's relationship with Beijing

(Newser) - Elon Musk has China to thank for much of Tesla's success. But as the New York Times reports, Beijing's helping hand could end up being more of a slap. Interviews with former Tesla employees, diplomats, and policymakers shed light on how Tesla's "unusually symbiotic relationship" with...

Is Your Work Output the 'Only Proof' That You're Working?

In 'Esquire,' Kelly Stout ponders whether productivity, the process, or something else is what matters

(Newser) - If you've tried every multitasking trick in the book to maximize your time on the job, Kelly Stout wants you to know you're not alone. In Esquire , Stout writes that she spent a lot of time earlier in her career assigned to busywork, longing for "a life...

Mistaking Girl, 2, for Her Dad, Police Sniper Killed Her

KCUR delves into the tragic 2022 death of Clesslyn Crawford

(Newser) - On March 26, 2022, Taylor Shutte called the police in Baxter Springs, Kansas, and asked for help. Responding to what dispatchers said sounded like a fight, officers found Shutte, 27, and her boyfriend Eli Crawford, 38, in their small trailer. Officers asked Crawford to come out, but instead, he retreated...

CPR Almost Always Fails. ECPR Is a Different Story

It's called the biggest advance in cardiac arrest treatment since CPR itself

(Newser) - Dramatic TV rescues notwithstanding, the stark truth is that people who go into cardiac arrest are usually doomed. CPR is almost always futile . Defibrillators can shock a heart back to life, but only if the patient has a "shockable rhythm" to work with, writes physician Helen Ouyang in the...

He Was an Art-Selling Wunderkind. And a Fraudster
He Was an
Art-Selling
Wunderkind.
And a Fraudster
longform
Mar 31, 2024 6:00 AM CDT

He Was an Art-Selling Wunderkind. And a Fraudster

'Vanity Fair' has the story of Inigo Philbrick

(Newser) - He was handed a seven-year prison sentence for what the FBI characterized as the largest art-based fraud scheme the US has ever seen. In late January 2024, after serving less than four years, Inigo Philbrick was released to home confinement. Writing for Vanity Fair , Mark Seal has the now-36-year-old's...

Podcaster Huberman's Remarkable 'Deception'
Podcaster
Pulled Off a
Remarkable
'Deception'
longform
Mar 30, 2024 7:00 AM CDT

Podcaster Pulled Off a Remarkable 'Deception'

'New York' reveals how he managed at least 5 relationships simultaneously

(Newser) - Andrew Huberman is a Stanford neuroscientist whose "Huberman Lab" is one of the most popular podcasts around. In a profile for New York magazine, Kerry Howley writes that she became a devotee, making sure to get sunshine in the morning and practicing her "physiological sighs" to ease stress...

DNA Tests Reveal Truth About a Universal Taboo
DNA Tests
Reveal Ugly Truth
About Incest
longform
Mar 24, 2024 5:10 PM CDT

DNA Tests Reveal Ugly Truth About Incest

'Atlantic' reports that children resulting from the universal taboo are far more common than thought

(Newser) - Not too long ago, researchers estimated the frequency of incest at one in a million. The age of easy DNA testing, however, has revealed a troubling truth: It's far more common than thought, writes Sarah Zhang in the Atlantic . One researcher who studied the UK Biobank suggested that 1...

He May Be One of the Best Players of Any Game Ever

Defector digs into the astounding Scrabble prowess of Nigel Richards

(Newser) - You could try saying something like, "Nigel Richards is the Michael Jordan of Scrabble," but that wouldn't capture it. "I don't know how to put this in layman's terms, but ... he's the best player at any game that ever existed," is how...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>