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Stories 221 - 240 | << Prev   Next >>

A Maligned, Centuries-Old Test Is Still Used in Murder Cases

ProPublica digs into the criticisms of the 'lung float' test in regard to stillborn babies

(Newser) - It's called the "lung float" test, and, as ProPublica explains, the name is an accurate one. The test first emerged centuries ago as a way to determine if a baby was born stillborn or murdered. The infant's lungs would be placed in water and if they floated—...

For Professors, Online Stalkers Are a Growing Concern
Increasingly, Professors
Are Being Stalked
longform
Nov 4, 2023 10:00 AM CDT

Increasingly, Professors Are Being Stalked

The Verge takes a look at the growing problem of the harassment of faculty members

(Newser) - The problem of stalking on college campuses is a disturbingly common one. As Erika Hayasaki writes in the Verge , 17% of students have reported being victims in some fashion, with the reported stalkers running the gamut from classmates to strangers and even nonstudents. The story, though, looks at a different...

Two Scientific Words Explain Fascination With Horror

'Predator inspection' serves an evolutionary purpose, according to 'Scientific American'

(Newser) - Halloween season is in full swing, with people subjecting themselves to haunted houses, scary movies, and ghoulish costumes. And why? Not to take all the fun out of the festivities, but two researchers in Scientific American have two words to explain this fascination with—and even embrace of—horror: predator...

The World Is Burning. &#39;Tell Me About Your Mother&#39;
The World Is Burning.
'Tell Me About Your Mother'
longform
Oct 29, 2023 2:10 PM CDT

The World Is Burning. 'Tell Me About Your Mother'

'New York Times Magazine' explores how climate angst is changing the world of therapy

(Newser) - Not too long ago, if somebody walked into a therapist's office and described their existential dread about what's happening to the climate, the patient might have been considered a crackpot. Today? With mind-boggling heat, rampant wildfires, related smoke pollution, flooding, etc., not so much. In fact, Seattle therapist...

It Was One of the Internet's First Crash-and-Burn Stories

Narratively takes a deep dive into 'Kony 2012,' which captivated the world briefly, then fizzled

(Newser) - A blast from the internet's viral hall of fame, Kony 2012 , is back in Narratively's in-depth look into how the sensation-turned-cancellation came to be—and what has happened in the 11 years since the video promising to change the world ripped through headlines. In the piece, the visionary...

Possible Descendant Wants Harvard's Early Slave Photos

Tamara Lanier sued university unsuccessfully to reclaim images she believes depict her family

(Newser) - Thirteen years ago, Tamara Lanier underwent a quest to understand her lineage, resulting in a lawsuit to reclaim photos from a Harvard museum that she believes depict her enslaved ancestors. ProPublica unfolds the moving story that begins with an African-born, enslaved man named Renty. Harvard professor Louis Agassiz, who subscribed...

Trans Teen, Family &#39;Run Out of Town on a Rail&#39;
Trans Teen, Family
'Run Out of Town on a Rail'
LONGFORM
Oct 22, 2023 9:30 AM CDT

Trans Teen, Family 'Run Out of Town on a Rail'

'New Yorker' piece dives into how laws in Tennessee, and in South in general, have affected LGBTQ youth

(Newser) - Tennessee has passed nearly 20 anti-LGBTQ+ laws since 2015, among the highest in the nation, per the Human Rights Campaign. For Kristen Chapman, that number is more than just a statistic—it proved to be the death knell for her family's future in the Volunteer State, as her 17-year-daughter,...

It Is Possibly the Biggest Maritime Operation in History

'New Yorker' takes in-depth look at China's massive fishing industry, rife with abuse of workers as well as sea creatures

(Newser) - It might very well be "the largest maritime operation the world has ever known," writes Ian Urbina in the New Yorker . Urbina is referring to China's massive fleet of fishing vessels that ply the oceans. By one estimate, China has about 6,500 "distant-water" fishing ships,...

More Foster Parents Fight to Keep the Babies
New Shift in Fostering:
A Fight to Keep the Babies
LONGFORM
Oct 21, 2023 10:45 AM CDT

New Shift in Fostering: A Fight to Keep the Babies

ProPublica examines the issue, one that forces birth parents to wage long legal battles

(Newser) - What happens when foster parents don't want to give up the child in their care? ProPublica goes inside the personal struggles that families with children or grandchildren in foster care have had trying to get their loved ones back. While foster care has traditionally aimed to unite children back...

As SBF's Trial Plows Ahead, Questions Arise on His Parents

Bloomberg details Joe Bankman, Barbara Fried's influence and involvement in FTX crypto empire

(Newser) - Last December, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried insisted to the New York Times that his parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, "weren't involved in any of the relevant parts" of his now-defunct cryptocurrency business. Writing for Bloomberg , Max Chafkin and Hannah Miller dive deeper into that murky relationship, coming...

The Long Journey Into Who Killed Ocean City&#39;s Fudge King
Writer May Have Cracked
Ocean City Cold Case
LONGFORM
Oct 15, 2023 1:10 PM CDT

Writer May Have Cracked Ocean City Cold Case

Ocean City's 'Fudge King,' Harry Anglemyer, was murdered in 1964

(Newser) - Who killed New Jersey's Fudge King? That's the question writer Tom Donaghy grappled with for several years, detailing the twisty true-crime account in Atavist Magazine . As a kid visiting the Jersey Shore, Donaghy was a frequent visitor of the Copper Kettle, a fudge shop that wiped out all...

Detective Torpedoed Own Cases in Spat With Prosecutor

Roger Murphey refused to testify in protest of how attorney treated St. Louis police

(Newser) - Roger Murphey investigated his share of murder cases as a police detective in St. Louis, but an unusual twist has affected at least nine of them, reports ProPublica . Murphey, who retired in 2021, has refused to testify in court against the defendants he believes are guilty. He acknowledges sabotaging the...

Our Homes Have to Change in This New Era
How to Adapt Our Homes,
Cities for a Hotter Future
longform
Oct 10, 2023 11:22 AM CDT

How to Adapt Our Homes, Cities for a Hotter Future

Grist and Gizmodo design a 'model metropolis' in an age of rising temperatures

(Newser) - Life-threatening heat for weeks on end is becoming less of an anomaly in cities around the world, including the US . And it's more than a minor inconvenience. "Waiting 20 minutes for the bus in triple-digit weather isn't just unpleasant—it can be dangerous," observes a joint...

Vietnam Allegedly Tried to Hack US Lawmakers With a Tweet

Government allegedly tweeted bogus link that would have installed spy software

(Newser) - In terms of international hacking attempts, it was relatively simple. The government of Vietnam tweeted a plausible-looking but bogus news link to particular American lawmakers and journalists hoping they would click, reports the Washington Post . It appears that none of them took the bait. But had they done so, the...

Life Expectancy Is Falling, and Maybe Not Why You Think

It's not the pandemic, gun violence, or opioids—it's chronic illness, explains the 'Washington Post'

(Newser) - Life expectancy in the US is going in the wrong direction . It peaked at 78.9 years back in 2014 and has been declining ever since, with the most recent figure at 76.4 years. You can't blame the pandemic, because the trend was in place well before that,...

Accusers: Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Exploited Men for Sex

BBC out with a damning report about Mike Jeffries

(Newser) - Another big name is the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct. In this case, however, the bigger name involved is clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch, and the allegations raised in a BBC investigation revolve around former CEO Mike Jeffries. The two-year investigation alleges that Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith...

His Fights Are Legendary. How Did That Leave His Brain?

When it comes to CTE research, Chris Nilan could end up being a fascinating subject

(Newser) - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, can only be diagnosed after death, and that diagnosis has been made hundreds of times among former football and hockey players who have suffered repeated blows to the head. Boston University's CTE center is now running a study on living subjects who might be...

A New Look at the Killing of the 'Face of Red Power'

Richard Oakes, a Mohawk, was shot to death in 1972, and the shooter went free

(Newser) - In one sense, the events that day were straightforward: "On Sept. 20, 1972, a white man pulled out a pistol, pointed it at an unarmed Indigenous father and fired a single bullet. It struck Richard Oakes in the heart, killing him almost instantly." So write Jason Fagone and...

He Took a Legendary Cookie Recipe to His Grave. Maybe

Dave Denison writes of the Guerrilla Cookie and its one-of-a-kind creator in the Baffler

(Newser) - It starts out as a story about a hunt for a cookie recipe, but Dave Denison's piece in the Baffler ends up being more about the Thoreau-esque baker who appears to have taken the recipe to his grave. The cookie in question is the Guerrilla Cookie, legendary in Midwestern...

Scorsese Saw Hollywood's Ills at Screening for Departed

'Studio guys' were upset because it clearly would not be a franchise

(Newser) - Martin Scorsese turns 81 in November, and he's making the rounds to plug his new film Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio. In a wide-ranging interview with GQ , Scorsese talks about feeling out of step with modern Hollywood. For instance, he rarely goes to Los Angeles anymore...

Stories 221 - 240 | << Prev   Next >>