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The Organ Whose Name We Are Loathe to Speak Is a Marvel

And a much debated one at that

(Newser) - "The moment you say 'anus,' you can hear a pin drop in the room." So a jellyfish biologist at the University of North Carolina at Asheville tells Katherine Wu, who has written a fascinating piece for the Atlantic about this "evolutionary marvel" that also happens...

Surviving a Shark Attack Is Terrifying— and Lonely

'Outside Online' looks at one man's attack, and how it led him to Bite Club

(Newser) - What's it like being attacked by a shark? Not many people know, which is the point of Haley Cohen Gilliland's lengthy piece for Outside Online . She begins by tracking the attack Alex Wilton survived in March 2019 off Mexico's Pacific coast as a way of introducing the...

They Died From Catastrophic Injuries. Now, More Answers

The 'New Yorker' looks at recent research on the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident

(Newser) - If, like us, you can't read enough about the Dyatlov Pass Incident —or chilling decades-old mysteries in general—then Douglas Preston's lengthy piece for the New Yorker on what may be the definitive cause of the 1959 incident is a must-read. It builds upon previous reports about...

Bones Kept in Trash Bags Are Finally Identified
Bones Kept in Trash Bags
Are Finally Identified
longform
May 9, 2021 4:20 PM CDT

Bones Kept in Trash Bags Are Finally Identified

The 'New York Times' looks at how forensic genealogy is being used in a widespread way

(Newser) - The Golden State Killer's case brought national attention to forensic genealogy as a way to identify long-unknown killers—but the same techniques can put names to long-anonymous victims as well. And as the New York Times reports, that's increasingly being done by smaller jurisdictions. As Virginia Hughes writes,...

He Made Millions Selling Glasses—and Bullying Buyers

The 'New York Times' asks whether Vitaly Borker is at it again

(Newser) - The judge said he had never before encountered a defendant who returned "so quickly to exactly the same crime." The question is whether Vitaly Borker is now back at it a third time. Writing for the New York Times , David Segal dives into the Ukrainian immigrant's backstory,...

Bob Ross' Output Was Wild. So Where Are His Paintings?

The Hustle tries to figure out why you don't see them for sale all the time

(Newser) - It's one of those questions that you've probably never thought about but can't get out of your head once you do: Why don't you commonly see Bob Ross' paintings for sale? Zachary Crockett asks and answers it in a lengthy piece for the Hustle that adds...

His Spectacular Prison Escapes Are the Stuff of Legend

Inside the wild exploits of Redoine Faid

(Newser) - His prison escapes were audacious and cinematic—meaning they went according to plan. In a lengthy piece for GQ , Adam Leith Gollner dives into the exploits of Redoine Faid, who answered his questions from prison via an intermediary and also supplied Gollner with an unpublished autobiography. Faid has managed two...

We Owe an Indescribable Debt to van Gogh's Sister-in-Law

Jo van Gogh-Bonger got his paintings out into the world

(Newser) - As the saying goes, "Behind every great man is a great woman"—even if it's not his woman. In a lengthy piece for the New York Times Magazine , Russell Shorto makes the case that this applies to Vincent van Gogh and his sister-in-law, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, whose...

Seth Rogen&#39;s Life Formula Has 3 Pillars
'Miracle of
Marijuana'
May Explain
Rogen's Success
longform
Apr 25, 2021 11:30 AM CDT

'Miracle of Marijuana' May Explain Rogen's Success

NYT Magazine profiles the uber-productive entertainer

(Newser) - The image Seth Rogen projects in most of his movies and in public appearances is that of an affable stoner. After spending a lot of time with the 39-year-old for this week's New York Times Magazine cover story, Jonah Weiner finds that the real Rogen is ... an affable stoner,...

Feds Doubted the Kidnapping Story. They Shouldn't Have

The truth of John Patterson's 1974 disappearance was much more grim

(Newser) - John and Andra Patterson had been living in Hermosillo, Mexico, for just two months when the 31-year-old John, a new member of the United States Foreign Service, was kidnapped. It was March 22, 1974, and as Brendan I. Koerner writes in a lengthy piece for the Atlantic , he was the...

&#39;That Picture Hijacked My Life&#39;
'That Picture
Hijacked My Life'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 24, 2021 2:30 PM CDT

'That Picture Hijacked My Life'

Mary Ann Vecchio, the girl in famous Kent State photo, reflects 50 years later

(Newser) - You've seen the photo—a young woman kneeling over the body of Kent State student Jeffrey Miller, after he and three other students were fatally shot by National Guard troops on May 4, 1970. What may come as a surprise is that the young woman in the photo was...

A Letter About Their Embryos Sends Couple Into a Tailspin

Hospital allegedly knew for years Elaine Meyer and Barry Prizant's 2 embryos were missing

(Newser) - Over the decade beginning in 2010, a study determined that 133 lawsuits had been filed in connection with lost, discarded, or damaged frozen embryos. Dr. Elaine Meyer and Dr. Barry Prizant are engaged in one such lawsuit, and Katherine Rosman dives into their story for the New York Times . The...

This Is How to Right the Wrongs Done to Native Americans

David Treuer makes the case that our National Parks should be given to them

(Newser) - David Treuer's piece for the Atlantic is peppered with so many bold lines it's hard to whittle down which to share. But this is a strong one: "The American West began with war but concluded with parks." In his lengthy piece, Treuer, himself a Native American...

A Man Fell From a Plane, and a 'Befuddling' Case Began

Inside the effort to determine the identity of a stowaway from Kenya

(Newser) - It's a "suicidally dangerous thing to do": cramming your body into the wheel well of a passenger plane. In a lengthy piece for the Guardian , Sirin Kale makes clear that his statement is not hyperbole. Citing FAA data, of the 128 people known to have tried to stowaway...

The Hunters' Photos Were Wild. So Was the Probe Into the Kills

The 'Sacramento Bee' describes the lengths California wildlife officials went to

(Newser) - Depending on whom you ask, the case California wildlife officials made against two hunters over five months in 2019 was either ridiculously complex or not taken seriously. Writing for the Sacramento Bee , Ryan Sabalow has the story, which involves two bow-and-arrow hunters who were "on their way to social...

Case of Missing Ranger Was 'One That I Felt Was Solvable'

At 'Outside Online,' Brendan Borrell digs deep into the case of Paul Fugate

(Newser) - Paul Fugate is the only National Park Service ranger to vanish and never be found. It happened in January 1980, when the then-41-year-old Chiricahua National Monument ranger set out on one of the southeastern Arizona monument's trails and was never seen again. Writing for Outside Online , Brendan Borrell...

Heist Was Straight Out the Movies, Except for the Loot
The Heist Was Worth
Millions—in Books
longform
Apr 4, 2021 3:06 PM CDT

The Heist Was Worth Millions—in Books

'Vanity Fair' recounts an unusual theft from a London warehouse

(Newser) - The crime was so unusual—so acrobatic—that police in London checked to see if the circus had been in town. That turned out to be a dead end, writes Marc Wortman in a lengthy Vanity Fair piece about the 2017 heist. Thieves had climbed to the roof of a...

In the Year Before Tony Hsieh's Death, an Unraveling

The 'Wall Street Journal' looks at the Zappos founder's life in Park City, Utah

(Newser) - By now, you've likely heard the grim story of Tony Hsieh, the Zappos founder who died of smoke inhalation after being pulled from an on-fire shed in a Connecticut yard in November. Relying on interviews, personal documents, public and court records, emails, and more, the Wall Street Journal digs...

His Sister Had Confused Episodes, Then Died. Now He Had Them

Inside the race to solve a medical mystery

(Newser) - If you're not familiar with rare metabolic diseases, you're not alone, and that fact is what drove one family's decision to share their story: of one tragedy, and one tragedy narrowly averted. As Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries, writes for...

Family Doctor's Big Secret: $9K a Week Pushing Fentanyl

'Toronto Life' recounts the case of George Otto

(Newser) - About a decade ago, the province of Ontario, Canada, set up a monitoring system to prevent bogus opioid prescriptions, a system designed to flag shady doctors or pharmacists. "But what happens when a bad doctor meets a bad pharmacist?" writes Brett Popplewell in Toronto Life . "The system wasn’...

Stories 741 - 760 | << Prev   Next >>