Small delights

Defector · 2026-10-23

Rolling Snakes Reinvent the Wheel

by Sabrina Imbler

The Hindu · 2026-10-19

This Day, That Age, and a Few Memories

How do you set up a printing press in a city where you barely speak the language?

The Paris Review Daily · 2026-10-13

Grimes’s Secret Psy Opera Pop-Up

by Paul McAdory

Why does a pop star obsessed with the future still need a crowded room to feel forgiven?

The Atlantic · 2026-10-12

Alan Dershowitz Won’t Forget What Larry David Did to Him

by Mark Leibovich

What keeps a man returning to a porch where his old friends refuse to speak to him?

Defector · 2026-10-11

Did I Ruin My Child’s Imagination by Being Such an Involved Parent?

by Chris Thompson

How much boredom does a child actually need before they learn to play alone?

The Atlantic · 2026-10-11

Zoos Are Doubling Down on Very Unnatural Habitats

by Katherine J. Wu

Could a machine give a captive animal the unpredictability of the wild?

The Independent · 2026-10-10

Scientists Mimicking the Big Bang Accidentally Turn Lead Into Gold

by Ulrik Egede

How did the oldest dream in alchemy become a nuisance for modern physicists?

The Bulwark · 2026-10-03

‘Digger’ Review

by Sonny Bunch

What happens when a wildly ambitious climate parable rests entirely on the sheer energy of its star?

Astral Codex Ten · 2026-10-02

Our AI Midwife

by Scott Alexander

What happens when the only doctor with the patience to keep looking is a machine?

Defector · 2026-10-02

Mr. Monk and the Unfinished Book

by Sabrina Imbler

What does it cost to notice every single thing that is out of place?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-30

Are Raccoons Evolving Into Pets?

by Annie Lowrey

What separates a pet from a wild animal that simply refuses to leave?

Defector · 2026-09-29

How One Trick Play Tells the History of Football

by Josh Levin

What makes one illegal trick play stick in a man's memory for eighty years?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-09-27

The Humble History of the Bedpan

Why is the most humiliating object in the hospital the one thing that never changes?

The Bulwark · 2026-09-26

‘Hope’ Review

by Sonny Bunch

If the chase scenes are perfect, does it matter if the monsters look cheap?

Defector · 2026-09-25

I Spent Three Sweltering Days Shredding the High Seas at Jogging Pace, and It Ruled

by Chris Thompson

Why endure three sweltering days on a racing sailboat just to travel at a jogging pace?

Defector · 2026-09-24

José Mourinho Gives Real Madrid Exactly What It Paid For

by Luis Paez-Pumar

Why would a football team actually need a manager who makes everything about himself?

The Paris Review Daily · 2026-09-23

On “Derek,” Captain Ahab’s Evil Half Brother

by John Hay

How did a silent film about Captain Ahab's evil half-brother rescue a forgotten American masterpiece?

The Hindu · 2026-09-22

Madras, a City That Has Always Expanded Its Language to Welcome Words Into Its Fold

How does a city absorb centuries of borrowed words and still sound entirely like itself?

Defector · 2026-09-16

Who Needs Life on Mars When It Has Glacial Spiders?

by Patrick Redford

If nothing lives on Mars, what keeps erupting through the ice at the south pole?

Defector · 2026-09-15

How an Unsubtle 9/11 Tribute Was Added to Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’

by Brian Feldman

Why did a superhero movie pause its biggest battle to let two ordinary New Yorkers speak?

Astral Codex Ten · 2026-09-14

Royce on San Francisco

by Scott Alexander

Does a city ever outgrow the exact kind of madness it was founded on?

The Conversation · 2026-09-13

Could You Survive the Oregon Trail? An Emergency Medicine Doctor Offers Tips on How to Not Die in the Great Outdoors

by Elaine Reno, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine-Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz

Even with smartphones and GPS, why do the survival lessons of a 1980s computer game still apply?

The Paris Review Daily · 2026-09-12

Kiss the Ring: Richard Wagner’s Opera Festival in the Age of AI

by Krithika Varagur

What happens when a 150-year-old opera festival hands its stage over to artificial intelligence?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-11

What Makes Tennis One of the Greatest Games

by Jake Lundberg

Defector · 2026-09-10

There’s Still Tennis at the U.S. Open

by Owen Lewis

When a tennis player faces match point, does all the money in the stadium still matter?

New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs · 2026-09-09

Instructions for Watching My Girlfriend While I’m Out of Town

by Blythe Roberson

If you wrote care instructions for a grown adult, would they read like a pet-sitting guide?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-09-08

Kermit the Frog Was Just Trying to Put on a Variety Show. Fifty Years Later, the Muppets Are Some of the Biggest Stars in Television History

How did a chaotic variety show give its audience permission to be weird?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-05

The Terrible Movie That Chinese Audiences Can’t Stop Watching

by Shirley Li

What makes a clumsy, homemade cartoon better than anything a machine could make?

American Scholar · 2026-09-03

Adding Wimsey to My Life

by Paula Marantz Cohen

How does a monocled detective from the 1930s become the perfect standard for a modern marriage?

Defector · 2026-08-30

What Do I Do About My Fragile Kid?

by Albert Burneko

When a kid falls apart over a setback, are they fragile, or do they just feel safe?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-30

Once the Solar System's Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here's Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body

Why did losing its title make a tiny, frozen world so much easier to love?

Defector · 2026-08-30

A Day in the Chaos of Cycling’s Most Legendary Arena

by Patrick Redford

Why do half a million people camp on a mountain for ten seconds of a bike race?

Vox · 2026-08-29

“It’s the Fitness Space’s Eras Tour”: How Hyrox Became the Exercise Cult of the Moment

by Alex Abad-Santos

Why are people flying across the world to see who is best at going to the gym?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-28

An 11-Year-Old Boy in a Small Midwestern Town Just Became the Guinness World Record Holder for Being the Youngest Museum Curator

How does an eleven-year-old go from hunting fossils in his driveway to running a museum?

The Independent · 2026-08-27

For Everything From Troubled Hearts to Lost Keys, Greeks Bake Cakes for a Wish-granting Saint

by Theodora Tongas and Derek Gatopoulos

How does a homemade orange cake become a prayer for the things you have lost?

Vox · 2026-08-26

Pumpkin Spice Lattes — and the Backlash, and the Backlash to the Backlash — Explained

by Rebecca Jennings

When people complain about a sweet seasonal coffee, what are they actually angry about?

The Bulwark · 2026-08-25

‘Tony’ Review

by Sonny Bunch

How does a lying college student find grace in the back of a restaurant kitchen?

Defector · 2026-08-23

Two Scrabble Superstars Explain Their Unbelievable Championship Match

by Stefan Fatsis

How does a championship match come down to a word that doesn't exist?

The Paris Review Daily · 2026-08-23

If You Build It, Will They Come? On the Sperm Racing World Cup

by Paul McAdory

Could a race between microscopic human cells ever actually work as a live spectator sport?

Defector · 2026-08-21

How Do You Get Over the Greatest Sports Story of All Time?

by Dave McKenna

What does a 75-year sports curse sound like the moment it finally breaks?

Defector · 2026-08-20

I Taught a Scorekeeping Class and Everybody Came

by Kelsey McKinney

How does keeping score on paper make a baseball game belong to you?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-17

The Strange, Explicable Appeal of Train Dog

by Megan Garber

Why does an obviously fake video of a panting train feel like a genuine relief?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-16

Our Last Wi-Fi-Less Refuge is Gone

by Nancy Walecki

When an airplane gets high-speed internet, what happens to the luxury of being unreachable?

Vox · 2026-08-15

We Think We Just Discovered Some New Species Living in New York City

by Benji Jones

Astral Codex Ten · 2026-08-13

The Quest for Caffeine You Can Have at Night

by Scott Alexander

What does it actually take to separate an evening cup of coffee from a sleepless night?

Defector · 2026-08-12

The Sports Idiot is Dead, Long Live the Sports Idiot

by Annie Berke

Where does the sports-comedy man-child go when the world around him finally grows up?

Defector · 2026-08-11

Would You Eat This Cretaceous Turducken?

by Sabrina Imbler

How does an entire prehistoric food chain end up swallowed whole and turned to stone?

Defector · 2026-08-10

We Wouldn’t Be Here Without Poop

by Sabrina Imbler

How did sinking animal waste bring life to the bottom of the ocean?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-08

Dulles Forever

by Adrienne LaFrance

How quickly does a monument to human flight become just another waiting room to complain about?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-06

Gen Z is Testing the Limits of How Weird Parties Can Get

by Victoria Feng

How does a PowerPoint presentation on bad decisions turn a room full of strangers into friends?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-04

Which Screen is the ‘Good Screen’ Now?

by Kaitlyn Tiffany

What happens to the private act of scrolling when it moves to the living room television?

Vox · 2026-08-03

The Glorious Burden of Stockpiling Little Glass Jars

by Rachel Kurzius

What makes an empty glass jar so hard to put in the recycling bin?

Defector · 2026-08-01

Can a Monkey Have a Pet?

by Sabrina Imbler

Where does the urge to care for an entirely different species actually come from?

The Paris Review Daily · 2026-07-28

The Bit Player: My Father with Steve Zissou

by Molly Cooper

How does an eight-second movie cameo become the story a father leaves behind?

McSweeney's Internet Tendency · 2026-07-21

I’m Jimothy, the Short-Spined Raccoon Who Has Taken the Internet by Storm, and the Collective Weight of Your Adoration is Breaking My Already-Compromised Back

by Emily Flake

If a viral raccoon could look back at the people watching it, what would it see?

McSweeney's Internet Tendency · 2026-07-14

I’m Cyclosporiasis, the Explosive Diarrhea Parasite, and I’m Pivoting to Music

by Jess Keefe

When a stomach bug finally finds the fame it worked for, what does it do for an encore?

McSweeney's Internet Tendency · 2026-06-26

My Manic Pixie Dream Femme Fatale

by Dan McCoy

Can a man be truly saved by someone who treats his life as a quirky side project?

Defector · 2026-06-24

What’s the Ideal Target for a Heist?

by Drew Magary

If perfection is mostly accidental, why is it still the standard for everything?

Defector · 2026-06-22

Eloy Room Saved a Place for Himself and Curacao in World Cup History

by Ray Ratto

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-06-20

These Devoted Dads Across the Animal Kingdom Will Warm Your Heart This Father’s Day

How do the varied roles of animal fathers help their young survive in the wild?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-06-19

'Cute Little Guy': Scientists Discover a Tiny Blue Species of Octopus by the Galápagos Islands

How does a tiny blue octopus wait a decade in a jar before finally receiving a name?

Africa Is a Country · 2026-06-18

Rock Chalk Algeria

by Maher Mezahi

How did the Algerian national team and a college town in Kansas find such an unlikely kinship?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-06-17

This Colorful Parrot Had Been Seen Only Once Over the Past Century. Birders Just Rediscovered It in an Unexplored Indonesian Forest

If a bird hasn't been heard for a hundred years, how do you know what to listen for?

Scroll.in · 2026-06-11

By Ruskin Bond: a Boy Finds a Purple Stone That Glows in the Sunlight. But This is No Ordinary Stone

by Ruskin Bond

What does it mean when a simple stone seems to glow with its own light?

The Atlantic · 2026-06-11

The Americans Shelling Out Five Figures for a Coat of Arms

by Helen Lewis

What does a centuries-old coat of arms say about a person today?