Small delights

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?