How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral
by Justin Elliott
How does a reporter find the truth when search engines begin to validate their own fictions?
0:00 / 8:05 · Narrator Rasalgethi
Daily edition
2026-07-03
Today's Crosscut
Reason and Radical Freedom
Ancient fragments point to a built-in compass for doing good, but true freedom might mean there is no map and every person must invent their own values from scratch.
Scientists Have Deciphered the Surviving Fragments of a 2,000-Year-Old Philosophical Treatise Frozen in Time by Mount Vesuvius' Eruption × The Anguish of Choice
0:00 / 36:24 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix
Future-gazing →
Behind the news →
Contriving Imaginary Gaps in Nuclear Deterrence
by Jay Tilden
Could the hunt for imaginary gaps in nuclear deterrence invite the very aggression it fears?
0:00 / 17:04 · Narrator Charon
Scientists Say They've Made Cells That Feed, Grow and Reproduce, Bringing Them One Step Closer to Building Life From Scratch
If a synthetic cell can eat and evolve, where does the chemistry end and life begin?
0:00 / 6:56 · Narrator Gacrux
Doodles, Boredom, and an Intervention on Palestine: Nehru’s Notes From the 1955 Bandung Conference
by Vineet Thakur
Can the idle scribbles in a Prime Minister’s notepad reveal a more intimate history of a world-shaping summit?
0:00 / 11:32 · Narrator Sulafat
Smart escape →
Chip Off the Old Block
by Scott Alexander
Could the daily friction of parenthood be settled by a feudal code of rights and duties?
0:00 / 20:49 · Narrator Algieba
The King of Soccer
by Fiifi Anaman
How did a brief visit from the world’s best footballer help a newly independent nation find its own game?
0:00 / 10:34 · Narrator Vindemiatrix