We Can Be Heroes: How the Nerds Are Reinventing Pop Culture
Harry Potter–loving, TV-debating, fanfic-writing enthusiasts have emerged from the underground to dominate—and shape—the mainstream….
Backchannel
Kostya and Me: How Sam Patten Got Ensnared in Mueller’s Probe
A political consultant crosses paths with Konstantin Kilimnik, Paul Manafort, and Cambridge Analytica, then becomes part of the Russia investigation….
Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
Sexual harassment. Hate speech. Employee walkouts. The Silicon Valley giant is trapped in a war against itself. And there’s no end in sight….
The Weird, Dark History of 8chan and Its Founder Fredrick Brennan
Fredrick Brennan is appalled by the notorious chat site’s links to right-wing extremism and mass shootings. Inside his tortured journey through the web’s cesspool and his attempt at redemption….
How the West Got China’s Social Credit System Wrong
It occupies a spot next to ‘Black Mirror’ and Big Brother in popular imagination, but China’s social credit project is far more complicated than a single, all-powerful numerical score. …
How Scientists Built a ‘Living Drug’ to Beat Cancer
Researchers didn’t know if it would work, but they had little to lose when they tried a new drug known as a CAR-T—a living cell reprogrammed to recognize and kill leukemia—on a dying 6-year-old….
High Drama: Cannabis Biotech Firm Phylos Roils Small Growers
Science and technology are about to revolutionize cannabis, but longtime players fear they’ll get snuffed out in the process….
An Alien-Hunting Russian Tech Mogul May Help Solve a Space Mystery
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner has invested a fortune to help SETI find the source of cosmic flashes that emit the energy of 500 million suns….
When an Online Teaching Job Becomes a Window into Child Abuse
More than half a million Chinese kids take virtual English classes on VIPKid. What can the platform do to keep them safe in their own homes?…
Was Bitcoin Created by This International Drug Dealer? Maybe!
The search for Satoshi Nakamoto has led down many rabbit holes. I went down another: The case of global criminal mastermind Paul LeRoux….
The Hard-Luck Texas Town That Bet on Bitcoin—and Lost
China’s Bitmain said it would build the world’s largest bitcoin mine in Rockdale, Texas. Then the price of bitcoin plunged, taking with it the town’s hopes for a revival….
Inside Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Body-Hacking Gym
Dave Asprey of Bulletproof Coffee fame is sharing his high-tech workout secrets with the public at workout facilities called Upgrade Labs….
Fear, Misinformation, and Measles Spread in Brooklyn
Measles is back, health care workers are racing to contain it, and parents of vulnerable children are frantic. How a fever spread in a tight-knit community….
Apollo 11: Mission Out of Control
The inside story of how Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin struggled to touch down on the moon, while their guidance computer kept crashing. Again and again….
A Device to Detect ‘Aggression’ in Schools Often Misfires
Screams by high schoolers didn’t trigger the detector, but some coughs did. So did cheers for pizza….
One Boy’s Dream Vacation to Bauma, a Festival of Giant Construction Equipment
The author brought his 5-year-old son to the world’s largest building industry expo. “Hi, Dad,” he says from the seat of a hulking dump truck. “I’m ginormous!”…