The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed. By Toni Morrison.

On May 12, hackers launched a “ransomware” cyberattack that would eventually infect 300,000 machines in 150 countries over a three-day period.

President Trump ignited a national discussion of blue-collar jobs. Truck driving, once a road to the middle class, is now low-paying, grinding, unhealthy work. We talked with drivers about why they do it. By “Trip Gabriel.

Here’s how a shrinking state is paving the future of building. By Leslie Nguyen-Okwu.

Clair Patterson determined the age of the Earth—and then he saved it. By Lucas Reilly.

A new book profiles people who have devoted their lives to protecting the world’s at-risk animals. By Colette Harris.

On March 24th, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet was joined by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station… By Andrew Liszewski.

In the highlands of Mexico, farmers harvest ant larvae that will end up in some of the nation’s most exclusive restaurants. By Marcela Zendejas and Mauricio Palos.

The Canadian electrical engineer Louis Michaud believes he has a world-changing, and potentially world-saving, idea: clean energy through tornado power. His singular pursuit is generally met with immediate skepticism, but Michaud understands that there will be naysayers until there are results… By Flora Lichtman, Katherine Wells.

Samuel Coster

Miners sift through hundreds of kilos of sand and clay, gathering roughly a quarter of a gram of gold dust. By Alex Wheeler.

How did we get from ‘Village Voice’ reporters digging up everything there is to know about a flashy New York real estate salesman to not knowing anything about the President of the United States and his ties to Russia? By Lee Smith.

Inside the complex legacy of the print shop at Colorado’s Camp Amache. By Cara Giaimo.

Unprecedented growth marked the era from 1948 to 1973. Economists might study it forever, but it can never be repeated. Why? By Marc Levinson.

“How did things get to be this way?” By Paul Kingsnorth.

Cpak Studio

Motherboard goes underground. By Derek Mead, Madison Margolin, Alex Pasternack.

From epic public works to affordable developments in the outer boroughs, 2016 was a banner year for New York City architecture. By Amy Plitt.

Piers Sellers, a British-born climate scientist and NASA astronaut who launched on three space shuttle missions, died on Friday (Dec. 23). He was 61. By Robert Z. Pearlman.

An audacious plan to create a new energy source could save the planet from catastrophe. But time is running out. By Raffi Khatchadourian. (Mar. 3, 2014)