How military technology saved a veteran of a different kind of war. By Chas McCarty.

College should prepare students not only for a rich life but also for a meaningful death. By John Kaag and Clancy Martin.

It’s inconceivable to most people that this is it—there is no other, underlying condition. The headaches are the condition itself. By Anna Altman.

Two memorable nights in the life we shared reveal the private and public sides of the famous man. By Bill Hayes. (Aug. 26, 2016)

Lina Mounzer on the urgency of telling the stories of conflict.

Our son was born with dark, wet hair and a button nose. His eyes were closed, but the death certificate later said they were brown. By Georgina Blanchard.

Violence convulses the city after dark. Reporting on it leaves its own scars. By Peter Nickeas.

Lost for at least 19 days in the Maine wilderness, the 66-year-old hiker died as she had lived: with courage and with grace. By Kathryn Miles.

A low point, a bottle, a cat, a gun. By Kenneth R. Rosen. (March, 2016)

In Laredo, Texas, paramedics help everyone and don’t ask questions. By Abe Streep.

When an experienced physician became convinced he had ALS, none of the specialists he consulted could persuade him he was perfectly healthy. By Mert Erogul.

Fractures with Matthew Chuang

We never really talked, but the seeds he collected for me one summer said it all. By A. Hope Jahren.

Oddball singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is a man who knows how to mark milestones. Back in 2003, he staged a concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in honor of his own 50th birthday, and in so doing, created a time release milestone of sorts for his friend, actor Alan Rickman. By Ayun Halliday.

Andrew Levy’s parents knew that the rare and deadly cancer in his blood could not be beaten, so they began to prepare for the worst. Then something mysterious happened. By Melanie Thernstrom. (May 12, 2016)

A new law in New York State allows funeral parlors to serve light refreshments and nonalcoholic drinks, joining 46 other states that allow some eating and drinking during services. By Sarah Maslin Nir.

Sleeping next to a corpse, even that of a loved one, was a ritual I had long been dreading. Instead of bringing closure, it seemed a particularly cruel and gothic way to bring even more sorrow to a grieving family. By Shihoko Goto.

In Cleveland, Tamir Rice’s mother still grapples with grieving in private following her son’s public death. By Jordan Ritter Conn.

In the 18th century, medical students and the general public learned about the insides of the human body through a tool that to 21st-century eyes likely appears shocking or offensive. By Claire Voon.

Systemic prejudice always takes a toll, whether it be by bullet or by blood clot. By Clint Smith.