The New Yorker
.jpg)
A Screaming Skull
More than 1.2 billion people suffer from migraine and other chronic headache conditions—a vast, involuntary community of people desperately hoping for new treatments, and sometimes struggling to be taken seriously, while waiting for their next attack. Jerome Groopman writes on the state of research and on his own debilitating pain.
Today’s Mix
Adam Friedland’s Comedy of Discomforts
His rendition of the talk show is innately subversive, at direct odds with the squeaky-clean, white-bread humor that is typical of its cable counterpart.
The Revenge of Millennial Cringe
The viral resurgence of the single “Home,” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, reflects a simultaneous disgust at and attraction to an era of unabashed sincerity.
What If A.I. Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?
GPT-5, a new release from OpenAI, is the latest product to suggest that progress on large language models has stalled.
Coming of Age in Panic Mode
Michael Clune follows up memoirs about drug addiction and computer games with “Pan,” a novel about a teen-ager with anxiety set in the nineties.
How an Ultra-Rare Disease Accelerates Aging
Teen-agers with progeria have effectively aged eight or nine decades. A cure could help change millions of lives—and shed light on why we grow old.
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
Can Democrats Fight Back Against Trump’s Redistricting Scheme?
Fleeing lawmakers in Texas are unlikely to stop Republicans from redrawing the state’s congressional maps, but their effort has offered a rallying cry—and a reminder of the Democratic Party’s weaknesses.
Can President Trump Run a Mile?
By reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, Trump is joining his predecessors in setting forth a competition that he would likely fail at.
The One Race That Eric Adams Is Winning
The Mayor is lagging far behind Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo in the polls, but on social media he’s killing it.
Nobody Wins on “Surrounded”
The viral YouTube debate show attempts to anthropomorphize the internet, turning incendiary discourse into live-action role-play.
What Happens to Public Media Now?
Republican-backed funding cuts go way beyond NPR and PBS. Radio and TV stations from Alaska to the Allegheny Mountains may never be the same.
The Latest Phase in Trump’s War on Data
When the facts don’t fit the President’s narrative, he asks for new ones, as evidenced by his recent firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner.
A Decisive Moment for Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
Public opinion is turning on the President’s policies, but it might not be enough to keep the country from entering a much darker phase.
The Number
I decided to tally up the Trump family’s profiteering off his office, including five Persian Gulf mega-projects, a luxury jet from Qatar, a sprawling resort in Hanoi, half a dozen projects peddling crypto, and MAGA merch.
The Critics
“Weapons,” “Harvest,” and the Shackles of the Horror Genre
Zach Cregger’s and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s films show different ways of working within a genre whose stories are preordained by a need to scare.
Hollywood’s Conservative Pivot
After the success of “Yellowstone” and “The Chosen,” the industry is chasing other red-state hits—an uneasy context for the revival of the Texas-set “King of the Hill.”
Ethel Cain’s Anti-Pop Stardom
Hayden Anhedönia’s Southern-gothic storytelling made her a sensation. But her new album, “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” underscores her unwillingness to be a celebrity.
The Futility of Simulating Nature
In “The Anthropocene Illusion,” the photographer Zed Nelson captures how the natural world has been reproduced, reshuffled, and repackaged, sold to visitors in the form of spectacle.
A Brooklyn Renter’s Odyssey
Emily Hunt Kivel’s kooky début novel, “Dwelling,” sends a listless graphic designer on a hero’s journey.
Sterling K. Brown’s Upstanding Archetype
In Hulu’s soapy “Washington Black,” about an early-nineteenth-century slave who escapes to Halifax, Brown rises above the material.
What We’re Reading
A biography of the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh that looks at his genius for slamming contexts together in ways that ironized fashion itself; an expansive, lightly metafictional novel about sisters haunted by an intergenerational curse; a memoir blended with reportage that tells the troubled history of Alabama; and more.
Our Columnists
Is the A.I. Boom Turning Into an A.I. Bubble?
As the stock prices of Big Tech companies continue to rise and eye-popping I.P.O.s reëmerge, echoes of the dot-com era are getting louder.
What Is Benjamin Netanyahu Really After?
Amos Harel, a defense analyst at Haaretz, on what’s behind Netanyahu’s push to reoccupy Gaza City, and how the Israeli Prime Minister has changed since the war began.
Our Age of Zombie Culture
Zombies are the least eloquent monster. But they have a lot to say about us.
Donald Trump, Master Builder of Castles in the Air
The Mar-a-Lago-fication of the White House may be the least bad part of the President’s legacy.
The Engines and Empires of New York City Gambling
As plans are laid for a new casino, one can trace, through four figures, a history of rivalry and excess, rife with collisions of character and crime.
Flash Fiction
A series of very short stories for the summer.
“The Grass at Airports”
In parks and gardens abundant in plants and flowers, the grass is nothing more than a backdrop.
“Double Time for Pat Hobby”
On the day that Pat met Jim Dasterson in the barrier, he had less than a dollar in one pocket and an ounce of gin in the other.
“Hot Spot”
He called. She answered. He was her only sibling. He’d paid to have someone deliver her citrus so that she could avoid scurvy.
“Dedication”
“After my father stopped breathing, God bless his memory, I covered his body up in blankets—and kept studying.”
“The Reality of Hope”
This short film by Joe Hunting follows a friendship in the V.R.-furry community which turns into a radical act of generosity.
Ideas
How to Live Forever and Get Rich Doing It
As researchers work to make death optional, investors see a chance for huge returns. But has the human body already reached its limits?
The Pain of Perfectionism
It’s the fault people humblebrag about in job interviews. but psychologists are discovering more and more about the real harm it causes.
Israel’s Zones of Denial
Amid national euphoria over the bombing of Iran—and the largely ignored devastation in Gaza—a question lurks: What is the country becoming?
What It’s Like to Brainstorm with a Bot
At the frontiers of knowledge, researchers are discovering that A.I. doesn’t just take prompts—it gives them, too, sparking new forms of creativity and collaboration.
ICE’s Spectacle of Intimidation
Immigrants showing up for court dates in Manhattan must now navigate past rows of masked federal agents.
There’s No Place at Home
A mother and her trans teen decided to leave the U.S. after Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors.
Puzzles & Games
Take a break and play.
