A list of good reads

• The Guardian has an excellent piece on “goblin mode”—as people around the world embrace being absolute slobs.
• The Bastion has a must-read deep dive into the environmental crisis created by Goa’s booming alcohol industry.
• The Economist offers a provocative solution to the debate over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports: Two categories called ‘open’ and ‘women’.
• This is not a happy read: National Geographic explains how pesticide is making cockroaches stronger and harder to kill.
• Also in the National Geographic: A very interesting read on the controversial quest to develop an “infectious” vaccine that will spread among wildlife—and prevent viruses from jumping to humans.
• Two good weekend reads in Mint Lounge: One, the real reasons behind the rise of plus-size dating apps. Two, Indian embroidery and textile houses which are having a huge global moment.
• El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as its national currency. RestOfWorld looks at why the audacious gamble has failed.
• The Verge offers a heads up on Netflix’s latest crackdown on password sharing—and why it is serious this time around.
• Everyone is talking about Apple TV’s ambitious, multi-generational and multilingual saga ‘Pachinko’. TIME looks at how it was made.
• Deutsche Welle reports on how Indian villagers are embracing tech solutions to find humane ways to keep elephants and monkeys away.
• Inc looks at Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s remedy for stress: non-sleep deep-rest (NSDR) podcasts. This recent Business Insider guide has more details on NSDR.
• Inverse looks at the long and often controversial search for the origins of genius in the remains of Albert Einstein’s brain—which he donated to science.
• Scroll has the untold story of Bengal’s love affair with the palm candy Dulaler Taalmichhri.
• Also in Scroll: the bleak future of India’s oldest classical magazine ‘Sangeet’.
• CNN Traveler looks at whether home-swapping is the next big travel trend.