A list of good reads
- New Yorker looks at how the tiger really got his stripes—and what determines the patterns animals wear. Hint: we’re only just starting to figure it out.
- New York Times (splainer gift link) remembers the complex ruthlessness of writer Janet Malcolm, who understood the power of ‘not being nice’.
- Good Food Movement argues that the age-old techniques of preserving food in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district are at risk of fading away to history.
- In light of polar heritage sites melting and slipping into the sea due to climate change, The Guardian asks whether the island of Qikiqtaruk—located off the coast of Canada’s Yukon—can live forever online.
- Losing weight by taking Ozempic can cause your skin to sag—that’s why some users are spending at least $20,000 on a ‘body lift’ plastic surgery.
- BBC News has a lovely profile of Indian para athlete Rakshitha Raju—a visually impaired middle–distance runner.
- The beautiful game with breathtaking scenery—featuring plenty of cool photos, Financial Times (splainer gift link) captures the Gilgit-Baltistan Girls’ Football League, held in northern Pakistan’s remote Passu village.
- The Atlantic (splainer gift link) lifts the lid on the Murdoch family’s media empire from younger son James’ perspective—featuring mind games, sibling rivalry and war.
- Washington Post (splainer gift link) marks the 50th anniversary of ‘Saturday Night Live’ with a little history lesson—tracing how the rushed and imperfect work of brilliant, stressed-out comics formed a comedy bastion.
- This one’s for the space race nerds! Aeon has an essay on how the scientists of the 1960s turned the Moon—from a mysterious and powerful object, into a destination.
- You get your money for nothing and kill culture for free—Public Books explores the uneasy relationship between popular art and private equity firms today.
- Mongabay reports on Bahundangi—a village in Nepal located along its eastern border with India—that has learnt to live with migratory elephants, chaos and all.
