"Miranda’s twins were developing without proper lungs, or stomachs, and with only one kidney for the two of them. They would not survive outside her body. But they still had heartbeats. And so the state would protect them."
"The brain does not monitor itself for truth; once encoded, a memory is simply there, no matter how false it is, and a false memory can be as vivid, detailed, and laden with emotion as any other."
"He is one of thousands of commercial migratory beekeepers in the United States. They are the phantom backbone of our agricultural system: The bees pollinate the crops; the beekeepers shuttle them from field to field, coast to coast." —Lex Pryor for The Ringer
NEW: Nigeria has reduced its gas flaring by a third since 2019. But that is a function of reduced oil production levels, not of any regulatory success.
Ekpali Saint speaks to Niger Delta residents who are bearing the brunt of environmental health impacts:
"All waiters have their secret arsenal of stale humor to deploy when they need to butter up the crowd. As the caramel sauce begins to bubble, I pour the rum over it, gently tipping the rim of the saute pan forward to allow the fire to contact the liquid. Flames shoot skyward, casting a soft, amber glow around the table."
"The toll of traumatic brain injuries and the mystery of how the brain repairs itself, or doesn’t, is still perplexing and under-researched." —Kelly Barnhill for New York Times
"Romeo approaches the electrified fence, lovestruck. What light through yonder fence breaks? It is the east, and Carolyn and Kyle Carr are the sun." —Lauren Larson for Texas Monthly
"It’s true that many of Clark’s actions defy logic. In key ways, he never fit the mold of a classic con man."
For 5280 magazine, Chris Walker writes about a scam artist who fooled Colorado's business and tech community—and, it turns out, many other businesses and people in the past.
At the end of 1973, Joni "Mitchell fired her opening shot. 'Raised on Robbery' was released as the lead single to Court and Spark. 'Robbery' is a rollicking homage to ’50s rock and roll. It’s what it might sound like if Ella Fitzgerald did uppers and covered “Johnny B. Goode.” —KC Hoard for The Walrus
"Mirrored glass abutted a few scrawny trees outside the building, creating a faux, fatal forest: an optical illusion perfectly designed to slaughter birds."
"Guidry asked him to estimate how many turtles weighing more than one hundred pounds he had caught in Toledo Bend. Without hesitation, Colo answered 'five hundred.'"
"His mum worries about how dangerous it is for Potts to take strangers into his home, some of whom have serious issues. But she can see how it gives him a level of stability and purpose that seemed impossible a few years ago." —Samira Shackle for The Guardian.
"The reason websites continue to load, bank transfers go through, and civilization persists is because of the thousand or so people living aboard 20-some ships stationed around the world, who race to fix each cable as soon as it breaks."
"UHS facilities admitted patients who didn’t need to be there to begin with, failed to provide adequate treatment and staffing, billed insurance for unnecessary services over excessive lengths of time, and improperly used physical and chemical restraints and isolation."
"But a few months in, his supervisor started calling him 'boy.' Keys heard white coworkers use the N-word and call people 'monkey.' There was a swastika drawn with a black marker near where he clocked in to work every day."