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Some Medical Mysteries Have No Answers
Some Medical
Mysteries Have
No Answers
longform
Jul 21, 2024 4:45 PM CDT

Some Medical Mysteries Have No Answers

Tom Scocca writes about the year his body 'fell apart'

(Newser) - One week after turning 52, Tom Scocca fell while trying to catch a train at a New York City subway station, his legs having simply given out, he explains in an essay at New York . Soon he was experiencing a number of mysterious symptoms: tingling and numbness in his extremities,...

After 'Miracle on the Hudson,' These Bird Detectives Got the Call

When birds collide with planes, Smithsonian forensic ornithologists help decide what happens next

(Newser) - One of the most high profile cases of an airplane colliding with a bird in the air was 2009's Miracle on the Hudson , when pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger safely landed a passenger plane in the river after Canada geese flew into both its engines. The story was a...

What It's Like to Fall 14K Feet and Live
What It's Like to
Fall 14K Feet
and Live
longform
Jul 21, 2024 6:50 AM CDT

What It's Like to Fall 14K Feet and Live

'The girl who fell from the sky' tells her story

(Newser) - In June 2013, Emma Carey and her lifelong best friend, Jemma Mrdak, were 20-year-olds traveling through Europe after graduating from their Australian high school. Part of the experience was tandem skydiving in Switzerland, jumping out of a helicopter 14,000 feet up with skydiving instructors strapped to their backs. Jemma'...

His Obsession With Collecting Turned Into a Quest for Justice

The New York Times has the fascinating story of art forger and his client

(Newser) - "Oh my God, I hit the mother lode." That's what Doug Arbittier recalls thinking in 2013 when he saw an exquisitely carved antique woodblock on eBay, writes Christopher Kuo for the New York Times . The item featured an anatomical model of a human thorax and abdomen and...

The Rise of the Unregulated Home Health Test
The Rise of the
Unregulated
Home Health Test
longform
Jul 20, 2024 5:00 PM CDT

The Rise of the Unregulated Home Health Test

More people are turning to them if doctors aren't giving them answers

(Newser) - From babies with mysterious gastrointestinal issues to adults with unexplained chronic pain, an increasing number of people are turning to unregulated home health tests for answers they're not getting from doctors. The Washington Post delves into the phenomenon with the story of Annika Sharma, who, at 6 months old,...

This Is a $150K Dog
He's a Very Good Boy.
He'll Also Cost You $150K
longform
Jul 20, 2024 9:31 AM CDT

He's a Very Good Boy. He'll Also Cost You $150K

New York magazine on why some are shelling out the eye-popping sum for Svalinn dogs

(Newser) - They are handsome dogs, for sure. But $150,000? New York magazine explores the bewildering price tag for these dogs bred in Montana by a company called Svalinn . As it turns out, plenty of people with deep pockets are willing to pay the sum, and the animals have become a...

'The State Got This Wrong,' Says DA. It May Not Matter

ProPublica explores the case of an iffy conviction over shaken baby syndrome

(Newser) - Russell Maze was sentenced to life in prison in Tennessee in 2004 after his newborn son died. At the time, prosecutors in Nashville proved their case of shaken baby syndrome, with doctors testifying that the infant surely died from abuse. Since then, a "growing body of research has demonstrated...

'This Generation's Oprah' Looks to Expand Her Monopoly

WSJ looks at Alex Cooper's new media company and the brands watching her influence

(Newser) - With an average of 10 million listeners per episode, the Call Her Daddy podcast is a blockbuster in the space, bringing in $60 million over a three-year deal with Spotify. Host Alex Cooper, who's 29, is expanding her horizons to capitalize on the influence and attention she has over...

Meet the '80s Pay Phone Bandit Who Eluded the FBI for Years

Pay phone lockboxes were designed to be impenetrable—until James Clark entered the scene

(Newser) - Once upon a time, long before the days of smart phones, pay phones were the most convenient way to reach someone when you were on the go. Jake Rossen delves into a true crime story for Mental Floss centered on these relics from the past, and an anti-hero of sorts...

Her Dad Was Losing Memory, So They Took Literal Trip Down Memory Lane

Francesca Mari reflects on how reminiscence therapy factored in during a big trip with her father

(Newser) - When Francesca Mari decided to take a European trip with her aging dad, it wasn't just fun that she was hoping for. Writing for the New York Times , Mari expands on her father's Alzheimer's and how, as dementia started to steal his memories, she hit upon an...

Inside the Kennedy Scramble to Manage the RFK Jr. Crisis

As a rogue Kennedy threatens the family legacy, Vanity Fair questions how far their loyalty will go

(Newser) - With roots in elected office dating back to the 1800s, the Kennedys have long been called American royalty. Despite scandal and tragedy following the family over generations—so much so, a supposed family curse shrouds their mystique—the powerful reputation that comes with the name has remained. Writing at Vanity ...

We Still Haven't Solved the Space Poop Problem
We Still Haven't Solved
the Space Poop Problem
longform
Jul 7, 2024 2:25 PM CDT

We Still Haven't Solved the Space Poop Problem

Wired digs into the surprisingly challenging issue as moon expeditions intensify

(Newser) - Neil Armstrong left more than his footprints on the moon. As Becky Ferreira writes in Wired , he and his fellow Apollo astronauts also left nearly 100 bags of poop up there over various missions, where they remain to this day. For one thing, this raises the prospect of humans contaminating...

The Search for Cult 'Witches' Who Disappeared in 1998

Alta's Geoffrey Gray goes on the hunt for the followers of Carlos Casteneda

(Newser) - The story starts off in a typical fashion: a cult leader gains notoriety and wealth, purchases a compound, and fills it with disciples, primarily young women, who serve as his sexual subordinates. But in reporter Geoffrey Gray's twisty examination in Alta of Carlos Castaneda and his sect of devoted...

Among the Biggest Celebrities, This Doctor Is a Celebrity

New Yorker profiles renowned orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache

(Newser) - The biggest names in sports and the biggest names in Hollywood appear to have anointed one orthopedic surgeon the biggest name in medicine. As an entertaining profile in the New Yorker explains, that would be Dr. Neal ElAttrache of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. "Most surgeons are...

Finding on SEAL Suicides Didn't Make It to Navy Chiefs: Report

Brain damage from blasts, often from firing their own weapons, was found in dead servicemen

(Newser) - At least a dozen Navy SEALs took their own lives over the past decade, while still on active duty or soon after leaving the military. The brains of eight of those troops were analyzed in a lab, and every one fit the same mold: They were all found to have...

Car Dealer's Sordid Case a 'Gruesome Show of Machismo'

Texas Monthly digs into a murder-for-hire case involving once-prominent Austin businessman Erik Maund

(Newser) - It could have gone so many different ways, write Katy Vine and Ana Worrel for Texas Monthly . Instead, two people are dead and four others have been convicted in their murders, including a prominent car dealer in Austin . The story the journalists unwind is one that devolves into a "...

For Debut Authors, Busting Out Is Harder Than Ever

Esquire's Kate Dwyer looks at media's changing landscape for authors

(Newser) - Kate Dwyer at Esquire argues that today's media landscape has made captivating an audience near impossible for debut authors. And given the importance of a first book to landing subsequent deals, this can leave many talented writers' careers dead in the water. "Getting the review on the cover...

It Takes Three Dogs to Make a Clone
It Takes
Three Dogs
to Make
a Clone
longform
Jun 30, 2024 10:40 AM CDT

It Takes Three Dogs to Make a Clone

New Yorker explores the ethical questions involved with cloning a beloved pet

(Newser) - The question posed in the headline is straightforward enough: "Would you clone your dog?" Arriving at an answer, however, is far less straightforward. In the New Yorker , scientist Alexandra Horowitz explores not just the logistics of the cloning process but the bigger-picture questions involved. In the US, ViaGen is...

'Unfailingly Polite' Dad of 16 Tried to Hire a Hit Man
Evangelical Father of 16
Busted in Hit Man Hire
longform
Jun 30, 2024 9:03 AM CDT

Evangelical Father of 16 Busted in Hit Man Hire

New York magazine digs into the unexpected charges against Christopher Pence of Utah

(Newser) - Earlier this year, federal authorities announced that a 43-year-old Utah man had been sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to hire a hit man online. What makes the case especially unusual are the particulars about Christopher Pence and his motives, as laid out in detail in New York ...

What Happens When a Spouse Undergoes a Gender Transition

The AP looks at marriages that have survived such a change

(Newser) - Marissa Lasoff-Santos and the person she would marry quickly fell head over heels in love. Lasoff-Santos was a gay woman. Her girlfriend was a bisexual woman—or so they thought. Now her partner has become her husband, and they both identify as queer. And things are better than ever. "...

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