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All longform pieces posted on The Slow Scroll

The Languages Lost to Climate Change
NOEMA28 Jan 2025 • ~4350 words

Climate catastrophes and biodiversity loss are endangering languages across the globe.

The Deadly Secrets Behind “Breakthrough” Alzheimer’s Drugs
The Lever28 Jan 2025 • ~6250 words

Regulators approved controversial therapies amid excess deaths, questionable efficacy, and conflicts of interest.

Big Battle on the Little Wichita
Texas Monthly28 Jan 2025 • ~2550 words

A North Texas city wants to build a new reservoir to blunt the effect of future droughts. But many local ranchers say it would destroy their way of life.

The rise of plant poaching: how a craze for succulents is driving a new illegal trade
Financial Times25 Jan 2025 • ~5100 words

Plant poaching for rare succulents, especially conos, has become a booming illegal trade in South Africa, driven by high demand from collectors. Monica Mark’s narrative unfolds through a local shopkeeper, highlighting the human stories intertwined with environmental destruction a...

The Case for Kicking the Stone
Los Angeles Review of Books28 Jan 2025 • ~2600 words

Philip Ball finds Nicholas Carr’s “Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart” disturbingly compelling.

Are You Lonely? Adopt a New Family on Facebook Today
WIRED27 Jan 2025 • ~4950 words

A goat farmer in rural Minnesota, estranged from her biological children, finds new purpose as a surrogate grandparent.

An L.L. Bean Heiress Suspected Neighbors of Poisoning Her Trees. What Happened Next Roiled Camden, Maine
Vanity Fair27 Jan 2025 • ~6000 words

When Lisa Gorman noticed that a grove of her majestic oaks had died, she cast her suspicions on seasonal neighbors who wanted a better view of the harbor. The fight that ensued became a town drama that rages on to this day.

The Mountain West’s Mega-McMansion Problem
The Nation27 Jan 2025 • ~4650 words

The rich have turned the region into “ultra-exclusive enclaves,” creating hazardous living conditions for everyone else.

What Happened When America Emptied Its Youth Prisons
New York Times28 Jan 2025 • ~6200 words

Lessons from a radical 20-year experiment and a quiet triumph of public policy.

How Fanum Built an Empire Streaming Much More Than Video Games
GQ27 Jan 2025 • ~4150 words

He got big streaming videos of his gaming exploits. He got huge (like, millions-of-fans huge) streaming videos of his offline life. Now, one of Gen Z’s wildest success stories explains his plans to revolutionize the rest of the media landscape.