Land-use regulations and development patterns are key drivers of the housing crisis across the United States, giving local government too much power and enabling NIMBY’s worst impulses. But, as Jerusalem Demsas reports, Colorado has an ingenious plan to fix that.

Exploring the American idea through ambitious, essential reporting and storytelling. Of no party or clique since 1857.

The Atlantic

Colorado's ingenious idea for solving the housing crisis

Long before Stephanie H. Murray had any children, she worried about how her eating disorder could affect them. Here, she reflects on her experience of motherhood and how her daughter helped her view her body through a different lens.

Raising a daughter with a body like mine

Content creator Jenn Im has taken to posting about the harms of social media on social media, creating a new kind of “meta-content.” And she’s not alone. Katherine Hu explores how even influencers are questioning the foundations of their content.

Even influencers are scared of the internet

Experts have debated the potential risks of artificial intelligence for years. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt discuss the dangers of AI and social media - especially for young adults - and suggest five reforms to help people trust online content.

AI is about to make social media (much) more toxic

Having been the subject of books, podcasts, documentary films, and a TV miniseries, Elizabeth Holmes is in the news again. Benjamin Mazer discusses arguments that recent media coverage has helped the Theranos founder rehabilitate her image - but she still isn't fooling anyone.

Elizabeth Holmes isn't fooling anyone 

Bamboo baby clothes are the latest hit trend for mums. But they aren’t always what they seem. Sarah Zhang reflects on her experience as a new mum and how she fell for the soft, stretchy and breathable magic of so-called bamboo fabrics.

How I got bamboo-zled by baby clothes

Something strange sometimes happens once you have kids - you can start to morph into your parents. From enacting physical tics to adopting whole new attitudes, Faith Hill explores the concept of social learning and how your childhood plays a role in your parenting style.

The parenting prophecy

For the sake of your well-being, it generally pays to be kind. Arthur C. Brooks brings three simple strategies to break the negative feedback cycle on your journey to happiness.

Make yourself happy: be kind 

Like many powerful women in antiquity, little is known about the life of Cleopatra Selene - daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Classicist Mary Beard discusses the perils of searching for feminist heroes in the ancient past through what remains of Selene's legacy, from princess to prisoner to African queen.

Who was Cleopatra's daughter?

The real problem with space is that there’s not enough - especially when it comes to habitable planets. With the space industry seeing a flurry of investment and Mars gaining attention as ground zero, Adam Frank explains the science behind the fiction. 

How to build Manhattan in space

Jeff Carpoff was once a small-town auto mechanic peddling what seemed to be a solar-energy breakthrough. So how did he swindle Wall Street investors, the U.S. Treasury, and even Warren Buffett out of $1 billion dollars? Ariel Sabar brings you this extraordinary story.

The billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that hooked Warren Buffet & the U.S. Treasury

Why is watching human beings attempt to master the Alaskan backcountry so compelling? James Parker discusses Outlast and other recent survival shows from the American frontier and the overwhelming indifference of nature.

Call of the wild 

Should people be able to choose when and how they die? In 2016 Canada legalized assisted suicide - and exposed the limits of liberalism. Here, David Brooks argues that many good ideas can turn bad when taken to their extreme and, in a moral society, certain choices should remain off-limits.

The Canadian way of death

Tom Hanks is releasing his debut novel. In this interview with Chris Heath, the award-winning actor and now novelist, reflects on how he reached Hollywood stardom and the other lives he might have lived instead.

The making of Tom Hanks

No technology since the atomic bomb has inspired apocalyptic imagination like artificial intelligence. Yet, with the world’s major military powers already beginning to race AI into warfare, Ross Andersen warns that we must be wary of the automation of Armageddon.

Never give artificial intelligence the nuclear codes

Putin's war in Ukraine has profound significance, not just for democracy but for liberty, entrepreneurship and civil rights. Russia must be expelled from all occupied territories, argue Anne Applebaum and Jeffrey Goldberg, but how and at what cost? Discover President Volodymyr Zelensky's plans for total victory in this interview conducted on Ukraine's frontlines.

The counteroffensive

The rise of artificial intelligence is making some people in Silicon Valley very, very rich. But, they are hardly the only ones who helped create tools such as ChatGPT, reports Wendy Liu.

AI is exposing who really has power in Silicon Valley

For a long time, Xochitl Gonzalez felt that by rejecting exercise, she was "rejecting an idealized and impossible body image". Here she reflects on her approach to working out and mental health against the backdrop of the body-positivity movement.

In the age of Ozempic, what’s the point of working out?

Artist Johannes Vermeer left behind very few clues about his life or intentions - apart from his art. While it’s difficult to say what he had in mind when he made them, Susan Tallman explains how his paintings teach the viewer new ways to see the world around them.

How to look at a Vermeer

He's been Mr Universe, the Terminator, and the Governor of California. Now, Arnold Schwarzenegger is contemplating his final act. Mark Leibovich meets with the beloved actor to discover what the future holds.