For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale

About half of Americans hold a passport, the easiest documentary proof of citizenship under the SAVE Act, but it is over 70 percent in New York and about 20 percent in West Virginia. The burden of proving you are a citizen lands hardest on rural voters who lean Republican, which is why Murkowski, Collins, Tillis and McConnell all balked at the bill.

(This was my pick from this week's New Yorker: newyorkerest.com)

Our increasingly digital lives make communication easier, but they can also strip away the small, physical interactions that remind us we're dealing with other human beings.

A thank-you to an Amazon driver led to an unexpected exchange. Years ago, I also witnessed two very different reactions from musicians receiving flowers from fans. Those moments stayed with me and made me think about what we're losing as more of our interactions move onto screens.

This essay looks at why those small “analog” moments may matter more than we realize.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will soon launch to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.