The MATTER Archive
Here’s where you can find our greatest hits
We’re in the process of moving our back catalog to Medium. Some of the stories haven’t made it yet, so if you see a missing link, assume the story is in transit. They’ll all be here soon!
The Silencing of the Deaf
Sujata Gupta
How high-tech implants are being blamed for killing an entire subculture.
Published: April 2014
Reading time: 31 mins
When the Rivers Run Black
Rachel Cernansky
America’s largest industrial accident tore apart the town of Kingston, Tennessee. Five years later, has the industry learned anything?
Published: March 2014
Reading time: 21 mins
The itch nobody can scratch
Will Storr
This disease plagues thousands, but experts are in conflict over its origins, and whether it even exists.
Published: March 2014
Reading time: 30 mins
The man who destroyed America’s ego
Will Storr
A rebel psychologist challenges one of the 20th century’s biggest—and most dangerous—ideas
Published: February 2014
Reading time: 24 mins
Is the Internet good or bad? Yes.
Zeynep Tufekci
It’s time to rethink our nightmares about surveillance.
Published: February 2014
Reading time: 22 mins
What started the biggest population boom in history?
Alan Weisman
How Iran’s explosive expansion warns us about our overpopulated future —and shows us how to fix it.
Published: February 2014
Reading time: 35 minutes
Untested. Unregulated. Unsafe?
Andres Grippo
Chinese clinics are touting “miracle” stem cell cures—and they’re making millions off sick children.
Published: January 2014
Reading time: 18 minutes
The Boy Whose Brain Could Unlock Autism
Maia Szalavitz
Autism changed Henry Markram’s family. Now his Intense World theory could transform our understanding of the condition.
The Dream Catcher
Dorian Rolston
The researcher who pioneered the study of lucid dreaming faces a future in academic exile. Why?
Uncontrolled Substances
Mike Power
Forty years into the war on drugs, getting your own narcotics made to order is not only easier than ever—it can be totally legal, too. How do we know? Because we did it.
Uprooted
Virginia Hughes
Cheryl never felt at home when she was a child, but couldn’t understand why. Then science gave her an answer: A DNA test revealed that the man she called daddy was not her biological father.
Ring of Steel
James Bridle
How the secretive spread of networked surveillance helped turn Britain into one of the world’s most watched countries.
In the Name of the King
Jo Marchant
Many would like to probe Tutankhamun’s past, but it’s not just curiosity that drives them. The boy-king is one of the most famous faces in the world, and everyone from the Mormons to the Muslim Brotherhood wants to claim a piece of his DNA.
The Charisma Coach
Teresa Chin
Silicon Valley’s most powerful people are engineers—and faced with the need for magnetic personalities, they’re turning to a coach who says she can make them more likeable. Is there truly a way to hack charisma?
Bad Blood
Will Storr
The poisoning of Litvinenko was meant to be the perfect murder—but his assassins left a trail of evidence that led scientists straight to their door.
The Ghost in the Cell
Scott C. Johnson
How do violence and crime become ingrained in communities? Scientists now believe that trauma can leave a genetic fingerprint that passes down through the generations.
Uprising
Phil McKenna
Bob Ackley spent his life working for some of America’s biggest gas companies. Now he’s blowing the whistle on a scandal that could turn energy policy on its head.
Electric Shock
Cynthia Graber
The goals of regenerative medicine often feel like an impossibility. But biologist Michael Levin thinks an astonishing breakthrough may be within reach.
Do No Harm
Anil Ananthaswamy
For some people, the desire to rid themselves of a limb is a very real illness. Follow one sufferer as he turns his disturbing desires into reality.
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