The Best of Slate
20+ most popular Slate articles, as voted by our community.
A daily magazine on the web. Subscribe to Slow Burn Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas—out now.
Paywall possible
Trending
These are currently making the rounds on Refind.
Why Your Child Can’t Answer This One Totally Basic Question
Finally! Proof that kindergartners really do live in an alternate universe.
Scrabble’s New Official Word List Contains Dozens of Stunning Additions. Elite Players Are Mortified.
The slurs are just the beginning.
I Design Corn Mazes for a Living. Here’s the One That Really Keeps Me Up at Night.
Enjoy getting lost in a corn maze this fall? This guy did his job right.
If We’re Addicted to Technology, What’s the Cure?
Humans always seem to find a way to defeat the cages we build for ourselves.
Slate on Digital Life
The Internet Thinks We Don’t Know Its Secret. But I Do.
I think I know what's happening.
Slate on Elon Musk
Why Elon Musk Can’t Stop Himself From Posting Antisemitic Tweets
He wants to share what he thinks—and what he thinks is radioactive.
It Is Very Clear What Elon Musk Wants to Happen to Twitter Now
Maybe he can’t help himself. Or maybe he’s endorsing antisemitic smears and cursing out advertisers for a reason.
Slate on Health
The Great Alcohol Health Flip-Flop Isn’t That Hard to Understand—if You Know Who Was Behind It
More than 30 years ago, the "French paradox" got America bleary-eyed.
What Happens When You Die? Unlike Most People, I Know. I Even Have Video.
I was morbidly thrilled: I had lived long enough to watch myself die.
Slate on Marathon
Long-distance running and evolution: Why humans can outrun horses but can’t jump higher than cats.
At first glance the annual Man vs. Horse Marathon, set for June 9 in Wales, seems like a joke sport brought to us by the same brilliant minds behind dw ...
Slate on Mobility
Paris Pulled Off the Dream of Many City Dwellers Around the World. It’s Been Thrilling—and Complicated.
To twist a French idiom, now it’s vélo, boulot, dodo—bike, work, sleep.
The Big Lie About Bike Helmets
Some cyclists refuse to wear helmets on principle. They have their reasons.
«Notably, Walker discovered, motorists and commercial truck drivers in particular afforded less space—not more—to helmeted cyclists.»
Slate on Religion
A Religious Fable That Confounded Scholars for Millennia Finally Makes Sense Right Now
The story is perfect for our harrowing times. But we’ve been reading it all wrong.
Listen, You’re Gonna Want to Hear About This Nun Drama in Texas
A bitter feud over sex, drugs, and power has gone all the way up to the Vatican.
Slate on Running
The Deranged Scene at a 24-Hour Nonstop Marathon That Takes Place on One Tiny, Maddening Track
At the Dawn to Dusk to Dawn race, it's not about who wins. It's about who survives.
Slate on Tesla
When I First Saw Elon Musk for Who He Really Is
At a charging station. In the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by cows.
Slate on Tiktok
I’m the TikTok Couch Guy. Here’s What It Was Like Being Investigated on the Internet.
The invasive TikTok sleuthing I experienced was not an isolated instance, but rather the latest manifestation of a large-scale sleuthing culture.
Slate on TV
The 40 Greatest Stand-Alone TV Episodes of All Time
From classic bottle episodes to daring formal experiments, these are the best installments of television that stand up entirely on their own.
Popular
These are some all-time favorites with Refind users.
The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time
The most tearjerking, hilarious, satisfying, and shocking death scenes in 2,500 years of culture.
The Single Most Important Thing to Know About Financial Aid: It’s a Sham
Colleges claim to award scholarships based on merit or need. In reality, they’re just charging the most they think families will pay.
Which Tech Company Is Really the Most Evil?
The 30 most dangerous corporations in the industry, ranked by the people who know.
Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide
From New York to Los Angeles, police officers escalated the national outrest.
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. is one of more than 10k sources we monitor.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets the most relevant links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, mark as read, read later, «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
400k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.