The Best of Slate
20+ most popular Slate articles, as voted by our community.
A daily magazine on the web. Listen to Slow Burn: Roe v. Wade, @ApplePodcasts Show of the Year 2022.
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It Changed How We Get the Weather. Meteorologists Hated It. It’s About to Disappear Forever.
I accepted your imperfections. You gave me some perfect storms.
The Big Lie About Bike Helmets
Some cyclists refuse to wear helmets on principle. They have their reasons.
What Elon Musk Is Teaching Us About Billionaires
It’s all a game to him—but, actually, it’s also a game with no outcome that matters.
Not Another Teen Curfew
Cities have turned to an old standby to reduce crime. There's just one problem.
Apple Just Released the Dream Karaoke Machine. Is It Too Good to Be True?
I gathered my friends (and several cocktails) to find out.
Slate on Books
The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time
The most tearjerking, hilarious, satisfying, and shocking death scenes in 2,500 years of culture.
The 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years
It’s time to celebrate the writers who illuminate, investigate, and make sense of the world we live in.
Slate on Education
The Student Accommodation Problem No Professor Wants to Talk About
This has been the most controversial reporting topic in my journalistic career.
A.I. Could Be Great for College Essays
If one of my students handed in the text ChatGPT generated, they’d get an F.
Slate on Japan
How Japan Built Cities Where You Could Send Your Toddler on an Errand
The Netflix show Old Enough! offers a glimpse of an alternate reality.
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 Politics
The Terrible Truth So Many Experts Missed About Russia
Vladimir Putin didn’t always rule his country alone. Now he does, and the dictator appears to care little about the consequences of his actions.
Inside the Law School Meltdown the Supreme Court Has Unleashed
Professors have had enough.
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.
Slate on Running
Slate on TV
The 25 Most Important Characters of the Past 25 Years
The pop cultural figures who’ve changed our world, from movies, television, tweets, hip-hop musicals, and even books.
HBO Max’s Great Looney Tunes Purge
Hundreds of classic cartoons vanished without warning. How can you raise your kids on favorites you can’t access anymore?
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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.
The Fictional Future of Cyberpunk Is About to Come True
The real future may be more Amazon and less androids, but the dystopian power dynamics are hard to miss.
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.
A Powerful Idea About Our Brains Stormed Pop Culture and Captured Minds. It’s Mostly Bunk.
The strange history of a persistent myth.
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