Birds do it. Bees do it. Learning about the astounding navigational feats of wild creatures can teach us a lot about where we’re going.

A giant earthquake is coming to the Northwest. Unfortunately, no one knows when.

A major black novelist made a remarkable début. How did he disappear?

On the relative plausibility of impossible beings.

The greatest writers of the nineteenth century were drawn to the North Pole. What did they hope to find there?

Reflections on two seasons of loss.

Behind a Muslim community in northern Wyoming — and 20 percent of all Muslims in the state — lies one very enterprising man.

The real Henry David Thoreau.

The allure of invisibility.

On Cheryl Strayed and why Wild became a hit.

On Norman Maclean’s Young Men and Fire and its lingering effects on our collective imagination and environment.

On Twitter’s pleasures and perils.