Longform Best of 2012

Animal nature, human racism, and the future of zoos.

Vegetables are "blue" in Japanese and other observations on the uneasy relationship between color and language.

Part 1 • Part 2

On being the parent of a micro preemie.

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Ashlyn Blocker, 13, has a “congenital insensitivity to pain.”

A profile of Taylor Wilson, who achieved nuclear fusion at age 14.