Author: Michelle Korhonen
Pope Francis distributes sweets to children during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican on January 3, 2024. Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty images hide caption toggle caption Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty images Pope Francis distributes sweets to children during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican on January 3, 2024. Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty images Earlier this week, Pope Francis called for a worldwide ban on surrogacy, claiming that the practice, which helps individuals and couples have children, exploits the women who carry them. “I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate…
The Great Resignation is in the rearview mirror. What was it all about, anyway?Jake Warga / GettyJanuary 9, 2024, 6:32 PM ETThe “Great Resignation” is solidly in the rearview mirror. Why were so many people quitting, anyway?First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:Staying PutAfter a stretch of runaway quitting over the past few years—you might’ve heard it dubbed the “Great Resignation”—American workers are largely staying put. In July, the rates of American workers quitting their jobs normalized to about where they were before the pandemic. New data from the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey show…
Tuyishimire Primitiva, phlebotomist with the American Red Cross, draws whole blood from Teresa McLeland at the American Red Cross on April 12, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Swensen/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Michael Swensen/Getty Images Tuyishimire Primitiva, phlebotomist with the American Red Cross, draws whole blood from Teresa McLeland at the American Red Cross on April 12, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Swensen/Getty Images The American Red Cross announced that it is experiencing the lowest number of people giving blood in the last 20 years, in what the organization says is an emergency shortage. In all, the Red Cross…
Pressed in court, they made an argument that would destroy nearly all limitations on presidential power.Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Anna Moneymaker / Getty; Getty.January 9, 2024, 3:58 PM ETDonald Trump has always displayed authoritarian impulses, but the Trump who is running for president now is not the same as the Trump who ran in 2016. He is more ruthless, more dangerous, and more authoritarian than before. And today in a federal court in Washington, D.C., with Trump present, his attorneys offered perhaps the boldest assertion of power that any major American candidate has ever made.In a hearing before the…
Veronica and Roger. Roger Lynn hide caption toggle caption Roger Lynn Veronica and Roger. Roger Lynn This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. In February 2010, Roger Lynn’s wife Veronica was admitted to hospital. She had stage four breast cancer, which had metastasized to her abdomen and bones. The diagnosis was grim and the surroundings in the hospital only made things more difficult. “Her room was at the far end of the surgical floor, and felt like a…
Every year since 1989, a hotel built out of snow and ice is constructed anew, and welcomes guests in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi. This year’s edition, Icehotel 34, recently opened, displaying new themes for its rooms and many new ice sculptures. Icehotel is both an art exhibition and a functional hotel—and this year features more than a dozen art suites, a main hall, and a ceremony hall. Gathered below are photographs of this year’s version, and of several incarnations from previous years.
Annie Liontas is a professor of writing at George Washington University. Their previous book is Let Me Explain You. Simon & Schuster hide caption toggle caption Simon & Schuster Annie Liontas is a professor of writing at George Washington University. Their previous book is Let Me Explain You. Simon & Schuster When Annie Liontas was 35, they got into a bike accident while riding without a helmet. They hadn’t broken any bones, and there wasn’t sign of significant blood loss, but something wasn’t right. Liontas, who identifies as genderqueer, and uses they/them pronouns, remembers calling a friend and not really…
“Why are these books here?” asks Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, the writer protagonist of the film American Fiction, as he points to four novels stacked neatly on the shelf of a chain bookstore. The name Ellison sticks out from their spines.Monk wants to know why his Greek-tragedy-inspired novels are housed not in “Mythology” but in the “African American Studies” section. A bookstore employee offers the obvious explanation: “I would imagine that this author, Ellison, is … Black.” He has the decency to stammer the response, but this does little to alleviate Monk’s fury. “That’s me, Ellison. He is me, and he…
For patients with long COVID, exercise can lead to a worsening of symptoms, a condition called post-exertional malaise. New research shows what’s going on in their muscles. Erik Isakson/Getty Images/Tetra images RF hide caption toggle caption Erik Isakson/Getty Images/Tetra images RF For patients with long COVID, exercise can lead to a worsening of symptoms, a condition called post-exertional malaise. New research shows what’s going on in their muscles. Erik Isakson/Getty Images/Tetra images RF Hit the gym. Get back in shape. That’s what many patients with long COVID are told when they talk of the crushing fatigue that envelops them after…
Israel’s assassination of the Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri by drone strike in Beirut on January 2 suggests that the Israel-Hamas war could still easily spill over into a regional conflict or launch a string of assassinations that drag in third-party states. What happens next will depend in part on just how unique a figure al-Arouri really was in the estimation of his Israeli adversaries, and on whether his death will prove to be an inflection point between Israel and Hezbollah.Most of the Hamas political leaders in exile are based in the Qatari capital of Doha, where they have essentially become…