Author: Michelle Korhonen

A mermaid takes the annual polar bear plunge at Brooklyn’s Coney Island beach last year. More people are cold plunging on a regular basis for health benefits, but hype outpaces research for now. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images A mermaid takes the annual polar bear plunge at Brooklyn’s Coney Island beach last year. More people are cold plunging on a regular basis for health benefits, but hype outpaces research for now. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images Your body’s first reaction to a plunge in chilly water is the “cold shock” response.…

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Rock and roll is full of legends who should retire. But some bands know how to get back onstage without making fools of themselves—or of their fans.First, here are three Sunday reads from The Atlantic:Hello, ClevelandSometimes I write something that needs a wee bit of qualification. (Translation: I am going to rationalize breaking one of my own rules.) Last year, I applauded rock artists who…

NPR’s Rob Schmitz speaks with Julie Martin of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation about the three-decade-old tradition of January 1 “First Day Hikes.”

Chien-Chi Chang / MagnumDecember 31, 2023, 8 AM ETBecause if you can survivethe violet night, you can survivethe next, and the fig tree will achewith sweetness for you in sunlight that arrivesfirst at your window, quietly pawingeven when you can’t stand it,and you’ll heavy the whining floorboardsof the house you filled with animalsas hurt and lost as you, and the bearded irises will formfully in their roots, their golden manesswaying with the want of spring—live, live, live, live!—one day you’ll put your hands in the earthand understand an afterlife isn’t promised,but the spray of scorpion grass keeps growing,and the dogs…

Ten-month-old Ahmin Esas, who was born with clubfoot, shares a moment with his mother and brother in the family’s home near Battambang, Cambodia. As a single parent with limited means, his mother, Pho Sok overcame many challenges to ensure her son could receive the treatment he needed. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption toggle caption Tommy Trenchard for NPR Ten-month-old Ahmin Esas, who was born with clubfoot, shares a moment with his mother and brother in the family’s home near Battambang, Cambodia. As a single parent with limited means, his mother, Pho Sok overcame many challenges to ensure her son…

It was already dark when my family and I climbed into the big white pickup truck with Marcelo Jorge. A drizzly May night in the Ozarks; everything seemed soggy and muted. Jorge was upbeat, though. It was the peak of fawning season, and so far this year, his team had captured and collared a dozen fawns. The more deer they could collar, the more data they could collect about a disease threatening deer and their relatives.Jorge is leading a multiyear study at the University of Georgia on chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal neurological illness. Ubiquitous deer may be, but in…

December 30, 2023, 7 AM ETEditor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here.In this year-end episode, some of the contributors to the The Atlantic’s January/February issue forecast what a second Trump term might look like. For the magazine, 24 Atlantic writers––experts in foreign and domestic policy, economics, and national security––examined Trump’s record and his recent statements, and wrote about what they believe his agenda would be in a theoretical second term.Joining editor in chief of…

A court in Washington, D.C., has been stuck with a tough, maybe impossible question: What does 🌝 mean? Let me explain: In the summer of 2022, Ryan Cohen, a major investor in Bed Bath & Beyond, responded to a tweet about the beleaguered retailer with this side-eyed-moon emoji. Later that month, Cohen—hailed as a “meme king” for his starring role in the GameStop craze—disclosed that his stake in the company had grown to nearly 12 percent; the stock price subsequently shot up. That week, he sold all of his shares and walked away with a reported $60 million windfall.Now shareholders…

A new approach to schizophrenia involves managing early psychosis symptoms and keeping young people in school or jobs. The treatment is effective, but private insurance plans usually won’t cover it. ALINA SELYUKH, HOST: Across the U.S., there’s been a shift in how some doctors treat schizophrenia. The new approach is to intervene early, when psychosis first appears, and keep young people in school or at work so later they don’t end up on the street. Studies show the treatment is effective, so why won’t insurance companies pay for it? Here’s April Dembosky of member station KQED.(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN)APRIL DEMBOSKY,…

This April, when a 1,000-year storm drenched South Florida, my father and older sister were among the thousands of people abruptly hit with severe flash flooding. They made it out physically unscathed, but many of their possessions were reduced to waterlogged piles of debris. Among those ruined mementos were sets of baby clothes, which my sister had painstakingly preserved for the future but forgotten during the rush of the flood. More than half a year later, she’s still grieving them. “Stuff is stuff,” she told me. But those pieces of clothing had been in the family for decades; she had…