Health
Annals of Inquiry
Why Are We So Bad at Getting Better?
Convalescence used to be central to medicine. We don’t talk about it anymore.
Annals of Inquiry
Why Dizziness Is Still a Mystery
Balance disorders like vertigo can be devastating for patients—but they’re often invisible to the doctors who treat them.
Elements
Life and Death in America’s Hottest City
Across the U.S., significantly more people die from heat each year than from any other weather-related event. Many of these deaths are concentrated in and around Phoenix.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
“Braiding Sweetgrass,” and a Lesson in Extreme Heat
Parul Sehgal visits Robin Wall Kimmerer, who set out to bridge the gap between Western science and Indigenous teaching. Plus, Dhruv Khullar looks at extreme heat and the body.
On and Off the Avenue
Soak and the City
New Yorkers don’t need wellness culture to sell them on the ancient art of communal bathing.
Elements
The Paradox of Listening to Our Bodies
Interoception—the inner sense linking our bodies and minds—can confuse as much as it can reveal.
Under Review
A Fresh History of Lactose Intolerance
In “Spoiled,” the culinary historian Anne Mendelson takes aim at the American fallacy of fresh milk as a wonder food.
Essay
The Unexpected Grief of a Hysterectomy
My uterus is causing me nothing but discomfort. So why am I so sad to lose it?
The Political Scene Podcast
Jia Tolentino on the Celebrity Obsession with Ozempic
The staff writer examines the celebrity obsession with the diabetes drug (generically known as semaglutide), and the unsettling undercurrent sweeping thinness back into vogue.
The New Yorker Interview
Jia Tolentino on Ozempic’s Breakthrough Benefits and Risky Downsides
The writer discusses her reporting on the popular weight-loss drug, the Kardashians’ role in its rise, and why “it’s not a casual thing to mess with your metabolism.”
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Jia Tolentino on the Ozempic Weight-Loss Craze
A drug designed to treat diabetes is changing how celebrities—and maybe the rest of us—will look. Plus, D. T. Max on the Latino author who fabricated his very identity.
Annals of Medicine
The Assumptions Doctors Make
Learning to be a physician, I realized over and over again that I was seeing only part of the picture.
Rabbit Holes
The Internet’s Richest Fitness Resource Is a Site from 1999
Exrx.net is little changed since the days of Yahoo GeoCities and dial-up and saying “www” aloud. Yet beneath its bare-bones interface is a deep physiological compendium.
Wellness Dept.
Finally, Zumba Classes for Latter-Day Jason Bournes
As part of the C.I.A.’s wellness rebrand, the agency has a spiffy new gym at Langley, a “chief wellbeing officer,” and virtual-reality beach-walk experiences.
Annals of Inquiry
The Case for Free-Range Lab Mice
A growing body of research suggests that the unnatural lives of laboratory animals can undermine science.
Our Columnists
Bernie Sanders’s New Campaign: Taking On Big Pharma and Starbucks
As the new chair of a powerful Senate committee, the reënergized progressive leader is once again targeting the corporate plutocracy.
Personal History
Nobody Has My Condition But Me
Medical researchers find my genetic mutation endlessly fascinating. But being unique isn’t a plus when you’re a patient.
Annals of Medicine
Could Ultrasound Replace the Stethoscope?
Miniaturization, experimentation, and A.I. have unlocked revolutionary potential in an old technology.
Comment
The Dire Aftermath of China’s Untenable “Zero COVID” Policy
Why did the nation, which suppressed the virus for years, fail to prepare for the inevitable?