When Anesthesia Goes Wrong
A teenage boy went into surgery for a broken arm and emerged with brain damage. His mother was determined to figure out what had happened.
/media/img/mt/2026/10/How_People_Decide_How_Many_Kids_to_Have/original.gif)
Ysa Perez for The Atlantic 
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: GPO / Getty; Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis / Getty; Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group / Getty.
Netflix A TV Show Where Teens Actually Act Like Teens
Culture and entertainment recommendations including Derry Girls, Moonstruck, and more
Carol Guzy for The Atlantic 
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: George Frey / Getty; Vector DSGNR / Getty. Are Mormons Losing Their Distinctiveness?
People born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have tended to stay members for life. But that pattern has started to shift.
Will Heath / NBC An SNL Sketch That Understands How the Internet Shapes Our Reality
Sometimes your favorite influencer is really weird, and your friends just don’t get it.
Massimo Listri / Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 
Markus Schreiber / AP The Right’s Identity Politics Take a Bizarre Turn
MAGA activists are having a meltdown over a throwaway character in Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s political ad.
Thomas Simonetti / The Washington Post / Getty The Mainstreaming of Anti-Indian Bigotry
A Republican schism over a social-media post by a Texas politician revealed that the party’s defense of a color-blind meritocracy has its limits.
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic. Source: Getty. AI’s Real Gift to Science
Advanced models can help researchers sort through mountains of biological data.
/media/img/mt/2026/10/2026_10_01_Scientific_Research_mpg/original.gif)
Why Americans Stopped Throwing Dinner Parties
The share of adults who say they regularly have friends over has declined dramatically since 1975.
The Atlantic Games
View all gamesBracket City
Solve nested clues to reveal a fun fact about this day in history.Play →Crossword
This mini puzzle gets a little more challenging every weekday.Play →Rabbithole
Go down a tunnel of trivia where each answer turns into the next question.Play →Lemony Snicket's Suspicious Incident in Dubious Park
Step into the role of detective and unravel an interactive murder mystery.Play →
Anna Breit / Connected Archives 
Bettmann / Getty I Made One Simple Financial Change and It Lowered My Spending
After reporting on personal finance, I used behavioral economics on myself. (From 2018)
Art by Peter Mendelsund Inside America’s Death Chambers
What years of witnessing executions taught me about sin, mercy, and the possibility of redemption (From 2025)
Phil Toledano The Dark Power of Fraternities
A yearlong investigation of Greek houses reveals their endemic, lurid, and sometimes tragic problems—and a sophisticated system for shifting the blame. (From 2014)
Magazine
past issuesEnjoy unlimited access to all of The Atlantic’s journalism, in the print edition and online.
Podcasts
see all
Hae Ran at Channel Yes radio atlantic•Episode 219Min Jin Lee’s Underdog Morality
The Pachinko author on her latest novel, American Hagwon, and parents’ near-religious belief in elite education
the permanent questions•Episode 4Should We Ban AI for Kids?
Jonathan Haidt sounded the alarm on phones in schools. He thinks what’s coming will be even worse.
Universal History Archive / Getty the david frum show•Episode 77How Trump Could Threaten the 2026 Election
Former Attorney General Eric Holder on the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and whether the 2026 midterm elections will be free and fair
Illustration by The Atlantic 
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Simon Stock / Gallery Stock. how to touch grass•Episode 5What It Takes to Reclaim Your Attention Span
Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing and Saving Time, has advice for fighting back against the forces of digital distraction.
Latest
see all
/media/img/mt/2026/10/How_People_Decide_How_Many_Kids_to_Have/original.gif)
/media/img/mt/2026/10/2026_10_01_Scientific_Research_mpg/original.gif)
/media/img/mt/2026/10/atlantic_lenzen_2000x1125px_animation_FIN/original.gif)
Popular
see all
/media/img/mt/2026/10/How_People_Decide_How_Many_Kids_to_Have/original.gif)
Scroll →
AI Watchdog
,,
Works Taken
Track the creative works that tech companies are using to train their large language models.
Search NowListen to award-winning podcasts and audio versions of our stories.
Explore Audio