The best longform journalism we consumed this week
Welcome to The Long Story, the weekly newsletter where we curate the best longform journalism on the internet. If you want this newsletter landing in your inbox every Friday, click on this handy little button:
Let’s jump into it…
FDA Approved — And Ineffective
During the AIDS crisis, the FDA created an "accelerated pathway" to approving drugs that required only preliminary data on efficacy. Since then, hundreds of ineffective drugs have made it into the market, with some causing severe side effects and even death. One drug was on sale for over 30 years before studies showed it was useless for the condition it was meant to treat, and many patients went blind as a result of taking it. [The Lever]
Portland Said It Was Investing in Homeless People’s Safety. Deaths Have Quadrupled.
The death rate for homeless people in Portland is much higher than other West Coast cities, and advocates blame the city's decision to push the homeless out of public spaces while simultaneously underinvesting in placing them in permanent housing. [ProPublica]
Amelia Earhart’s Reckless Final Flights
Amelia Earhart was woefully unprepared for the round-the-world flight that ultimately killed her, and the blame for her death can be placed largely on her husband, who pushed her into taking insane risks in an effort to generate fame and money. Not only did she lack sufficient skill in flying, but her plane didn't have the navigation tech required to traverse the Pacific Ocean. [New Yorker]
A High IQ Makes You an Outsider, Not a Genius
Over the course of my life, I've found that the people most obsessed with IQ scores are generally the most unpleasant in our society to be around. While the IQ test does have some predictive qualities, those who score the highest on it are usually unremarkable in their life achievements. Asked about his own IQ score, Stephen Hawking replied, “I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.” I agree! [The Atlantic]
Predatory Lenders in the Operating Room
Patients in critical need of medical care they can't afford are now regularly offered a lifeline: a special credit card that's been approved for the exact amount they owe for the procedure. It's only months later when they come to fully understand what they've signed up for, and by then they're buried under a mountain of deferred interest charges. [American Prospect]
Botched by Design
To many, lethal injection seems like the most humane method of executing someone; you simply inject a cocktail of drugs and then the prisoner drifts off to sleep. But in reality, this cocktail was never scientifically tested when it was introduced in the 1970s, and it's actually responsible for some of the most brutal and agonizing executions in US history. [The Baffler]
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How a Hazelnut Spread Became a Sticking Point in Franco-Algerian Relations
An Algerian hazelnut spread that became a viral sensation in France suddenly found itself banned from the country for what some claimed were anti-competitive and xenophobic reasons. The controversy exacerbated tensions that stretch back to France's 100-year colonial occupation of Algeria. [New Yorker]
A nasogenital tale
In the 1890s, a crackpot doctor became convinced that many human ailments could be treated through surgery to the nose, which he claimed had a direct physiological link to the genitals. He probably would have been written off as an eccentric if it weren't for the full-throated endorsement from Sigmund Freud. This doctor's "treatments" were disastrous for his patients, sometimes leading to outright disfigurement, and he's still cited today by people who aim to discredit Freud. [Aeon]
Architects in Bangladesh Are Adapting to Climate Change
In Bangladesh, the monsoon season brings so much rain that entire villages regularly find themselves underwater — a situation that isn't as catastrophic as it may sound, since the population has simply adapted to a constantly shifting landscape. As one villager put it, "Sometimes when it floods, we live on boats for several months.” And with climate change only exacerbating these conditions, local architects are designing living structures that can withstand rapid flooding events. [New Lines]
The Russia That Putin Made
Even if Russia ends up fully ceasing its war in Ukraine, it's now a fundamentally different country than it was prior to the invasion. Not only is it more closely entwined with China, but its population has been completely brainwashed with anti-Western views. There is no semblance of democracy left in the country, and all opposition to Putin has been quashed. [Foreign Affairs]
New York to Paris in Under Four Hours? Inside the Effort to Build the Next Concorde
With all the human innovation over the last 50 years, it's strange that air travel has actually gotten slower over that time period. While supersonic flights have always been feasible, they weren't economically viable, but a new startup hopes to have supersonic jets in the air by 2029. Doing so will not only require developing the product itself, but also convincing a sclerotic airline industry to embrace a dream that it gave up on decades ago. [WSJ]
My other newsletter: Journalists should start building life rafts earlier in their careers
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