People walk by The Cube at Astor Place at night.

The New Yorker – November 6, 2023 issue: The new issue‘s cover features Jorge Colombo’s “Astor Place” – The artist discusses landmarks and his own New York City.

Why Maui Burned

A burned vehicle is seen through the branches of a tree.

Lahaina’s wildfire was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Now the community is grappling with the botched response as it tries to rebuild.

By Carolyn Kormann

At 4 p.m. on August 8th, Shaun Saribay’s family begged him to get in their car and leave the town of Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The wind was howling, and large clouds of smoke were approaching from the dry hills above the neighborhood. But Saribay—a tattooist, a contractor, and a landlord, who goes by the nickname Buge—told his family that he was staying to guard their house, which had been in the family for generations. “This thing just gonna pass that way, downwind,” Saribay said. At 4:05 p.m., one of his daughters texted from the car, “Daddy please be safe.”

In the Cities of Killing

Mourners carry multiple coffins in a line. Two busses are in the background.

The Hamas massacre, the assaults on Gaza, and what comes after.

By David Remnick

The only way to tell this story is to try to tell it truthfully and to know that you will fail.

On the evening of Wednesday, October 18th, with the entire Middle East in a state of mourning and outrage, I took a taxi to the information offices of the Israel Defense Forces, a heavily guarded compound in northwest Tel Aviv. Like many reporters, I’d accepted an invitation to see video evidence of the worst massacre of Jews in generations, certainly in the history of Israel—Hamas’s rampage through Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Kibbutz Be’eri, and other communities near the Gaza Strip, extending to an outdoor electronic-music festival, Nova. At last count, the attack throughout what Israelis call Otef Aza—“the Gaza envelope”—had claimed some fourteen hundred lives; thousands were wounded, and around two hundred and twenty people had been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Hamas gave the operation a name, the Al-Aqsa Flood.

Science Magazine – August 18, 2023: This issue features California tar pits that recorded how fire drove Pleistocene megafauna decline; Maui’s deadly blazes reveal a fire-prone Hawaii; Solar energy projects put food security at risk, and more…

‘Still in shock.’ Amid wildfire tragedy, Maui scientists assess their research losses

Blazes and high winds blew projects apart and left a tight-knit research community shaken. What will it take to prevent future island fires?

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission engulfed in flames in Lahaina, Hawaii.

In the wake of a series of powerful wildfires that ripped through Maui’s dry forests and the historic city of Lahaina this week killing more than 50 people, researchers on the island remain concerned about the personal fallout for fellow scientists and their families. Some are reeling from disruption to their projects: Studies of whales may be disrupted, for example, and a rare plant facility sustained damage. “We’re still wrapping our heads around what this really means, because right now, most of us are still in shock,” says marine mammal ecologist Marc Lammers. “And, of course, we’re thinking about our colleagues.”