CATEGORIES

How often should you wash your bedding?

EVERY MORNING WHEN LIBBEY Castle wakes up, she strips her bed and chucks her sheets into the washing machine.

Health Matters - Dementia is one of the scariest diagnoses in medicine, in part because it seems impossible to prevent.

Dementia is one of the scariest diagnoses in medicine, in part because it seems impossible to prevent. But recent research suggests that's not the case. In fact, a new report based on an analysis of hundreds of studies says almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed if people adopted certain habits. These are among the most effective.

Prisoners of Putin - the release of more than 20 Russian-held prisoners including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other American citizens

The historic release of more than 20 Russian-held prisoners including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other American citizens-relied on the cooperation of seven countries. At a time of deepening global tensions, the rare moment of collaboration was not just a cause for celebration among the prisoners and their families, but also a significant diplomatic achievement.

Health Matters- It's summer, and Flu and RSV have come and gone. But as ever, COVID-19 is different. Even though the pandemic is behind us, the virus is once again surging in the U.S.

On top of getting vaccinated, it might be time for some people to consider masking again-since a more transmissible virus is circulating, and more people are traveling and gathering in crowded public settings like airports. "If I were in a high-risk group and I'm in a large group of people I didn't know-like on an airplane-I think it's reasonable to wear a mask," says Murphy. That consideration should also apply to people who are sick. "I think anyone who has a respiratory illness should stay at home," says Offit. "And if you can't stay at home, you should wear a mask. If you're in a high-risk group, get tested-and if you have COVID-19, take an antiviral."

An Audacious New Read of The Decameron - The author Rivka Galchen sums up this reading in her Decameron Project introduction: "Reading stories in difficult times is a way to understand those times, and also a way to persevere through them."

Boccaccio's masterpiece follows 10 young nobles fleeing an outbreak in Florence that would ultimately reduce the city's population by half. To pass the time in their rural idyll, they tell the stories that make up the bulk of the book-one apiece for 10 days, hence the title. The consensus interpretation of The Decameron is that it illustrates the power of storytelling to buoy us through history's horrors. The author Rivka Galchen sums up this reading in her Decameron Project introduction: "Reading stories in difficult times is a way to understand those times, and also a way to persevere through them." Kathleen Jordan, the creator of Netflix's The Decameron, came away from her pandemic-era reading of Boccaccio with a different understanding. What if, her black comedy proposes, the book's true timeless message is that whether they're Florentine aristocrats in 1348 or Manhattan financiers in 2020, the privileged will always blithely abandon their less fortunate neighbors when the plague comes to town? Jordan has stripped The Decameron of its stories, choosing instead to riff on the frame narrative.

Everyone On the Web Will Die. What About Their Data?- The internet is aging. As soon as the 2060s, there may be more dead than alive users on Facebook.

The internet is aging. As soon as the 2060s, there may be more dead than alive users on Facebook. We know that everyone using the internet will die, and that hundreds of millions, if not billions, will do so in the next three decades. We know this poses a serious threat to an economy based on targeted ads (the dead don't click on them). We also know that whoever seizes control over dead-user data will wield enormous power over our future access to the past. Just consider that one person –Elon Musk, no less– now owns the entirety of the tweets that constitute(d) the Arab Spring, #MeToo, and Black Lives Matter. When future historians seek to understand their past, it is the Musks and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world who will set the terms.

As the Personal Check Disappears, What Comes Next? The check. A thousand years later, this form of payment is finally disappearing.

The newest type of payment –the first to be introduced in the U.S. since the 1970s– is called instant payments, in which money moves from your account to another immediately. You may think you already use instant payments with services like Venmo, but you don't. Those payments come from a Venmo account rather than directly from your bank account, and the funds can take some time to move.

Captains of Industry set sail

IT WAS PERHAPS INEVITABLE THAT THE CAST OF INDUSTRY would find themselves on a yacht.

Keivonn Woodard

ACTING FOR REPRESENTATION

Jordan Sucato

PROTECTING PAWS

Shanya Gill

FIGHTING FIRE WITH INGENUITY

Dom Pecora

FIXING BIKES, CHANGING LIVES

Kid of the Year

ONE EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG PERSON AND FIVE HONOREESGIVING US HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

How to Avoid A Climate Backlash

The energy transition hangs in the balance, as green policies fuel right-wing politics

THE Pursuit OF Happiness

A NEW STARTUP RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TRY TO OPTIMIZE SPIRITUALITY

SECOND CHANCE

The reintroduction of Kamala Harris

Bibi At War

THE EMBATTLED PREMIER ON GAZA, IRAN, AND ISRAEL'S PERILOUS FUTURE

Sam Bankman-Fried's D.C. charm offensive

IN 2022, IT WAS HARD TO WALK AROUND WASHINGTON without seeing Sam Bankman-Fried's face.

The D.C. Brief

IF THE UPPER MIDWEST IS THE fail-safe for Democrats' Blue Wall, then they reached to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in search of a new break-in-case-of-emergency tool.

WATERGATE'S REAL LEGACY

When Richard Nixon resigned, 50 years ago this August, he became the first and (so far) only U.S. President driven from the nation's highest office. His departure was the result of the political establishment coming together in the wake of Watergate. The experience, Nixon's successor asserted, had vindicated American democracy. \"Our Constitution works,\" President Gerald Ford declared.

Victory for González

Venezuela's defiant opposition

Bangladesh on edge after coup

SHEIKH HASINA WAZED WAS PROUD of her house.

UNGREAT BRITAIN

How online misinformation stoked antimigrant riots across the U.K.

The View - Hip-Hop Needs A Reckoning - Misogynoir is, of course, not unique to hip-hop. Universal systems of oppression are prevalent in the lives of Black women.

Misogynoir is, of course, not unique to hip-hop. Universal systems of oppression are prevalent in the lives of Black women. Cassie Ventura is not the first survivor of hip-hop's abuse, and unfortunately will not be the last. In the months since she filed a federal lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs for rape and abuse in November 2023, seven women and one male survivor have come out against the mogul with stories of alleged abuse and harm.

A Global Movement Against The Status Quo - With so many elections in big countries this year, it's a good time to look at how the politics of democracies is shifting.

With so many elections in big countries this year, it's a good time to look at how the politics of democracies is shifting. But this is no simple turn to the left or the right.

Behind The Opulence Of Anant Ambani's Big Fat Indian Wedding - The wedding celebrations for the son of Asia's richest man

The wedding celebrations for the son of Asia’s richest man culminated in a lavish, celebrity-filled three-day gathering that came to a close in Mumbai on July 14. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India’s largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries, hosted festivities over seven months for his son Anant Ambani’s marriage to pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant.

The Complicated Work of Treating Trauma - Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk has spent 30 years figuring out why people behave so strangely.

The Body Keeps the Score is not a self-help book; it is a summary of the scientific advances in understanding and treating trauma in the past century and why van der Kolk believes medicine is still not grappling with it effectively. But for many readers, it was an epiphany. As the book has lingered atop best-seller lists for the past five years, trauma has been elevated from a subject discussed mostly in the medical and military communities to a feature of the national conversation.

Tech Racket - Inside the "nightmare" health crisis of a Texas Bitcoin-mining town

More than 40 people in the Granbury area reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine. Studies have shown that human-caused noise pollution harms animals and wildlife, causing oxidative stress and memory loss in rodents, acute anxiety in dogs, and a decrease in forest growth

5 reasons to start walking backward

I've spent my whole life happily walking in one direction: forward. It was, I believed, the only way to go, so I dutifully logged dozens of miles a month looking like every other person out for a morning stroll.

The WORLD'S GREATEST PLACES

Our annual list of the globe's most desirable destinations takes you from urban art hubs to remote rain forests-and even Antarctica. Start here, and find the rest of our top 100 places to stay and things to do at time.​com/worldsgreatestplaces.