Tunnel Vision

I tried to understand the significance of a shadow in the Russian Arctic. A few weeks ago, a strange-looking shadow on Google Earth sent me down an unexpected rabbit hole. I set out to figure out what it was — and discovered a fascinating story happening in the background of the race for the Arctic.

Inside a fake science factory. Whenever I want to understand the latest discoveries in a topic I’m reporting on, I turn to the same place: research papers. So when I first learned about “paper mills” — shadowy businesses that produce and sell fraudulent research to academics trying to meet publishing quotas — I was fascinated. Over the past few weeks I dove into the research, interviewed scientists, and spoke to a real paper mill representative to answer a troubling question: Can we actually trust the research papers we find online?

I reverse-engineered a Tinder scam. Some Tinder users have started noticing a strange new kind of profile. Swipe through the photos and everything looks normal — until you hit the last one. That's where things get weird. The final photo always shows a face that doesn't quite fit: sometimes silly, sometimes unsettling. I went down a rabbit hole of stolen identities and catfishing schemes to figure out what's really going on.

I tried to understand the Ray-Ban Meta glasses backlash. Over the past few years, Meta’s smart glasses have gone from a niche gadget to the world’s first mainstream wearable AI device. Millions of users can now capture moments, listen to music, interact with an AI assistant totally hands-free. But the same design that makes them so seamless — glasses that look like regular glasses — has also made them a tool for a new kind of harassment. Content creators have used them to secretly film strangers; women have found footage of themselves online with no idea they were ever recorded. I bought a pair to understand both sides: the genuine appeal of a device that might change how we interact with the world, and the very real harm it's already enabling.