Stories to fuel your mind

Pocket’s Top 5 Stories of the Week, September 17, 2021

Rethinking the science of obesity, the last glimpses of vanishing utopias, and more.

Pocket Collections

Amy Maoz

Read when you’ve got time to spare.

Looking for something to fill your Pocket with this weekend? Here are 5 of our most-saved and read stories this week.

Everything You Didn’t Know About the Trusty Tape Measure

There’s more to this tool than meets the eye. Especially the eye of the untrained amateur.

How a ‘Fatally, Tragically Flawed’ Paradigm Has Derailed the Science of Obesity

“To attribute obesity to ‘overeating’ is as meaningful as to account for alcoholism by ascribing it to ‘overdrinking.’”

I Got a ‘Mild’ Breakthrough Case. Here’s What I Wish I’d Known

I was just one more example of our country’s tug and pull between fantasies of a post-COVID-19 summer and the realities of our still-raging pandemic, where even the vaccinated can get sick.

Blockchain, Explained

Blocks? Chains? How does this whole thing work?

The Last Glimpses of California’s Vanishing Hippie Utopias

Half a century ago, a legion of idealists dropped out of society and went back to the land, creating a patchwork of utopian communes across Northern California. Here, the last of those rogue souls offer a glimpse of their otherworldly residences—and the tail end of a grand social experiment.

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