Viewfinder: Mourning the Murder of a Polish Mayor
A mourner holds a candle for murdered Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz on January 17th, 2019, in Gdansk, Poland.
Death
Americans Are Now More Likely to Die of Opioid Overdoses Than Car Crashes
Overdoses on opioid drugs—including heroin, prescription painkillers, and certain street drugs—were the top cause of unintentional, preventable deaths in the United States in 2017.
Want to Be Buried At Sea? Get a Good Lawyer First.
A botched ocean funeral caused chaos in the Netherlands last week, but across the globe, sea burials are on the rise.
Viewfinder: Bodies Are Pulled From an Indonesian Plane Crash
Search and rescue personnel carry a body bag containing remains of a passenger from Lion Air Flight 610 at the Tanjung Priok port on October 30th, 2018, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Viewfinder: The Weeping Window Exhibition Finishes Its U.K. Tour
Composed of several thousand handmade ceramic poppies, the sculpture honors those lost in World War I, which ended 100 years ago next month.
Viewfinder: Mexico Commemorates Earthquake Victims
People pay homage to earthquake victims in Mexico City on September 19th, 2018, on the anniversary of two deadly earthquakes.
A New Database Tracks the Fate of Hurricane Maria's Indirect Victims
Three organizations collected reports from Puerto Ricans who believed their loved ones died as a result of Hurricane Maria but whose death certificates didn't indicate storm conditions as a cause of death.
A New Study Finds That Hurricane Maria's Death Toll Was 2,975
This new death toll is more than twice as high as the estimates the Puerto Rican government released earlier this month.
Natural Burials Are Rising, and That's Good for the Planet
Natural burials offer a greener alternative to traditional cemeteries, but Big Funeral is fighting back.
Puerto Rico’s Governor Orders Review of All Deaths Since Hurricane Maria
Ricardo A. Rosselló now admits that the toll "may be higher than the official count certified to date."
How to Give Back to the Earth in Death
Conservation burials are one step beyond green burials, and may set aside a couple of square miles for wildlife a year.
How Do You Want to Be Remembered?
New research suggests the surprising answer is "warts and all."
Messing With Your Brain to Reduce Prejudice
New research suggests threat-based instinctive reactions can be modified by a simple procedure.
Chamomile Tea, the Life Extender?
A new study finds lower mortality rates among Hispanic women who drink chamomile tea as an herbal remedy.
What Was Famine?
The political economy of mass starvation, and why it is largely a thing of the past.
Could Strong Hands Mean a Longer Life?
A study finds that grip strength is a stronger predictor of future health than blood pressure, though the reasons why remain unclear.
Why Atheists Terrify Believers
Their presence challenges fundamental defense mechanisms that protect people from fear of death.
Death and Dying, Lost in Translation
Language barriers top the list of challenges doctors face with end-of-life conversations with patients from different ethnic backgrounds.
From Humbug! to Humble: The Power of the Scrooge Effect
A new study finds thoughts of our mortality can make us more generous.
This Last of Meeting Places
Confronting our mortality with vague metaphors, religious glosses, and computer analogies.
The Strange Parallel Histories of Plant Science and Death Science
Botanists and forensic scientists developed the same theory in the late 19th century. They might have a lot to learn from each other, if they would talk to each other now.
The Missing
As a kid, Rachael Maddux thought she could shut herself away from the reality of death. Instead, through Reader’s Digest, she came face to face with the fragility of life.