The Horrors of Egg-Hunting in Gold Rush California (Literary Hub)
by Lizzie Stark
In nineteenth-century California, some men made their fortunes not on gold but on eggs. The scramble for the desperately sought-after commodity led to enormous death and destruction on the small, rocky Farallon Islands.

What Will Chatbots Really Do for Us? (Slate)
by Evan Selinger
Can emerging artificial intelligence technology help diagnose illness or address legal questions for people who can’t afford the human version of those services? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean they’ll solve problems of access and equality.

Meet the Weirdest Tile Ever (Popular Mechanics)
by Tim Newcomb
After decades of searching, mathematicians have discovered a shape that can do something extremely unusual: fit together to tile an infinite surface without ever creating a recurring pattern. They’ve named the 13-sided oddity “the hat.”

The Cherokee Playwright Behind Oklahoma! (Smithsonian Magazine)
by Jennie Rothenberg Gritz
Oklahoma!, the show that transformed musical theater, was in large part the work of gay Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs. When we remember that fact, it puts its setting and characters in a different light.

How to Print a Building (The Conversation)
by James Rose
For more than a century, we’ve been constructing buildings out of the same materials, mainly steel, concrete, and wood. With 3D printing, radically new options could be on the horizon, with potential benefits for both efficiency and aesthetics.

Got a hot tip about a well-researched story that belongs on this list? Email us here.