Top Stories
Stories in Humans that you'll love, handpicked by our team.
I wanted to title this something different, but worried that my chosen title might cause problems entering the United States in the future so this is the new title. It's the greatest title. No one has ever written a title better than this. (All titles unrelated to content).. Top Story - March 2026.
Let me be honest. I am finding this difficult. Now, I like a challenge, a stretch, a bit of an obstacle course. “Write about the decline of the British Empire in the form of a narrative poem in which your protagonist is an artichoke” I read, and flex my fingers. “Write a haiku to evoke the sensation of sibilance using only the first half of the alphabet.” “Well”, I think to myself, “this should be fun.” But “write about a system that isn’t working”? A system that isn’t working? Now? In 2026? ONE system? My favourite system that isn’t working? The sexiest system that isn’t working? The one giving me the most angst day to day? The one giving me the most existential dread? I am, as I say, finding this difficult. I will own that I have contemplated writing a thousand words on why the steady “all on” setting on my fairy lights is the EIGHTH of seven options which must be sequentially activated to get there, because that is a system that some fool came up with and it definitely doesn’t work, and now who is paying the price, eh? But how can I write about my fairy lights when…. When…. When….
By Hannah Moore8 months ago in Humans
Why Bother With The Degree?. Honorable Mention in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
“So, as you can see from my resume, I’ve just completed my degree in Accounting and Finance. I worked part-time alongside it for three years, kept my position at work throughout, and was even a student ambassador during my third year-”
By Maddy Haywood8 months ago in Humans
Staying sane in the insane world. . Top Story - February 2026.
”It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Jiddu Krishnamurti This quote has been one of my favourites since the moment I first laid my eyes on it. To me, it cuts right through the fog of the illusion of normality that permeates our lives. And since I am someone who has never felt (well) adjusted to this society, Krishnamurti’s words gifted me with the realisation that there isn’t anything inherently wrong with me.
By Eva Smitte8 months ago in Humans
Facebook is Dead. Runner-Up in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
Or at least it feels like it's dead, doesn’t it? Any system that is not maintained and improved but simply left to its own devices, will enter a stage of entropy (natural, slow decay, degradation, and dilapidation) and eventually die.
By Lana V Lynx8 months ago in Humans
The Myth of Milligrams. Runner-Up in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026. Content Warning.
The mental health system in Australia promises structure and consistency, yet for many people struggling with ADHD, it delivers something akin to uncontrolled chance.
By Edward Swafford8 months ago in Humans
Orthodontia and Other Means of Correction. Runner-Up in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
I drag the toe of my dress shoe along the sidewalk in front of the field house. It makes a pffffffft sound with each drag. To my right, a colony of ants swarms a discarded piece of someone’s sandwich. I study them so I don’t have to look my English teacher in the face.
By Aubrey Rebecca8 months ago in Humans
When the Shelter Closes. Runner-Up in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
Across the street from my house, a man slept under a tree, his dog by his side. My first, naive thought: he must be traveling through. But he kept coming back, often sleeping there during the day. Then it hit me—that person might not have a home.
By Bride of Sound8 months ago in Humans
Trickle Them Down, But Not Out. Honorable Mention in A System That Isn’t Working Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
The thing about smart people is that they should know better, but alas, intelligence is not the same as wisdom. Not only do the mistakes of experts too short on vision—when they are not corrected—have the potential to do great and far-reaching damage, but they also undermine public confidence in the very notion of expertise. This is particularly so when expertise is wielded in defence of the rich and powerful as a cudgel against those laid low. As an academic, this lack of faith in “so-called experts” is painful to see as it plays out in the spread of dis-/misinformation, conspiracy theories, and anti-intellectualism writ large. But it is also an understandable impulse given the catastrophic failure of an economic ideology pushed by certain economic experts. Supply-side economics has shaped a broken system for the last half-century and has arguably done more to undermine the fabric of the American Dream than any policy framework of the past century.
By Cory Wright-Maley8 months ago in Humans
