Writer. Editor. Cultural Spelunker.
Being pro-guilt is a provocative idea at a moment when parents and educators have come to almost fetishize empathy—when a child’s ability to put herself in another’s shoes seems like the apex of goodness. Photo by Jay
Originally Published: The Atlantic Magazine • April 2018
A few years ago, researchers in Germany set out to plumb the moral consciences of small children. They invited a series of 2- and 3-year-olds to play with a marble track in a lab. Read more...
You can't escape death on a farm, where it is both a practical matter and an asset. Photo by Stanley Zimny
Originally Published: Esquire.com • November 14, 2017 • The Sunday Long Read number one readers’ pick for 2017, and Longform best of 2017. Recommended by Longreads as an “incredibly moving feature.” Winner of Hearst Magazines’ 2017 Editorial Excellence Awards in the category of “reported feature or profile.”
For three days during a humid stretch of July in Newton, North Carolina, cars lined up along the dirt road outside the home of Deloy and Kate Oberlin. Read more...
We are only just beginning to grapple with what it means to cheaply and easily uncover our genetic heritage. Photo by Hein BoekhoutOriginally Published: Washington Post • July 27, 2017 • Longreads Best of 2017 pick; viral response with over 94,000 shares on Facebook alone; ranked among “The 100 Most Engaging Stories of the Year” for 2017 by Chartbeat, which measures how much time people spend reading stories
Five years ago, Alice Collins Plebuch made a decision that would alter her future — or really, her past. Read more...
Photo by Dean McCoyOriginally Published: SmithsonianMag.com • February 24, 2017
For you, it could be the drive home on the freeway in stop-and-go traffic, a run without headphones or the time it takes to brush your teeth. Read more...
Photo by Triker-SticksOriginally Published: Slate • September 30, 2016
Late this summer, a raccoon kept entering my mom’s house through her cat door. This particular creature was savvy, dexterous, and driven, a kind of super-raccoon combining all the strengths of its species with none of the reticence of its country brethren.
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Libby Copeland writes stories at the intersection of culture, science and human behavior. She's at work on a book about at-home DNA testing and the American family, for Abrams Press. A staff reporter and editor for The Washington Post for over a decade, she now writes from New York for publications including Slate, New York Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The New Republic, Fast Company, The Atlantic, Glamour and more. As a staffer at The Washington Post, she wrote feature stories from the 2008 presidential trail, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and the 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial. Copeland has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and NPR. Read More…