Brent Crane
American freelance journalist
I write magazine pieces about topics pertaining to science, conflict, travel and history. Found at the New Yorker, the New York Times, Scientific American, the Atavist & elsewhere.
Elle
Stolen By The State
The last anyone knew of Rahile Dawut, an internationally renowned anthropologist, she was traveling to the airport.
The Wire China
Tesla’s China Endgame
On April 18, in a crowded showroom at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, a 32-year-old woman from Henan province named Zhang Yazhou climbed onto the roof of a raspberry-red Tesla Model 3 and began to scream.
The Wire China
The SMIC Smackdown
The U.S. just announced new sanctions on the Chinese semiconductor company, upping the ante on the ongoing tech battle between the two countries. Will China’s best hope for homegrown chips crack under the pressure?
Bloomberg
A Pistachio Tycoon Picks a Fight With the U.S. Navy
In California's pistachio country, a water war that foreshadows a future of scarcity.
The Wire China
Mining's Makeover
For more than a decade, the U.S. has been sounding the alarm about China’s stranglehold on rare earths. Is it finally going to do something about it?
1843magazine.com
Woodworking with Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama has a crack in his credenza. He has just noticed it running like a vein through the top of the sideboard, which takes pride of place in his rather bijou dining room. He is perturbed by this unexpected blight on what appears to be an otherwise flawless work that took him two years to complete.
1843magazine.com
Climbing with Erik Weihenmayer
The blind adventurer has climbed the highest mountain on every continent. He isn’t done yet.
The Wire China
The Price of Admission
What happens when Chinese money and American greed get mixed together in a "golden visa" program? A cesspool of illegality. After the EB-5 visa program played host to one of China's most wanted men — not to mention American fraudsters — the program is under fire from all sides.
National Geographic
For dementia patients and their families, isolation during the pandemic is a heavy burden
When Thomas Shaw visits his wife Lynn, they like to put in earbuds and listen to music from a single iPod.
The New York Times
From a Stall in San Diego, a Somali Tailor Weaves a New Life
For about as long as he can remember, Ali Awow has known how to sew.
The New Yorker
The High Schooler Who Became a COVID-19 Watchdog
Last week, as cities across the country shut down in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, President Trump said, “We have a problem that, a month ago, nobody thought about.” Well, somebody did.
The New Yorker
Want Snow on Your Palm Trees? Easy.
Recipe for slush in Studio City: one former magician, twenty-two tons of ice, a massive crusher, one big black hose, and a client willing to pay up to a hundred thousand dollars.
magazine.atavist.com
There Are Places You Cannot Go
One day in February 2019, Cindy Coleman sped through central Cambodia in a motorcycle rickshaw. Most of the half-hour ride from the capital, Phnom Penh, to her destination followed a narrow two-lane road through poor, bustling towns.
The New Yorker
Adaptive Fashion on the Red Carpet
In the movie “Give Me Liberty,” a dark comedy that will screen this month, at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the lead roles is played by Lauren (Lolo) Spencer, a thirty-one-year-old marketing manager and disability-rights advocate from Los Angeles. It was her first acting job.