This story was originally published in High Country News.On an early July day, Amber Betts spent the afternoon in the community rose garden in Grandview, Washington. Several weeks earlier, invasive Japanese beetles had emerged in droves everywhere in Grandview, a town in central Washington’s Yakima Valley. The infestation had since quieted, but she still spotted a few insects: A cluster of fingernail-size iridescent green beetles, their coppery wings shining, were devouring a rose.

The gold chain sitting
On her outstretched palm
Is a good place to start.
Her father—your grandfather—kept
It in a secret drawer for a day
Like this—a day
You would have a piece of him
Around your neck.Your grandfather, in your mother’s words,
Refused to let his daughter
Feed her present with the future.
And on the night that you were born,
He drove all the way from Benin to Abuja.
That night, silence became your mother.

The recent history of the Iowa Republican caucus offers the candidates chasing former President Donald Trump one big reason for optimism. But that history also presents them with an even larger reason for concern.In each of the past three contested GOP nomination fights, Iowa Republicans have rejected the candidate considered the national front-runner in the race, as Trump is now.

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained.Today’s special guest is Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic’s projects editor.

One of the most troubling issues around generative AI is simple: It’s being made in secret. To produce humanlike answers to questions, systems such as ChatGPT process huge quantities of written material. But few people outside of companies such as Meta and OpenAI know the full extent of the texts these programs have been trained on.

Editor’s Note: Washington Week with The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here. Former President Donald Trump is facing what could be his most consequential legal challenge yet, after having been indicted in Fulton County, Georgia this week for his alleged efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.

This article was originally published in Knowable Magazine.Death from colorectal cancer can be prevented by regular screenings. Controlling high blood pressure could prolong the lives of the nearly 500,000 Americans who die from this disease each year. Vaccinations help prevent tetanus, which could otherwise be lethal.Clearly, preventive medicine can make a big difference to health.And yet most people don’t get the preventive care that could save their lives.

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.I’ve always paid more attention to my beverage habits than is perhaps standard. I grew up in the early 2000s in a household that much preferred juice, soda, coffee, or really anything else to water.

Early on in the raunchy talking-animals comedy Strays, a montage plays of four dogs humping inanimate lawn ornaments, guzzling beer leaking from trash bags, and bonding over a plan to bite off a man’s genitals. It’s an inartfully staged sequence, packed with sophomoric jokes and enough f-bombs to rival a Quentin Tarantino film.