404 And Surgery

Growing Up In '404 Not Found'

Vincent | 28th December 2025

Account of a childhood in China's secret atomic city in the Gobi Desert. Founded in 1958, "Factory 404" was initially inhabited by elite scientists. By the time this writer was born in 1991, the mystery of the bomb had long been solved, so it had shifted to become a major centre for processing nuclear waste. Sandstorms were common and water scarce. It was "a utopian bubble built on hollow ground" (2,300 words)

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I Need To Get Something Off My Chest

Sarah Lavender Smith | Mountain Running & Living | 1st January 2026

"Explant" surgery is the process of getting breast implants removed without replacing them, which otherwise needs to be done every decade or so. This ultra-marathoner, having got "the world’s smallest boob job" at the age of 34 to change the appearance of her "masculine chest", decided 22 years on to quit. Although society has normalised cosmetic surgery, it is "pretty freaking gruesome and expensive" (2,800 words)