Mars And Gatekeepers

The Mars Delusion

Henry Wismayer | Noema | 18th June 2026

Humans have been obsessed with colonising Mars for over a century. Most work in this field relates to the physical difficulties of establishing human life on the red planet: the length of the journey from Earth, the unbreathable Martian atmosphere, the lack of water, the cold, the dust. It overlooks another vital consideration: Mars is boring. What effect might its "aesthetic sterility" have on the human psyche? (7,300 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Bring Back The Gatekeeper, Please

Jason Guriel | Walrus | 11th June 2026

"Gatekeeper" is a term with pejorative implications in the publishing realm: someone who puts up barriers to keep the masses out of the system. This is incorrect. A gatekeeper is "the picky curator who maintains a necessary membrane between your half-formed, typo-addled thoughts and the wider world. It means the tastemaker who triages opinions and batters the better ones into readable form" (800 words)