Libby Copeland

Writer. Editor. Cultural Spelunker.

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Best of

A collection of favorites.

When Guilt is Good (The Atlantic Magazine)

Libby Copeland May 24, 2018

Researchers generally regard so-called moral guilt, in the right amount, to be a good thing: A child who claims responsibility for knocking over a tower and tries to rebuild it is engaging in behavior that’s not only reparative but also prosocial.

Categories: Best Of, Parenting, Science, The Atlantic Magazine Tags: guilt, human behavior, parenting, shame, taking responsibility, the atlantic

Kate’s Still Here (Esquire.com, Winner of Hearst Magazines’ 2017 Editorial Excellence Awards)

Libby Copeland November 30, 2017

Deloy Oberlin didn’t know how much time his wife had left, but he knew he wanted to spend their final days together fulfilling her last wish.

Categories: Articles, Best Of, Esquire.com, Science Tags: alternative death practices, Deloy Oberlin, home funerals, Kate Oberlin

She thought she was Irish, until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old mystery (The Washington Post, Longreads Best of 2017)

Libby Copeland November 15, 2017

If the information Alice Collins Plebuch was seeing on her computer screen was correct, it posed a fundamental mystery about her very identity. It meant one of her parents wasn’t who he or she was supposed to be — and, by extension, neither was she. We are only just beginning to grapple with what it means to cheaply and easily uncover our genetic heritage.

Categories: Best Of, Science, Technology, Washington Post Tags: Alice Collins Plebuch, at-home DNA testing, DNA, recreational genomics

Introducing the Urban Super-Raccoon — Nimble, Quick and Getting Smarter Every Day (Slate)

Libby Copeland March 27, 2013

The animals have adjusted remarkably well to living alongside human beings—perhaps because when they live with us, they seem to learn from us.

Categories: Best Of, Environment, Science, Slate Tags: animal evolution, animal intelligence, raccoons, urban life

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