Feeling isolated in her new job as a particle accelerator operator at Fermilab, Cindy Joe finds comfort in the friendship of her unconventional pet, and Patrick Honner starts to doubt his lifelong love of math when graduate school becomes a lonely experience.
Read MoreNot a Straight Line: Stories about becoming a science journalist
Keren Landman always wanted to be a writer, but her family didn’t see it as a practical career — so instead, she went to medical school, and when Adithi Ramakrishnan gets to college, she only sees two career paths ahead of her: medical school or scientific research.
Read MoreManhood: Stories about masculinity
As a teenager, Mike McFadden realizes one part of his body isn’t developing like the other boys his age, and Ricky Ortiz believed that to be a good husband, father, and provider, he could never show weakness.
Read MoreSpeak Up: Stories about self-advocacy
Cooper Joslin is determined to get a hysterectomy to finally stop the debilitating symptoms of endometriosis but all the doctors won’t seem to let them make decisions about their own body, and as a PTSD survivor, Adrianne Frost assumes her dissociative episodes are simply part of living with trauma.
Read MoreThalassophobia: Stories about fear of the ocean
When the children’s TV show host Carly Ciarrocchi is assigned a scuba diving episode, she’s forced to confront a lifelong fear of the ocean, and growing up, Darcie Little Badger was wary of the ocean. But when she takes an oceanography class in college, she begins to question her fears.
Read MoreBest of Story Collider: Love and Technology
As a kid, Samy Kamkar discovers his superpower -- hacking, and when Jordan Bush's father-in-law-to-be is diagnosed with cancer shortly before her wedding, she finds a creative way to help him attend.
Read MoreAbove and Beyond: Stories about the lengths we go to for loved ones
When Bailey Swilley’s dad goes into cardiac arrest, she watches her mom care for him and starts to reevaluate what love really looks like, at rock bottom, Pam Stepansky turns to her dad for support with her alcoholism.
Read MoreGluten: Stories about the love of bread
When everyone in Rich Tackenberg’s family is diagnosed with celiac disease, he’s forced to confront a terrifying possibility: life without his emotional support carb, and during the pandemic, Aditya Surendran sets out to conquer making a 36-hour baguette.
Read MoreTrying: Stories about fertility
After a pregnancy loss, Annie Tan channels her grief into rescuing an injured mockingbird, and Kibby McMahon is convinced she can will her way into pregnancy, but her body refuses to follow the plan.
Best of Story Collider: Leaving Home
When Ph.D student Ali Mattu's girlfriend tells him she is moving to New York City, he has to make some tough decisions about where home is, and Arlo Pérez Esquivel struggles to define his boundaries with his father while he is pursuing his education in another country.
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