1. Wishcycling: One Very Bad Habit Is Fueling the Global Recycling Meltdown (recycling, MotherJones)

2. The Buggy Truth about Natural Red Dye (history, JSTOR)

3. American Factory Is a Complex Chronicle of Global Capitalism (TV, The Atlantic)

The documentary’s wider sweep benefits the viewer, demonstrating the complexity of the economic and social issues converging at the plant. Fuyao’s presence in Ohio is an undeniable boon, an investment in an area where people felt abandoned by U.S. businesses, but Bognar and Reichert’s film is a reminder that capitalism is always double-edged.

4. In the Age of the Psychonauts (history, Longreads)

Three psycho-spiritual “events” of the 1970s — involving Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, and Terence and Dennis McKenna — had a strange synchronicity.

5. The scandalous painting that helped create modern art

Bonus: The New Pope trailer!