Our favorite stories of 2022

Eileen Guo

Senior reporter, investigations

Story: What happens when you donate your body to science? 

Reason: Sometimes the best stories answer questions you didn’t even know you had, and Abby’s beautifully written story on body farms is a perfect example.  It treats a topic that we don’t talk about enough—death and, more specifically, our dead bodies—with a really hard-to-balance mix of curiosity, compassion, and great attention to detail. This was such a delight to read, and if you missed it the first time around, I highly recommend it now! 

Abby Ivory-Ganja

Senior engagement editor

KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES

Story: Who’s responsible for climate change? Three charts explain.

Reason: I learned so much from Casey Crownhart’s stellar climate reporting this year, but I feel this piece about who is responsible for climate change will stick with me long past 2022. She does such an amazing job of contextualizing the big, big problems ahead of us, and in this case behind us, without making it feel completely doom-y. (Her newsletter The Spark is always a great read, too.)

Tate Ryan-Mosley

Senior reporter, tech policy

WORLDCOIN

Story: Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users

Reason: One of my favorite stories this year was the Worldcoin investigation by Eileen and Adi. The reporting on this story was so substantial and took a hard look at the predatory data extraction practices that so many companies are guilty of. I really appreciated the truly global scope of this story, and the writers’ examination of how the company’s altruistic crypto-enthusiasm compared with the distressing reality of its implementation.