TouchStone Reads - June 26th, 2026

We often set aside articles that are longer, deserve a re-read, are broader in scope…or just for fun - for weekend reading. Below are some from this week - pour yourself a hot cup of coffee & enjoy... 

• Half of America’s Cities Are Depopulating. We Could Be Headed for a Ghost Town Era. *Tumbleweed*. The infrastructure implications are larger than the headline. (Popular Mechanics)

• The Mars Delusion: Why are so many people obsessed with achieving it? (NOEMA)

• Video of the day: ‘Toy Story 5’ Director on Pixar’s Secret to Making Adults Cry. (WSJ)

• Copycats: How big a problem is plagiarism? Perhaps most complicated of all is the plagiarizing of ideas.  (Commentary)

• How Does Our Taste in Movies Change With Age? (Stat Significant)

• Donald Trump, Champion of Renewable Energy:  Krugman on the irony that Trump-era policies are inadvertently boosting renewable buildout. Markets find a way; politics, less so. (Paul Krugman)

• Pigeons are surprisingly good at detecting cancer (Popular Science)

• Who Is the Most Evil Disney Villain of All Time? (PixlParade)

• Stunning Video of the Southern Lights Dancing Across the Earth Captured by a NASA Astronaut–WATCH (Good News Network)

• Martha's Vineyard Is Screening Jaws in the Water Where It Was Filmed (Travel Pirates)

• Summer is as much as 38 days longer than it was 30 years ago (Source: Washington Post)
  

What are you reading or listening to?