Scratchers that aren’t total eyesores, toys your feline friend might play with at least once (before fixating on the packaging), books and accessories for cat-obsessed humans, and some ideas for dog people, too. newyorker.com/culture/gift-g…

Last week, a research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association—using data from a sample of nearly 500 military members—reported that approximately 25 per cent of participants had at least one measured testosterone level that could qualify them as deficient. The data suggests that more than a 100,000 men in current service could qualify for testosterone-replacement therapy if their screening results are treated as diagnostic. “The letter is something of a Rorschach test, offering new information that could either bolster or undermine Pete Hegseth’s effort to establish a ‘high-T Department of War,’ ” Rachael Bedard writes. “Every relevant medical society recommends against screening asymptomatic men for testosterone deficiency, because it is akin to scouring a hotel room with a black light: you’re going to find a lot of stuff of indeterminate significance that you wish you hadn’t seen,” Bedard continues. Serum testosterone levels vary with stress, sleep, body shape, and time of day; borderline low levels are common and are hard to interpret outside the context of a careful clinical evaluation. And different organizations even use different thresholds to determine what a “low” value is. “These ambiguities make the condition a perfect container for all manner of dysphoria and shame, and set patients and doctors up for conflict,” Bedard notes. Read about the current obsession with testosterone and the complexities of measuring it: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/MJ…

Can you guess when these New Yorker cartoons were originally published? newyorker.com/puzzles-and-ga…

Can you make a longer word with each new letter? newyorker.com/puzzles-and-ga…

Wanda the Donkey regularly steals the show at the Met’s most popular production, “La Bohème.” Here’s an inside look at her creative process. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

1983 title role for Barbra Streisand: five letters. newyorker.com/puzzles-and-ga…

Earlier this year, Ava Kofman published an investigation about a Los Angeles couple who had collected more than 20 children through surrogacy, which was the subject of last month’s In The Dark podcast series. The couple remain in custody for a series of charges related to the abuse of their children. According to court records, investigators observed thousands of acts of alleged abuse in the home footage, and the extent of the violence “cannot be fully conveyed through written description alone.” If convicted as charged, both parents face over a decade in prison. Kofman offers an update on the case: newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

The D.S.A. is divided about whether to be involved with “mass politics”—but, this year, 123 candidates backed by the organization have won primaries at every level. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

Today's Daily Cartoon, by Trevor Spaulding.

In an L.A. criminal court, new details emerge about the mysterious couple who collected more than 20 babies through surrogacy. The couple remain in custody for charges related to the abuse of the children. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

People make a big deal about the hundred and one Dalmatians, and how they were saved from Cruella de Vil, but rarely do you hear about the hundred-and-second Dalmatian. newyorker.com/humor/shouts-m…

Can you sort the items into the correct order? newyorker.com/puzzles-and-ga…

The viral “Hotel Lobby” meme, which lets users inhabit the bodies of Quavo and Takeoff using A.I., resembles a kind of digital blackface, but also speaks to a technology that makes appropriation the default. newyorker.com/culture/infini…

They power our phones, cars, dishwashers—and the A.I. systems that prop up the economy. They’re also at the heart of fierce geopolitical rivalry. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who filmed the attack, describes the significant increase in West Bank violence on the eve of the Israeli election. newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/b…

See today’s Daily Cartoon. newyorker.com/cartoons/daily…

Undoing the Hindenburg disaster, and other romantic things to do on a time-travel date. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

A journalist who was present during the Israeli settler attack on the photographer Heidi Levine discusses what he witnessed. “I see somebody in a press vest on the ground with five or six settlers on top of them, just beating them over and over with clubs. It was truly barbaric.” newyorkermag.visitlink.me/8e…

Can you guess when these New Yorker cartoons were originally published? newyorker.com/puzzles-and-ga…

Funny drawings from this week’s magazine. newyorker.com/gallery/cartoo…