A curated selection of news and stories for your midday escape.

We’ve all been there: you’ve got 20 minutes, a fork in one hand, and your phone in the other ready to scroll something while you eat. But instead of getting pulled into another doomscroll or ad-stuffed feed, why not read something that actually feeds your brain?

That’s the idea behind Lunch Break Reads: a curated newsletter of short, excellent stories sent once a week. No fluff. No paywalls. Just the internet’s most interesting writing, selected for your lunch break.

He crossed 26 miles in a kayak made from mushrooms – and lived to tell the tale by Lisa Kwon (The Guardian)

Who’s more sensitive to pain, men or women? The answer may surprise you. by Meeri Kim (The Washington Post)

99 Problems: The Ice Cream Truck’s Surprising History by Olivia Potts (LongReads)

The Artwork That Spawned 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Mystery by Kyle MacNeill (Rolling Stone)

How Did Taylor Swift Convince the World That She’s Relatable? by Spencer Kornhaber (The Atlantic)

Ned is a perfectly nice snail, but a rare shell means a doomed love life by Charlotte Graham-McLay (AP)

A spine-tingling discovery: This dinosaur had spiked body armor by Alana Wise (NPR)

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