Before joining The Atlantic in 2014, LaFrance was an investigative reporter for several local and national news organizations, covering politics, technology, and media.
She is a former reporter at Honolulu Civil Beat, Nieman Journalism Lab, WBUR, Hawaii Public Radio, Honolulu Weekly, and Digital First Media. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Slate.
Searching for Lost Knowledge in the Age of Intelligent Machines
As search engines are radically reinvented, computers and people are becoming partners in exploration.
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Library of Congress The Lost History of an American Coup D’État
Republicans and Democrats in North Carolina are locked in a battle over which party inherits the shame of Jim Crow.
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Library of Congress The Sound of an Atomic Bomb
A flash, a boom, then a roar
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Last Week Tonight / YouTube screenshot John Oliver Skewers Trump’s Plan for a Border Patrol Hiring Blitz
The president wants to hire and train 500 new agents in 2018.
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Carlo Allegri / Reuters Trump Tests the F-Bomb Policy at The New York Times
The newspaper is swapping out “barnyard expletives” for truly colorful swears.
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Gelpi / Shutterstock / Paul Spella / The ... The Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed With YouTube
Surprise eggs and slime are at the center of an online realm that’s changing the way the experts think about human development.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters Evaluating Trump's Psyche in Public
Inside the ongoing ethics debate over what professionals can say about the president's mental health
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Why Is Anthony Scaramucci Following Me on Twitter?
Yes, this is probably a Taye Diggs situation.
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NASA / Hinode / XRT Are Eclipse Goggles a Scam?
They’re essential for anyone who wants a direct view of the solar action—but knockoffs are dangerous, NASA warns.
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Do Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer or Not?
Senator John McCain’s glioblastoma diagnosis revives a longstanding debate over the safety of wireless technology.
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Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters Trump’s Wile E. Coyote Approach to Border Security
Smuggling experts say the president needs to listen to the people who understand the complexities of security and drug policy.
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Brendan McDermid / Reuters The Awful Decline of the New York City Subway System
The aging infrastructure was already terrible. Overcrowding made things much, much worse.
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Brian Snyder / Reuters But His Emails!
The latest White House scandal brings the nation’s attention back to the inbox.
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University of Washington The Technology That Will Make It Impossible for You to Believe What You See
With these techniques, it’s difficult to discern between videos of real people and computerized impostors that can be programmed to say anything.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters Donald Trump’s ‘Impenetrable Cybersecurity’ Is Pure Fantasy
Guarding networked systems is an endless process, and an imperfect one.
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Michaela Rehle / Reuters The Link Between SIDS and Serotonin
A new study hints at the possibility of a forensic test for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and inches closer to the possibility of preventative screening.
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@realdonaldtrump / Twitter Donald Trump Is Testing Twitter’s Harassment Policy
The president’s latest outbursts suggest the social-media platform imposes no editorial standards. But should it?
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Z. Levy / NASA / ESA / STScI Solving the Mystery of Whose Laughter Is On the Golden Record
Forty years ago, the sound of a human cackle was blasted out into the cosmos—but who is the person laughing? And why did the track disappear from official recordings?
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Good Health Never Lasts
The Republican health-care plan is especially bad for the elderly—which means it’s especially bad for everyone.
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Gleb Garanich / Reuters When Squirrels Attack
A cautionary tale
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Danny Moloshok / Reuters What Will Uber Become Without Travis Kalanick as CEO?
Investors forced the brash executive’s resignation for the good of the company—but what does that mean for its future?
