Martin Schneider writes:

The "Innovators" issue of The New Yorker comes out tomorrow. A preview of its contents, adapted from the magazine's press release:

Malcolm Gladwell looks at the ability of underdogs to triumph over their stronger adversaries. "David can beat Goliath by substituting effort for ability—and substituting effort for ability turns out to be a winning formula for underdogs in all walks of life," Gladwell writes.

Adam Gopnik ruminates on what spurs invention: necessity, or superfluity? Observing the abundance of razors in his medicine cabinet, all of which are about equally useful, Gopnik notes "a strange but basic truth of life and marketing alike: that it is after a problem has already been solved that ever more varied and splendid solutions to it start to appear."

Douglas McGray writes about Green Dot Public Schools, a charter-school group that is California's largest, by enrollment, and one of its most successful, sending nearly eighty percent of their kids to college.

Rebecca Mead observes the work of Christian Scheidemann, who "is among just a handful of private conservators who specialize in contemporary art," and who "has become particularly admired for his skill in working with organic substances."

John Colapinto profiles the behavioral neurologist V.S. Ramachandran, "one of a dozen or so scientists and doctors who, in the past thirty years, have revolutionized the field of neurology by overturning a paradigm that dates back more than a hundred years: that of the brain as an organ with discrete modules (for vision, touch, pain, language, memory, etc.) that are fixed early in life and immutable."

Evan Osnos explores the life and career of Jia Zhangke, the Chinese filmmaker behind the award-winning film Still Life, about the social and physical demolition wrought by China's Three Gorges Dam, and, more recently, 24 City, about a factory closing.

In Comment, Philip Gourevitch asks who should be held accountable for the torture memos.

In the Talk of the Town, Alma Guillermoprieto reports from Mexico City, under siege by swine flu.

In the Talk of the Town, Lauren Collins looks at the linguistic implications of the disease's porcine name

In the Financial Page, James Surowiecki explains why the financial industry needs to shrink.

In Shouts & Murmurs, Amy Ozols makes friends on an airplane.

There is a comic strip by Chris Ware.

Judith Thurman writes Helen Gurley Brown and the Cosmo Girl.

Adam Kirsch explores the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Hilton Als reviews Desire Under the Elms.

Sasha Frere-Jones listens to Grizzly Bear's new album.

David Denby reviews X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fighting, and Tyson.

There is a story by the recently departed writer J. G. Ballard.