Birdland

Human sprawl is usually a threat to wildlife, but birds buck the trend. Can we help biodiversity take wing in our suburbs?

Super excited

Does relentless enthusiasm really help the world, or should generation TED learn to take a more sceptical view?

The psychology of torture

The Milgram experiments showed that anybody could be capable of torture when obeying an authority. Are they still valid?

Freedom from food

It takes time to plan a meal, to say nothing of cooking and eating it. What if we could opt out of food altogether?

My daughter, myself

Storms of doubt and change I expected as the parent of an adolescent, I just thought they would be hers, not mine

Bonfire of the humanities

Public debate is afflicted by short-term thinking – how did history abdicate its role of inspiring the longer view?

The free-will fix

New brain implants can restore autonomy to damaged minds, but can they settle the question of whether free will exists?

Exodus

Elon Musk argues that we must put a million people on Mars if we are to ensure that humanity has a future

A closed loop

The DNA helix gave 20th-century biology its symbol. But the more we learn, the more life circles back to an older image

The good death

It’s a modern dream that we can plan a good and peaceful death but what can we really do to meet the end of all we are?

The other half

To end inequality, we must realise that it isn’t about the rich, it’s about the poor. And we know almost nothing about them

Not so foolish

We are told that we are an irrational tangle of biases, to be nudged any which way. Does this claim stand to reason?

Trial by fire

From fire-walking to the ice-bucket challenge, ritual pain and suffering forge intense social bonds

Earth is not a garden

Some of the world’s most powerful conservationists are giving up on wilderness. They are making a big mistake

The calculus of contagion

In the battle against disease, the difference between a raging epidemic and a passing fever comes down to a single number

Runs in the family

Cricketing dynasties seem to imply that talent is genetic. Yet the evidence from other sports queers the pitch

The Grand Tour, 2.0

Can today’s travel deliver on the promise of the Grand Tour – or is the idea of edifying travel utterly bankrupt?

The humanitarian future

Can humanitarian agencies still fly the flag of high principle, or are they just relics of an imperial model of charity?

The first cut

Most American boys are circumcised as a matter of course. Now, many of them feel violated. Should the practice be banned?

Lock up your wives!

Advice columns from decades past provide a chilling glimpse into the horrors of marriage counselling before feminism

Outlook: gloomy

Humans are wired for bad news, angry faces and sad memories. Is this negativity bias useful or something to overcome?

Precognitive police

Predictive policing could help prevent crime. But do we want a future where computer oracles and spies track us from birth?

Plot twist

When the storyline of one’s life hits a dead end, a redemption narrative offers an alluring, if dubious, transformation

Full disclosure

Do individuals have a right for their medical records to remain private after death, or can public interest prevail?