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Black and white photo of a vintage propeller aircraft flying in a clear sky.

The forces of chance

Social scientists cling to simple models of reality – with disastrous results. Instead they must embrace chaos theory

Painting of a man and woman in elegant 18th-century attire sitting on a pink sofa with ornate decoration.

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History of ideas

Settling accounts

Before he was famous, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was Louise Dupin’s scribe. It’s her ideas on inequality that fill his writings

Rebecca Wilkin

Photo of a desert scene with tall cacti and a person standing, set against a sunlit rocky hill.

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Human rights and justice

Can providing humanitarian aid be illegal? A troubling case from the US-Mexico border

17 minutes

Photo of shattered glass with multiple cracks against a black background.

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Philosophy of mind

Rage against the machine

For all the promise and dangers of AI, computers plainly can’t think. To think is to resist – something no machine does

Alva Noë

A chimpanzee in a space suit inside a capsule with human hands assisting, suggesting space exploration preparation.

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Space exploration

The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space

12 minutes

Ancient mosaic depicting two figures with instruments on a blue stone background.

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Food and drink

The fermented crescent

Ancient Mesopotamians had a profound love of beer: a beverage they found celebratory, intoxicating and strangely erotic

Tate Paulette

Painting of people playing dodgeball around a square pool with ripples in vibrant colours, long shadows cast on the ground.

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Film and visual culture

A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life

4 minutes

Photo of two grey birds on a rock by water, one standing and the other appearing to crash land into the rock, neck bent with wings raised; green reeds in background.

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Philosophy of science

Life makes mistakes

Hens try to hatch golf balls, whales get beached. Getting things wrong seems to play a fundamental role in life on Earth

David S Oderberg

A painting of two girls with long hair each holding peacock feathers standing in front of a textured, muted background.

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Family life

The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations

10 minutes

Blurry photo of a person lying back with head tilted, set against a red and dark background.

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Sex and sexuality

Sex and death

Our culture works hard to keep sex and death separate but recharging the libido might provide the release that grief needs

Cody Delistraty

A street with an American flag a mural of a vintage town scene and a black pickup truck passing by.

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Politics and government

The spectre of insecurity

Liberals have forgotten that in order for our lives not to be nasty, brutish and short, we need stability. Enter Hobbes

Jennifer M Morton

3D rendering of a green, abstract, textured structure resembling dense tangled fibres on a black background.

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Neuroscience

This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience

2 minutes

Black and white photo of a group of people standing outdoors on a slope by a pond with trees and bushes in the background.

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Religion

The script creator

Pau Cin Hau dreamt of an alphabet for a language that had never been written down. So began the religion of Laipianism

Bikash K Bhattacharya

Black and white photo of ancient Egyptian artefacts in storage, including statues, chests, chairs, and bundles, within a room.

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Archaeology

What did the first people who entered Tutankhamun’s tomb see?

5 minutes

Photo of a galaxy with a bright centre emitting a blue jet of energy against a background of numerous stars in space.

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Cosmology

Stars behaving absurdly

For centuries, the only way in which to illuminate the mysteries of black holes was through the power of mathematics

Steve Nadis & Shing-Tung Yau

Photo of a silver inflatable balloon floating in the sky over a blurred brownish background, resembling a flying saucer.

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Information and communication

Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news

17 minutes

A Pacific National train engine in yellow and blue with “Make time to ask R U OK?” message on its side.

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Mental health

Constant confession

Mental health campaigns place huge trust in people’s ability to act as therapists. But when should professionals step in?

Aaron Neiman

A smiling elderly man in a cluttered electronics shop with various gadgets and boxes surrounding him.

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Home

The joy of clutter

The world sees Japan as a paragon of minimalism. But its hidden clutter culture shows that ‘more’ can be as magical as ‘less’

Matt Alt

Painting of a child in a red dress with arms raised standing beside an adult in a pink dress against a dark background.

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Childhood and adolescence

Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress

8 minutes

A man in yellow shorts floating on his back in a swimming pool, with dark lane markings and reflections in the water.

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History of science

Forwards, not back

Medicine aims to return bodies to the state they were in before illness. But there’s a better way of thinking about health

Kate MacCord & Jane Maienschein

Black and white photo of a teenage girl with dark hair smoking, eyes closed, with a blurred outdoor background.

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Meaning and the good life

Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world

10 minutes

Photo of a white temple with modern design features, a golden statue on top and a bright double rainbow in the cloudy sky.

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Human rights and justice

Utah is so gay!

The Mormon state is seen as deeply homophobic. Yet, from polygamy to pride, Mormons themselves are a distinctly queer lot

Kristi Rhead

A DNA double helix with overlapping images: lined pages, the printed pages of an old book, and a painted portrait of a woman that is the Mona Lisa, all on a black background.

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Computing and artificial intelligence

The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?

12 minutes

Close-up photo of a wooden mask with fur eyebrows, hollow eyes, a rounded mouth opening and long black hair against a dark background.

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Anthropology

Witches around the world

The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?

Gregory Forth

Vintage advertising poster for ‘Cocaine Toothache Drops’ featuring two children playing happily, building a house from sticks, in front of a house with a wooden fence.

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Subcultures

An undulating thrill

Once lauded as a wonder of the age, cocaine soon became the object of profound anxieties. What happened?

Douglas Small