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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.

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

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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.

essay

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

Popular this month

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

essay

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

Photo of a person wearing large sunglasses with outdoor scenery reflected, resting their fingers on their chin in a thoughtful pose.

essay

Ethics

Main character syndrome

Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love

Anna Gotlib

Photo of colourful light reflections on a dark tiled floor, possibly from a stained glass window in a dimly lit interior space.

essay

Values and beliefs

My leap across the chasm

After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why

Philip Goff

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

essay

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

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

essay

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

video

Family life

The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations

10 minutes

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

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

video

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.

essay

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.

essay

Subcultures

An undulating thrill

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

Douglas Small

Close-up of a man smiling and interacting closely with a puppet of an old man wearing a black beret, both faces nearly touching.

video

Art

A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size

5 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a woman in a lab coat examining maize at a table, baskets of maize to the side, in a laboratory.

essay

Virtues and vices

Against humility

Intellectual humility has recently been hailed as the key to thinking well. The story of Barbara McClintock proves otherwise

Rachel Fraser

Photo of a street sign reading ‘Gipsy Lane’, mounted on a brick wall with green foliage behind, and a car in the background.

video

History

There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look

3 minutes

Photo of colourful light reflections on a dark tiled floor, possibly from a stained glass window in a dimly lit interior space.

essay

Values and beliefs

My leap across the chasm

After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why

Philip Goff

Close-up photo of butterfly wing scales in shades of orange, pink, white and black arranged in a mosaic-like pattern.

video

Biology

Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings

3 minutes

Black and white photo of a vintage race car numbered 6 speeding past blurred spectators emphasising motion and early motor racing.

essay

History of science

Clock time contra lived time

Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein fundamentally disagreed about the nature of time and how it can be measured. Who was right?

Evan Thompson

Photo of a person wearing large sunglasses with outdoor scenery reflected, resting their fingers on their chin in a thoughtful pose.

essay

Ethics

Main character syndrome

Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love

Anna Gotlib