Exploding the Big Bang
It was thought that science could tell us about the origins of the Universe. Today that great endeavour is in serious doubt
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Food and drink
The flavour of mechanisation
Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention
Massimo Mazzotti
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Biology
Could humans hibernate?
Hibernation allows many animals to time-travel from difficult times to plenty. Could humans learn how to do it too?
Vladyslav Vyazovskiy
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Philosophy of science
The nature of natural laws
Physicists and philosophers today have formulated three opposing models that explain how laws work. Which is the best?
Mario Hubert
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Nations and empires
What is decolonisation?
There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?
Lydia Walker
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Future of technology
A linkless internet
In creating anonymous summaries, AI flattens out all the fascinating architecture of thought that makes the internet hum
Collin Jennings
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History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
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Political philosophy
The order of anarchy
How San Francisco’s free rides system can help us understand anarchist theory and the work of the late, great James C Scott
Reyko Huang
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Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
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Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
24 minutes
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Home
How to lose your home
In a changing climate, the instinct is to save everything you can. But maybe letting go is braver – and better for the future?
Dan Hancox
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Beauty and aesthetics
Can you see music in this painting? How synaesthesia fuelled Kandinsky’s art
10 minutes
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Human evolution
The eugenicist of UNESCO
Why did Julian S Huxley, first director of the UN agency, think eugenics held the key to a more evolved, harmonious world?
Stefan Bernhardt-Radu
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Political philosophy
The underground university
During the Cold War, Oxford philosophers worked together to aid dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. I was one of them
Cheryl Misak
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The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
18 minutes
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Metaphysics
Many worlds, many selves
If it’s true that we live in a vast multiverse, then our understanding of identity, morality and even God must be reexamined
Emily Qureshi-Hurst
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Childhood and adolescence
The police camp where tween girls enter a sisterhood of law and order
28 minutes
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Biography and memoir
A grief with no name
As a child, I was torn from a culture that I never knew. It is a loss that defines me, even as I struggle to define the loss
Jelena Markovic
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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Who can claim Aristotle?
The endless battle over his legacy testifies to his great authority – and the power of his thought to make the world better
Edith Hall
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Philosophy of religion
Compassionate time
On his final journey through Asia, Thomas Merton found some peace in the dialectic between refusing the world and loving it
Drew Calvert
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Knowledge
Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow
11 minutes
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Nations and empires
What is decolonisation?
There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?
Lydia Walker
video
Physics
Groundbreaking visualisations show how the world of the nucleus gives rise to our own
10 minutes
video
War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
12 minutes
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Biology
Could humans hibernate?
Hibernation allows many animals to time-travel from difficult times to plenty. Could humans learn how to do it too?
Vladyslav Vyazovskiy
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Bioethics
The cochlear question
As the hearing parent of a deaf baby, I’m confronted with an agonising decision: should I give her an implant to help her hear?
Abi Stephenson
video
Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
31 minutes
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Philosophy of science
The nature of natural laws
Physicists and philosophers today have formulated three opposing models that explain how laws work. Which is the best?
Mario Hubert