The haunted city
The city, for all its mechanical speed, artificial light and industrialisation, is the most uncanny of human habitats
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essay
Self-improvement
The art of listening
To listen well is not only a kindness to others but also, as the psychologist Carl Rogers made clear, a gift to ourselves
M M Owen
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Ageing and death
Old not Other
Here’s a puzzle: why do we neglect and disdain the one vulnerable group we all eventually will join? Beauvoir had an answer
Kate Kirkpatrick & Sonia Kruks
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History
The smile: a history
How our toothy modern smile was invented by a confluence of French dentistry and Parisian portrait-painting in the 1780s
Colin Jones
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Philosophy of religion
A God beyond logic
The history of natural theology shows that Intelligent Design and New Atheism both got it wrong, in strangely similar ways
Adam R Shapiro
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Biology
Seeing life
Driven by insatiable curiosity, early histologists revealed the hidden structures of cells in works of sensual artistry
Benjamin Ehrlich
video
History of technology
Master cartography and mythical creatures – the world according to the Catalan Atlas
8 minutes
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Language and linguistics
The polyglots of Dardistan
At the crossroads of south and central Asia lies one of the world’s most multilingual places, with songs and poetry to match
Zubair Torwali
video
Mood and emotion
A century of letters captures the emotions of life in a new city, far from home
21 minutes
video
Ageing and death
Death is a trip – how new research links near-death and DMT experiences
9 minutes
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Evolution
Connected-up-brains
Bat friends, monkeys sharing, and humans holding hands: the brains of social animals synchronise and expand one another
Sofia Quaglia
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The environment
Photographs of rainforests dissolving in acid strike a beautiful note of warning
10 minutes
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Philosophy of religion
A God beyond logic
The history of natural theology shows that Intelligent Design and New Atheism both got it wrong, in strangely similar ways
Adam R Shapiro
video
Technology and the self
Adaptive technologies have helped Stephen Hawking, and many more, find their voice
5 minutes
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The ancient world
Cracking the Cretan code
Linear B has yielded its secrets, but Linear A remains elusive. Can linguistic analysis unlock the meaning of Minoan script?
Ester Salgarella
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
Experience the dazzling displays that fireflies create when humans are far away
5 minutes
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Gender and identity
‘When you’re done, you stay human!’ What gender transition means to John
6 minutes
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Ageing and death
Old not Other
Here’s a puzzle: why do we neglect and disdain the one vulnerable group we all eventually will join? Beauvoir had an answer
Kate Kirkpatrick & Sonia Kruks
video
Stories and literature
Solaris and beyond – Stanisław Lem’s antidotes to the bores of American sci-fi
7 minutes
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Political philosophy
Democracy entails conflict
Democracy is a system of politics that has disagreement at its heart. But how do we stop conflicts becoming destructive?
Rochelle DuFord
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History
The smile: a history
How our toothy modern smile was invented by a confluence of French dentistry and Parisian portrait-painting in the 1780s
Colin Jones
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
To renew Yosemite, California should embrace a once-outlawed Indigenous practice
6 minutes
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Art
Her body is a problem
When 1970s women artists put the female body under the female gaze, why did the critics see only obscene monsters?
Lauren Elkin
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Music
Before the Beatles dropped acid, a BBC workshop was creating far-out sounds
6 minutes
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Sleep and dreams
The dreams of animals
The psychic lives of nonhuman dreamers reveal colours, harmonies and beauties of which we had little inkling until now
David M Peña-Guzmán
video
Philosophy of language
For Ludwig Wittgenstein, language is a game, but not a frivolous one
43 minutes
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History of ideas
Beyond dust and grime
Zhuangzi thought Confucians were like frogs trapped in a well, unable to perceive the limitlessness of the sea
Tao Jiang
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Art
Is paying with hand-drawn banknotes artistry or forgery? The knotty case of J S G Boggs
10 minutes
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Animals and humans
Freefall into darkness
Scientists study animals to illuminate human psychology. So why are we blind to the mental lives of our caged subjects?
Garet Lahvis