Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist
Taking up arms against slavery, the famous novelist foreshadowed the vexed role of the white woman activist today
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Animals and humans
Where went the wolf?
The very attributes that make small dogs cute and popular are slowly strangling their ability to function as real animals
Jessica Pierce
essay
Consciousness and altered states
Stuck with the soul
The idea of the soul is obviously a nonsense, yet its immaterial mysterious nature has deep hooks in the human psyche
David P Barash
essay
Space exploration
Cosmic vision
By showing us a new cosmos, the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope will ripple through our moral universe
Claire Isabel Webb
essay
Anthropology
Lessons from the foragers
Hunter-gatherers don’t live in an economic idyll but their deep appreciation of rest puts industrialised work to shame
Vivek V Venkataraman
essay
Metaphysics
Are coincidences real?
I am an unequivocal rationalist and yet I still want to see something strange and wonderful in life’s weird coincidences
Paul Broks
video
Future of technology
Artificial ‘creativity’ is unstoppable. Grappling with its ethics is up to us
23 minutes
essay
Education
Unschooling
It takes nerve to go against the grain and take your child out of school. But, for some, that’s when learning really starts
Naomi Fisher & Heidi Steel
video
Design and fashion
Refined towards imperfection – a ceramic artist recreates a rare Korean treasure
15 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Through a poetic account of childhood trauma, one woman reclaims her past
28 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
The scar of identity
Alexandre Kojève was an immense influence on many French thinkers. What was so compelling about his lectures on Hegel?
Samantha Rose Hill
video
Politics and government
‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai
20 minutes
essay
Consciousness and altered states
Stuck with the soul
The idea of the soul is obviously a nonsense, yet its immaterial mysterious nature has deep hooks in the human psyche
David P Barash
essay
Art
Milk, pity and power
Since antiquity, artists have depicted a perverse scene of a daughter breastfeeding her aged father. What does it mean?
Margie Orford
video
Global history
The famed medieval map that stretched beyond Earth to heaven, history and myth
5 minutes
essay
Language and linguistics
The problem with English
Is Earth’s most-spoken language a living ‘gift’ or a many-headed ‘monster’? Both views distract us from the real dilemma
Mario Saraceni
video
Earth science and climate
A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse
6 minutes
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Gender and identity
A manly divorce
Straight men rarely write about the end of their marriages. Our enduring ideas about gender explain this silence
Joshua Coleman
video
Design and fashion
Household items are reborn in a ‘visual symphony of everyday objects’
11 minutes
essay
Religion
At the Kremlin in 1943
Stalin presented Orthodox leaders with a proposal: the Soviet state that had destroyed their Church would bring it back
Kathryn David
essay
Space exploration
Cosmic vision
By showing us a new cosmos, the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope will ripple through our moral universe
Claire Isabel Webb
video
Music
As a pianist strikes a chord, visualisations of his notes appear in real time
5 minutes
essay
Animals and humans
Where went the wolf?
The very attributes that make small dogs cute and popular are slowly strangling their ability to function as real animals
Jessica Pierce
video
Human rights and justice
Meet the man who uncovered the scandal of nuclear testing in South Australia
13 minutes
essay
Global history
After the mother tongues
Cultural exchange between Iran and India led to the creation of literary histories that inspired modern nationalism
Alexander Jabbari
video
Thinkers and theories
Jeremy Bentham was consumed by creating a perfect prison. Here’s the result
4 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
Masham and me
Were it not for her friendship with John Locke, the radical feminist gems of philosopher Damaris Masham might be unknown
Regan Penaluna
video
Quantum theory
Why aren’t our everyday lives as ‘spooky’ as the quantum world?
7 minutes
essay
Anthropology
Lessons from the foragers
Hunter-gatherers don’t live in an economic idyll but their deep appreciation of rest puts industrialised work to shame
Vivek V Venkataraman