/
/
Aeon
A person in a garden facing a traditional Japanese building with a curved roof across a pond, surrounded by trees and bushes.

Between being and emptiness

In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature

A person in a garden facing a traditional Japanese building with a curved roof across a pond, surrounded by trees and bushes.

essayComparative philosophy

Between being and emptiness

In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature

Takeshi Morisato

Abstract digital artwork of a side-profile human head with a textured, swirling pattern on a black background.

essayNeuroscience

Can you rewire your brain?

The metaphor of rewiring offers an ideal of engineered precision. But the brain is more like a forest than a circuit board

Peter Lukacs

Rock painting of animals in red pigment on a rough stone surface, depicting various quadrupeds across the rocky wall.

videoArchaeology

What the ‘Louvre of the desert’ reveals about the human story

15 minutes

Two children on a bike passing a group of people standing outside a large metal gate with buildings in the background.

essayWork

Victims and villains

In Southeast Asia’s scam compounds, workers are being enslaved but the boundary between victim and perpetrator is blurred

Ivan Franceschini & Ling Li

Photo of a woman juggling three white balls against a clear blue sky, wearing a white ruffled blouse and floral apron.

videoKnowledge

True mastery demands going beyond the rules to learn for yourself

15 minutes

Illustration of a person standing with arms outstretched on a car roof filled with cheering people, trees in the background.

videoLife stages

Youthful joy and civil unrest collide in this epic road trip tale

11 minutes

Illustration of a person framing their face with their fingers wearing an orange shirt against a grey background.

videoConsciousness and altered states

The elaborate places one’s mind wanders in solitary confinement

15 minutes

Two boys in colourful clothes standing beside a large painting of an elderly woman in a gold frame.

essayEconomics

Is inherited wealth bad?

Despite associations with the idle rich, the fact that inheritances are rising is a sign of a healthy, growing economy

Daniel Waldenström

Photo of abstract light trails in yellow and white on a dark background, creating a swirling, dynamic pattern.

videoPhysics

Our Universe has light not by chance but by necessity

59 minutes

Engraving showing a view of the Portuguese town of Cacheo with a fort, trees and sailing ships on a river.

essayGlobal history

A lesson in coexistence

The 17th-century town Cacheu was a hub of West African and European cultures, languages and beliefs (and run by women)

Toby Green

A person riding a motorcycle on a vertical wall in a wooden cylinder arena with spectators above, indoors.

videoSubcultures

The Indian daredevils who feel at home in the Well of Death

6 minutes

A baseball with red stitching on a black background partially lit from the top left corner.

essayPhysics

Playing in flatland

Physicists believe a third class of particles – anyons – could exist, but only in 2D. What kind of existence is that?

Elay Shech

Photo of two silhouettes walking by fountains with bokeh effect in the foreground, Arc de Triomphe in the background.

essayComputing and artificial intelligence

Computers can’t surprise

As AI’s endless clichés continue to encroach on human art, the true uniqueness of our creativity is becoming ever clearer

Richard Beard

Aerial photo of an industrial conveyor unloading material into a turquoise water body, surrounded by carved sand dunes.

videoProgress and modernity

From Michigan to Singapore, a meditation on dreams built on sand

17 minutes

Three people draped in German flags standing in a town square during a gathering, with a rainbow in the cloudy sky.

essayAnthropology

Dreams of the far Right

Young Europeans join far-Right movements less out of grievance than out of a profound yearning to believe and belong

Agnieszka Pasieka

Illustration of a person in an armchair looking out at a full moon through a window with bookshelves in the background.

videoMeaning and the good life

Would immortality offer a curse of boredom or endless novelty?

6 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a man viewing framed artworks on a wall in an exhibition setting.

essayHistory of science

A light from the periphery

The life of Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose illuminates how scientific genius can emerge from the most unexpected quarters

Somaditya (Soma) Banerjee

Photo of a snow leopard looking up with a mountainous background and some foliage in the foreground.

videoAnimals and humans

There’s a gentle artistry to a museum taxidermist’s craft

8 minutes

Sepia-toned photo of a man addressing a crowd of strikers outside a brick building wearing early 20th-century attire.

essayPolitics and government

Our unfinished republics

Economic republicanism shows us how to achieve authentic freedom: citizens require economic as well as political power

Sean Irving

essayHistory of ideas

The shape of time

In the 19th century, the linear idea of time became dominant, forever changing how those in the West experience the world

Emily Thomas

Photo of a person with glasses holding a clarinet, finger to lips in a shushing gesture, blue sky background.

videoNature and landscape

A breezy ode to wind ponders its power, beauty and utility

10 minutes

Painting of industrial workers and scientists performing tasks; includes gears, blueprints and factory elements.

essayPolitical philosophy

Landholder vs stockholder

In 1752, David Hume discerned that wealth was becoming untethered from land. Here lies the origin of our political divisions

Catherine Nichols

Painting of a boy at an open window with a dandelion seed above him, in a textured, earthy-toned setting.

videoLove and friendship

The loving lies a father wrote to his daughter from a gulag

12 minutes

People lowering a wicker coffin into a grave in a green landscape with hills and a river in the background.

essayDeath

How to become a tree

Many people today want to commit their remains to rejuvenating the planet. But are these green deaths just greenwashing?

Hannah Gould & Georgina Robinson

Sepia-toned photo of a person in traditional armour with a spiked helmet holding a weapon in a forest setting.

videoDesign and fashion

How islanders of Oceania built fearsome armour without metal

18 minutes