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Trenches in Chernobyl | Aeon
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Trenches in Chernobyl

Disturbing and inhaling radioactive dust, in their haste Russian soldiers unburied the wrecked, undead Earth itself

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Keeping the score | Aeon
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Anthropology

Keeping the score

The gifts we exchange are both generous and yet fraught with social rules and obligations. Marcel Mauss explained why

Gili Kliger

Emory Douglas: the art of the Black Panthers | Aeon
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Art

The revolutionary artist who propelled the Black Panther movement with imagery

8 minutes

The invention of free love | Aeon
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History of ideas

The invention of free love

Percy Shelley thought romantic love freed men and women from the strictures of monogamy, but did it free them equally?

Neil McArthur

Names for snow | Aeon
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video

Knowledge

Yes, the Inuit have dozens of words for snow – but what does each one mean exactly?

6 minutes

Ida western exile | Aeon
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Technology and the self

One woman prepares for the risky solitude of Georgia O’Keeffe’s American West

8 minutes

Jesuits in the boardroom | Aeon
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Economic history

Jesuits in the boardroom

As corporations struggle to survive in a more uncertain world, they should look to the success of the Society of Jesus

Paolo Quattrone

Using the Astronomicum Caesareum book | Aeon
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video

History of science

How one of history’s most beautiful books was used to find fate in the cosmos

6 minutes

The doxxing of Rose Mainville | Aeon
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History

The doxxing of Rose Mainville

When a young street vendor found her name in a guidebook to the sex workers of Paris, she couldn’t live with the shame

Amanda E Herbert & David N Woodworth

The legacy of Sappho | Aeon
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The ancient world

Sappho’s homoerotic poetry was beloved in ancient Greece – and burned centuries later

5 minutes

Attuned to the aesthetic | Aeon
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Beauty and aesthetics

Attuned to the aesthetic

The ultimate value of the world can be discovered if you are sensitive to what is beautiful

Tom Cochrane

The science of symmetry | Aeon
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Evolution

Symmetry rules life on Earth – but it comes with many fascinating exceptions

9 minutes

The lethal act | Aeon
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Ethics

The lethal act

The Buddha taught not to kill, yet his followers have at times disobeyed him. Can murderers still be Buddhists?

Martin Kovan

The generous philosopher | Aeon
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Thinkers and theories

The generous philosopher

Bruno Latour showed us how to think with the things of the world, respecting their right to exist and act on their own terms

Stephen Muecke

Moths and beetles in slow-motion flight | Aeon
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Biology

There’s no one way for an insect to fly, but they’re all amazing in close up and slo-mo

7 minutes

What does art do? | Aeon
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Beauty and aesthetics

What does art do?

Good art, laced with irony, ambiguity and suspense, is not obviously political. That’s what makes it politically interesting

Vid Simoniti

Proportioned verdicts | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Beyond ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ – could a range of verdict options be more just?

9 minutes

Medieval but not Christian | Aeon
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Comparative philosophy

Medieval but not Christian

It’s shocking that histories of medieval philosophy celebrate only Christian thinkers, ignoring Islamic and Jewish thought

Yitzhak Y Melamed

Market | Aeon
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video

Food and drink

From set-up to close, a day at the farmers market is a whirlwind sensory feast

10 minutes

A dinosaur is a story | Aeon
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Palaeontology

A dinosaur is a story

As Brontosaurus tells us, in science as in fiction, the stories we tell to understand the world are always being revised

Nathaniel Goldberg & Chris Gavaler

En pointe! | Aeon
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Dance and theatre

From calluses to burnt shoes, the elegance of ballet is built from the ground up

4 minutes

A singular scientist | Aeon
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History of science

A singular scientist

James Lovelock was a visionary whose greatest ideas were made possible by his unshakeable independence

Roger Highfield

Five years after the war | Aeon
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Gender and identity

Timothée built his identity around his absent father. What happens when they meet?

17 minutes

The imperative betrayal | Aeon
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Religion

The imperative betrayal

The mystery of why Judas forsook Jesus goes to the heart of Christianity. A newly translated gospel offers a new view

David Brakke

Lady of the Gobi | Aeon
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video

Work

Living out of a truck, Maikhuu finds promise and peril on Mongolia’s ‘coal highway’

25 minutes

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