The joy of clutter
The world sees Japan as a paragon of minimalism. But its hidden clutter culture shows that ‘more’ can be as magical as ‘less’
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Ethics
Main character syndrome
Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love
Anna Gotlib
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Complexity
Problem-solving matter
Life is starting to look a lot less like an outcome of chemistry and physics, and more like a computational process
David C Krakauer & Chris Kempes
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Values and beliefs
My leap across the chasm
After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why
Philip Goff
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Sleep and dreams
Spinning the night self
After years of insomnia, I threw off the effort to sleep and embraced the peculiar openness I found in the darkest hours
Annabel Abbs
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History of science
Forwards, not back
Medicine aims to return bodies to the state they were in before illness. But there’s a better way of thinking about health
Kate MacCord & Jane Maienschein
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Childhood and adolescence
Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress
8 minutes
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Human rights and justice
Utah is so gay!
The Mormon state is seen as deeply homophobic. Yet, from polygamy to pride, Mormons themselves are a distinctly queer lot
Kristi Rhead
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Meaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
10 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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Anthropology
Witches around the world
The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?
Gregory Forth
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Subcultures
An undulating thrill
Once lauded as a wonder of the age, cocaine soon became the object of profound anxieties. What happened?
Douglas Small
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Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
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Virtues and vices
Against humility
Intellectual humility has recently been hailed as the key to thinking well. The story of Barbara McClintock proves otherwise
Rachel Fraser
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History
There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look
3 minutes
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Values and beliefs
My leap across the chasm
After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why
Philip Goff
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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History of science
Clock time contra lived time
Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein fundamentally disagreed about the nature of time and how it can be measured. Who was right?
Evan Thompson
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Ethics
Main character syndrome
Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love
Anna Gotlib
video
Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes
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Physics
Chasing ghost particles
Without the neutrino, the Universe might be an empty void. But this inscrutable particle isn’t giving up its secrets easily
Corey S Powell
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Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
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Food and drink
The joy of foraging
Offering an escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes the soul and body, but it needs democratic access to the land
Nikita Sud
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Art
The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles
7 minutes
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Design and fashion
When luxury is good
The waste and exploitation of fast fashion shouldn’t blind us to the joys of making beautiful clothing with care
Roger Tredre
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Race and ethnicity
The forging of countries
Two distinct and conflicting forms of nationalism – civic and ethnic – helped create the nation-states of Europe
Luka Ivan Jukić
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Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
The value of our values
When Nietzsche used the tools of philology to explore the nature of morality, he became a ‘philosopher of the future’
Alexander Prescott-Couch
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Human rights and justice
An unarmed Indigenous group aims to protect their native lands in this stirring portrait
15 minutes