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Painting of a girl with a pearl earring in an ornate frame, viewed by three people in a gallery setting.

The ecstatic swoon

As Stendhal knew, the reason for art is to make you feel. Do not try to grasp the artwork: allow it to grasp you instead

An elderly couple sit beside a child standing next to a canal with bare trees behind them. The man talks to the child and has a walking stick beside him.

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Demography and migration

The vanishing of youth

The precipitous decline of birthrates throughout the world poses a serious threat to humanity. What is to be done?

Victor Kumar

3D digital rendering of a cross-section of a Roman amphitheatre, showing architectural details and a large crowd inside.

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Architecture

A 3D rendering of the Colosseum captures its architectural genius and symbolic power

17 minutes

Medieval painting of soldiers in armour on a boat and horseback near a fortress with Cyrillic script above.

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Global history

Vikings on the Silk Roads

The Norse ravaged much of Europe for centuries. They were also cosmopolitan explorers who followed trade winds into the Far East

Neil Price

Abstract image of a woman’s face with vivid swirls of blue, green, red and yellow on a black background.

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Human rights and justice

Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home

10 minutes

Photo of a black dog lying on a blue background with a purple button on its left and a yellow button on its right.

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Language and linguistics

Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?

9 minutes

A satirical painting of a giant man being fed with spoons by tiny attendants.

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Information and communication

Methodical banality

Like today’s large language models, 16th-century humanists had techniques to automate writing – to the detriment of novelty

Hannah Katznelson

Black and white photo of a person in glasses and military attire standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

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Art

When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer

9 minutes

3D digital graphic of geometric shapes—cube, spheres and orbits—in space with a starry background.

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History of science

Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history

29 minutes

Photo of a woman in a white dress and purple headscarf leaning against a wall, covering her face near green foliage.

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Human rights and justice

Struggling to wake

After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?

Ayisha Osori

Photo of a framed picture with colourful string art overlays, featuring plants in the foreground and other photos around.

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Values and beliefs

Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi

7 minutes

Abstract colourful illustration showing various sections of a face and a black cat with lines and geometric shapes, from the perspective of someone peeing into a box.

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Physics

The cat that wouldn’t die

The weird paradox of Schrödinger’s cat has found a lasting popularity. What does it mean for the future of quantum physics?

Jim Baggott

Photo of deep space with a pale blue dot in the distance against a dark background, featuring faint light streaks.

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Cosmology

Just a pale blue dot

When we see the Earth as ‘a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’ what do we learn about human significance?

Tim Bayne

Digital artwork of a skull with holographic elements and text overlays on a dark background.

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Consciousness and altered states

‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality

7 minutes

A dark building at night, the black building structure contrasting with a deep blue night sky, with many vertical rectangular windows, three windows are brightly lit.

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Philosophy of science

More-than-human science

When AI takes over the practice of science we will likely find the results strange and incomprehensible. Should we worry?

Brandon Boesch

Photo of dandelion seeds in flight against a blurred green forest background.

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Meaning and the good life

Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned

11 minutes

Ancient stone sculpture of a reclining female figure on a smooth surface against a grey background.

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Thinkers and theories

The truth about love

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?

Armand D’Angour

Photo of a person applying varnish to the interior planks of a wooden boat on a sunny day.

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Making

On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way

6 minutes

Black and white photo of a firing squad in a wooded area with snow on the ground, soldiers aiming rifles at standing figures.

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Death

The last letter

Condemned to death by firing squad, French resistance fighters put pen to paper. Their dying words can teach us how to live

Daniel R Brunstetter

Enhanced image of Ceres’ surface showing a bright crater and stars in space.

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Space exploration

Have they been here?

When we look for extraterrestrials, we often peer into the depths of space. But alien life might be closer than you think

Ravi Kopparapu & Jacob Haqq Misra

Photo of a wicker basket with two kittens and a squirrel inside against a decorative blue and white tiled wall.

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Animals and humans

One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough

14 minutes

Photo of people walking outdoors carrying trays of plants, surrounded by bushes and greenery.

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Meaning and the good life

Welcome to the Chaoscene

The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities

Rupert Read

Abstract digital art with glowing spirals and spheres on a dark background.

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Computing and artificial intelligence

A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away

9 minutes

Photo of a black and white moth with speckled wings against a dark background.

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Genetics

Beanbag genetics

Today a bitter dispute about the nature of biology is underway. A simple bag of beans may be what tips the balance

Zachary B Hancock

Painting of two armoured warriors confronting three hooded witches under a turbulent sky, with one warrior holding a spear.

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History

Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches

13 minutes