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Photo of a rustic stone house with a shaded garden path lined with lush greenery and flowering plants under a clear blue sky.

From scattered traces

How the ideas circulating among one noblewoman’s coterie in 16th-century Dubrovnik anticipated modern feminist thought

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History of ideas

From scattered traces

Luka Boršić

Popular this month

Four ballet dancers practising at a barre, wearing black leotards and pink tights, leaning back with their left arms raised.

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Neuroscience

Ingredients for brilliance

An immersive ‘flow state’ isn’t only accessible to great artists and athletes. You can find your flow too. Here’s how

Julia F Christensen

A person in a hi-vis vest sitting outdoors at a table with a drink, looking into the distance.

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Technology and the self

The unseen

Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being

Allison J Pugh

A beaver dam on a calm lake surrounded by dense evergreen forest with mountains faintly visible in the background.

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Animals and humans

Animals taught us culture

Prehistoric humans didn’t create art and architecture out of nothing. They took inspiration from the nonhuman world

Sarah Newman

Cropped illustration of a person in a pink robe with orange patterns walking beside a horse, surrounded by grass and flowers.

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Gender

Taliban bride

Women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their own homes. This is the story of Marjan, married at 12 to a Taliban fighter

Zala & Asad Nariman

Photo of a busy street corner with people gathering outside a cafe named Dante in a city setting on a cloudy day.

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Neurodiversity

Rethinking adult ADHD

The diagnostic category of adult ADHD is becoming more inclusive. That’s not the same as it being overdiagnosed

Margaret Sibley

Aerial photo of workers harvesting oranges, loading crates onto a tractor in an orchard.

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Demography and migration

In California’s farmlands, immigrant workers share their stories of toil and hope

17 minutes

Photo of ornate 18th-century women’s shoes with floral embroidery and green trim on a neutral background.

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Design and fashion

Walk in these

Shoes are deeply personal, literally moulded to our lives. But they create our social lives as much as express them

Matthew McCormack

Blurry photo of a townscape with unfocused colourful lights strung across buildings in the evening.

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Ageing and death

Memories of friends and neighbours light the streets of a seaside village in England

11 minutes

Illustration of two turquoise beams pointing from the Milky Way galaxy toward another galaxy on a black background.

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History of science

How we came to know the size of the Universe – and what mysteries remain

26 minutes

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Music

The beat of goombay

Diasporas are made of vast constellations of countless people, fused together through memory, meaning – and music

Salwa Halloway

Satellite image of South Dakota with glowing yellow lines representing data or energy pathways overlaid.

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Ecology and environmental sciences

Join endangered whooping cranes on their perilous migratory path over North America

6 minutes

Black and white photo of a woman and man sitting at a kitchen table appearing deep in thought or conversation.

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Virtues and vices

Awkward silences

What is it about lulls in conversation that make them so very uncomfortable? It has to do with how we connect with each other

Rebecca Roache

Photo of a man with glasses and grey hair in a suit speaking animatedly against a dark background.

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Knowledge

Why David Deutsch believes good explanations are the antidote to bad philosophy

10 minutes

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Gender

Taliban bride

Women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their own homes. This is the story of Marjan, married at 12 to a Taliban fighter

Zala & Asad Nariman

Photo of a modern house built over a waterfall, surrounded by dense green forest and a rocky stream.

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Architecture

A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture

14 minutes

Daguerreotype of a man in a Victorian-era suit holding a rod with one eye closed, framed by an ornate gold border.

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History of science

Injury and inhibition

The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors

Ben Platts-Mills

Vintage painting of a man with glowing eyes surrounded by floating spheres on a decorative background.

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Stories and literature

Merveilleux-scientifique

With brain swaps and death rays, a little-known French sci-fi genre explored science’s dark possibilities a century ago

Fleur Hopkins-Loféron

Photo of a woman in a floral headscarf with a man in the background against a rural autumn landscape under a clear sky.

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Home

Life moves slowly in a Romanian mountain village, shaped by care and the seasons

13 minutes

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Technology and the self

The unseen

Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being

Allison J Pugh

A white playroom with a boy in a tent and his mother reading to him holding stuffed animals, toys scattered around.

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Family life

A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait

11 minutes

Black birds flying over snowy mountains with dramatic cloudy skies in the background.

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Evolution

Empire of flight

They have big brains, long childhoods and sociable, curious minds. So why haven’t birds developed complex culture?

Antone Martinho-Truswell

Weathered hands holding a small, carved stone tool with intricate details, set against a blurred background.

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Archaeology

At a prehistoric pigment mine, researchers glimpse our earliest moments in the Americas

25 minutes

Medieval painting of a circular walled city with towers and a large lamb statue on a roof, surrounded by countryside.

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Political philosophy

The allure of autarky

Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t

Ben Chu

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Animals and humans

Animals taught us culture

Prehistoric humans didn’t create art and architecture out of nothing. They took inspiration from the nonhuman world

Sarah Newman

Photo of an older man with white hair and beard in a cityscape with tall modern buildings in the background.

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Economics

A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey

13 minutes

Black and white photo of a woman and man sitting on a sofa holding a newspaper with a front-page story about a UFO sighting.

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History of science

Incredible testimonies

In the 1980s, thousands of Americans began to suspect they may have been abducted by aliens. What happened?

Greg Eghigian

Abstract painting of textured forms resembling fibres and foliage overlaid on an antique map background.

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Art

Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus

8 minutes

A dimly lit bar with red decor, a man sitting at the counter, a bartender, and a woman entering through a door.

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Comparative philosophy

What is Ethiopian philosophy?

Riven by two competing schools of thought, the future of philosophical enquiry in Ethiopia stands at a crossroads

Fasil Merawi