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

Beanbag genetics

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

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

essay

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

Popular this month

A busy urban street with cars, a motorbike and a truck passing by a neon-lit building at sunset.

essay

Poverty and development

How Kerala got rich

Fifty years ago it was one of India’s poorest states, now it is now one of the richest. How did Kerala do it?

Tirthankar Roy & K Ravi Raman

A desert highway at dusk with cliffs and the moon visible and a rear-view mirror showing a road and sunset reflection behind.

essay

Physics

The stagnation of physics

Physicists today need to jettison the all-too-attractive myth that they are uncovering the hidden reality of our Universe

Adrien De Sutter

Four girls sitting on a riverbank, sitting in two groups of two; three upright and one lying down, with backpacks and bags nearby.

essay

Neurodiversity

Autism’s missing women

Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism

Gina Rippon

Painting of an angel in an orange glow flying with small birds across a night sky over a cityscape and bare trees.

essay

History of science

Legacy of the angels

When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics

Rebekah Wallace

Photo of a rural scene: a man and child walk with ducks past a military motorcycle and three soldiers in a field.

essay

Nations and empires

Shame and revolution

Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame

Kevin D Pham

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

video

Computing and artificial intelligence

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

9 minutes

Aerial photo of a snowy town with colourful buildings and a vast frozen landscape in the background.

essay

The environment

On unstable ground

A ‘great reshuffle’ of the land is underway. It will force us to reconsider traditional ideas of property and ownership

Michael Albertus

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

video

History

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

13 minutes

A man holding a baby and a woman nearby, a person in the foreground is blurred.

video

Wellbeing

Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later

20 minutes

Black and white photo of people wrapped in shawls sitting with light and smoke creating dramatic shadows and highlights.

essay

Philosophy of mind

By the light of brahman

Ideas from classical Indian philosophy help illuminate the enigmas of selfhood, consciousness and the nature of reality

Anand Vaidya & Manjula Menon

Abstract blue and white painting of a plant silhouette on a dark background.

video

Earth science and climate

Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth

3 minutes

Black and white photo of oil workers handling equipment on a rig, with oil splashing out from the pipe they are holding.

essay

Gender

Does testosterone make men?

In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree

Cordelia Fine & Carole Hooven

Black and white photo of a man in a suit sitting indoors with a vase and branches.

video

Meaning and the good life

Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times

29 minutes

Photo of the Phaistos Disc, an ancient clay tablet with spiral symbols, on a black background.

essay

Language and linguistics

The lonely life of a glyph-breaker

The heroic days of deciphering hieroglyphics and cuneiform make for great stories, but will we ever see that happen again?

Francesco Perono Cacciafoco

Two men on stage acting, one holds an apple on a stick and looks through two glass lenses held by the other man, in dramatic lighting.

essay

Dance and theatre

What actors know

Acting is an ancient and intrinsically human way to establish vibrant connections with one another. And it’s available to us all

John Britton

Microscopic image showing a close-up view of a butterfly’s proboscis covered with vibrant pink and orange structures.

video

Biology

Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes

4 minutes

An urban slum with people, horses and goats amidst debris, shacks and informal structures in the background.

essay

Poverty and development

Raising the threshold

The World Bank’s poverty line is inaccurate and out of date – an error that obscures the feebleness of market solutions

Attrishu Bordoloi

Photo of two boys sitting in a dilapidated room surrounded by debris with a view of an overgrown outside through a broken wall.

video

War and peace

Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines

22 minutes

Four girls sitting on a riverbank, sitting in two groups of two; three upright and one lying down, with backpacks and bags nearby.

essay

Neurodiversity

Autism’s missing women

Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism

Gina Rippon

Painting of a vibrant green hillside with trees and a winding river, showing detailed textures and overlapping colours.

video

Nature and landscape

California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker

10 minutes

A desert highway at dusk with cliffs and the moon visible and a rear-view mirror showing a road and sunset reflection behind.

essay

Physics

The stagnation of physics

Physicists today need to jettison the all-too-attractive myth that they are uncovering the hidden reality of our Universe

Adrien De Sutter

A cheetah cub playfully interacts with a brown dog on grass, with a toy in the background.

essay

Bioethics

Why the cat wags her tail

Here’s a puzzle: how could evolution favour such a costly, frivolous and fun activity as animal play?

Mathilde Tahar-Malaussena

Collage image of a smiling woman in patterned dress with colourful wavy borders set on a beach background.

video

Love and friendship

Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone

5 minutes

A busy urban street with cars, a motorbike and a truck passing by a neon-lit building at sunset.

essay

Poverty and development

How Kerala got rich

Fifty years ago it was one of India’s poorest states, now it is now one of the richest. How did Kerala do it?

Tirthankar Roy & K Ravi Raman

A large, artificial ice structure in a mountainous landscape with clear blue sky in the background.

video

Engineering

Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?

15 minutes

Sepia-toned photo of a person in formal Victorian attire, standing with a slightly tilted head, against an ornate backdrop.

essay

Gender and identity

Requeering Wilde

Oscar Wilde is an icon of gay liberation from secrecy. But his life and his sexuality were not so simple – nor so binary

Sam Mills

An older man in a red cap and printed T-shirt looking into the distance.

video

Virtues and vices

Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later

16 minutes

A child in a pink raincoat jumping in a puddle on a city street on a rainy day with terraced houses in the background.

essay

Philosophy of mind

Suffused with causality

Humans have a superpower that makes us uniquely capable of controlling the world: our ability to understand cause and effect

Mariel Goddu