Under the mkone tree
When I returned to Kenya, where I grew up, I found biomedicine and traditional medicine in conversation about mental health
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Space exploration
There’s no planet B
The scientific evidence is clear: the only celestial body that can support us is the one we evolved with. Here’s why
Arwen E Nicholson & Raphaëlle D Haywood
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Personality
Born that way
Confident or shy, our temperament is mostly baked-in from birth. But how that influences our lives is up for grabs
Gina Mireault
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The ancient world
The other Cleopatra
Daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, she became the influential queen of a mysterious, abundant North African kingdom
Jane Draycott
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Global history
It never existed
The idea of a ‘precolonial’ Africa is theoretically vacuous, racist and plain wrong about the continent’s actual history
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
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Philosophy of mind
Super-cooperators
Clear and direct telepathic communication is unlikely to be developed. But brain-to-brain links still hold great promise
Gary Lupyan & Andy Clark
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Biology
The idea that life on Earth originated elsewhere is not as far out as it seems
6 minutes
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Education
Hitozukuri
Japan’s Cold War education policy used religion to ‘make’ the ideal humans needed by its nascent economy. Did it work?
Jolyon Baraka Thomas
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Sports and games
The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’
15 minutes
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Biology
Flicker through the eclectic beauty and biological diversity of 2,400 leaves
3 minutes
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History of technology
We’ve always been distracted
Worried that technology is ‘breaking your brain’? Fears about attention spans and focus are as old as writing itself
Joe Stadolnik
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Animals and humans
What happened when one woman raised an abandoned squirrel as her own
8 minutes
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Knowledge
Known unknowables
The ancient Sceptics used doubt as a way of investigating the world. Later thinkers undermined even that possibility
Mahdi Ranaee
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Art
The female Abstract Expressionists of New York shook the world of art
15 minutes
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Deep time
The Rift
Splitting the African continent, it is the only place where our human story can be read continuously from the very start
Tristan McConnell
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Biography and memoir
My blackness
At times I’ve tried to escape it. Other times I’ve embraced it. But at all times, people have attempted to define me by it
Colin Grant
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Life stages
At 14, Asal is excited about her engagement. Her relatives all have their own opinions
33 minutes
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Teaching and learning
Learning styles don’t exist
A teaching approach that is based on students’ preferences sounds laudable. But this misunderstands how learning happens
Carl Hendrick
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Metaphysics
Bertrand Russell wanted to kill off causation. Can contemporary philosophy rescue it?
8 minutes
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Animals and humans
Goodbye Pixel
Although it felt more like bereavement for a person than the loss of a thing, the death of a pet isn’t exactly like either
Julian Baggini
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The future
What’s the healthiest way to handle a creeping feeling that the world is ending?
15 minutes
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Gender and identity
Disarming transphobia
‘Rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is a popular weapon in the anti-trans arsenal. It is nothing but unscientific bunk
Quinnehtukqut McLamore
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The ancient world
The other Cleopatra
Daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, she became the influential queen of a mysterious, abundant North African kingdom
Jane Draycott
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Ethics
How many monkeys is it worth sacrificing to save a human life?
6 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Forgotten existentialist
Sartre gets much of the credit for existentialism. Karl Jaspers not only preceded him, but offered a way out of despair
Deborah Casewell
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Archaeology
From Roman pots to glass eyes, the shore of the river Thames teems with surprises
8 minutes
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Personality
Born that way
Confident or shy, our temperament is mostly baked-in from birth. But how that influences our lives is up for grabs
Gina Mireault
video
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Pondering the peculiar one-sided intimacy of the client-therapist relationship
3 minutes
essay
Space exploration
There’s no planet B
The scientific evidence is clear: the only celestial body that can support us is the one we evolved with. Here’s why
Arwen E Nicholson & Raphaëlle D Haywood