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Essays

Longform Essays written by serious and creative thinkers on philosophy, psychology, science, society and culture
Photo of a modern bathroom with circular tiled walls and surfaces, two sinks, mirrors and red hand dryers reflected in the mirrors.

essay

Mathematics

Beyond causality

In order to bridge the yawning gulf between the humanities and the sciences we must turn to an unexpected field: mathematics

Gordon Gillespie

Black-and-white photo of the Moon’s surface with craters, with a distant Earth visible on the horizon in space.

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Space exploration

How the Moon became a place

For most of history, the Moon was regarded as a mysterious and powerful object. Then scientists made it into a destination

Danny Robb

Black-and-white photo of two women preening a toddler who is sitting on a wall and sucking dummy, with a brick house and a washing line in the background.

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Thinkers and theories

So many unmarried men

For Mary Midgley, the Western philosophical tradition is shaped by the fact that its greatest practitioners were bachelors

Ellie Robson

Six children with troubled faces sitting and lying on colourful blankets inside a dimly lit room with an earthen wall.

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Poverty and development

Poverty is not permanent

By understanding the pernicious myths surrounding poverty, we can make progress towards a lofty goal: dignity for all

Anirudh Krishna & Dirk Philipsen

Vintage film poster with illustrated women underwater surrounded by bubbles text reads “Primitive and Exciting”.

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Public health

A very American fear

Moral panics about erotica have coursed through the country’s history. Why do so many Americans think of porn as harm?

Rebecca L Davis

Medieval painting of a man in a cosmic circle with zodiac symbols surrounded by blue and red patterns.

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History of science

The birth of naturalism

The modern era is often seen as the triumph of science over supernaturalism. But what really happened is far more interesting

Peter Harrison

Aerial black-and-white photo of a town surrounded by rolling hills and agricultural terraces.

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Nations and empires

Passion and Palestine

More than any other conflict, Israel/Palestine has provoked extraordinarily fervent emotion throughout the world. Why?

Derek Jonathan Penslar

Aerial photo of a winding river through lush green rainforest with dramatic cloud formations in the sky above.

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Public health

Hearts and brains

Humans always end up with clogged arteries, right? That’s not what the lives of the Tsimane in the Amazon basin tell us

Ben Daitz

Painting of a serene night scene with a full moon reflecting on a dark blue lake surrounded by silhouettes of rocks and trees.

essay

Stories and literature

The listening gift

It is the dark matter of conversation, the white space around a poem. For Rilke, listening is receiving the divine

Faith Lawrence

A brown wren standing on a rock with a blurred background.

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Biology

In praise of subspecies

To lump or to split? Deciding whether an animal is a species or subspecies profoundly influences our conservation priorities

Richard Smyth

A man standing on a balcony of a brick apartment building, with tarps and debris in foreground.

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Politics and government

The end of neoliberalism?

The case of Mexico shows that, despite a proliferating discourse that it is over, neoliberalism is as relentless as ever

Inés Escobar González

Two silhouetted figures examining a wall-sized, illuminated display of the periodic table.

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Chemistry

Chemical laws

Often dismissed as the poor cousin of the sciences, chemistry has revealed natural laws that illuminate our Universe

Vanessa A Seifert