Essay/Metaphysics Bun or bump? Does the mother contain the foetus or is it a part of her? On the metaphysics of pregnancy, and its ethical implications Suki Finn
Essay/Work The quitting economy When employees are treated as short-term assets, they reinvent themselves as marketable goods, always ready to quit Ilana Gershon
Essay/Neuroscience Now you see it, now you… Seeing things that are hidden; failing to see things in plain sight. How magic exploits the everyday weirdness of perception Vebjørn Ekroll
Essay/Ethics Moral luck Two people drive drunk at night: one kills a pedestrian, one doesn't. Does the unlucky killer deserve more blame or not? Robert J Hartman
Essay/Physics Operation: neutrino How the neutrino went from ghost particle to vital physics tool – a tale of bombs, espionage and subtle flavours David Kaiser
Essay/Bioethics The pig on your plate That pigs are smart and sensitive is not in doubt. How can we justify continuing to kill them for food? Barbara J King
Essay/History America’s hidden philosophy When Cold War philosophy tied rational choice theory to scientific method, it embedded the free-market mindset in US society John McCumber
Essay/Cultures & Languages Is linguistics a science? Much of linguistic theory is so abstract and dependent on theoretical apparatus that it might be impossible to explain Arika Okrent
Essay/History of Ideas The anger of Achilles Homer’s warrior is no mere tragic human figure: fuelled by anger, he is at once a man of honour and a sword of the gods C D C Reeve
Essay/Demography & Migration Law in the Jungle The ultimate ‘outsider’ space, the Jungle refugee camp in Calais became its own society, the no-borders idea made real Natasha King
Essay/Neuroscience When is stress good for you? The subtle flows and toxic hits of stress get under the skin, making and breaking the body and brain over a lifetime Bruce McEwen
Essay/Philosophy of Mind I attend, therefore I am You are only as strong as your powers of attention, and other uncomfortable truths about the self Carolyn Dicey Jennings
Essay/Economics Of money and morals Moneylending has been taboo for most of human history. So how did usury stop being a sin and become respectable finance? Alex Mayyasi
Essay/Cities Common ground When we think of urban public space in terms of competing rights, we create a battleground. Is there a better way to share? Farhan Samanani
Essay/Biology Scents and sensibility Our sense of smell gives flavour to food, emotion to memories, and connects us to each other. But how exactly does it work? Katherine Whitcroft
Essay/Politics & Government Return of the grotesque The postmodern carnival has arrived, and there are good reasons to prefer François Rabelais’s version Robert D Zaretsky
Essay/Meaning & the Good Life Do we matter in the cosmos? Humanity is nothing more than a microscopic blip in the universe. But does that mean we are insignificant? Nick Hughes
Essay/History ‘Here we are all the same’ The US Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, but the fight for religious equality was only just beginning Richard D Brown
Essay/Social Psychology Microaggressions? Prejudice remains a huge social evil but evidence for harm caused by microaggression is incoherent, unscientific and weak Scott O Lilienfeld
Essay/Values & Beliefs Dissolving the ego You don’t need drugs or a church for an ecstatic experience that helps transcend the self and connect to something bigger Jules Evans
Essay/Work The future is emotional Human jobs in the future will be the ones that require emotional labour: currently undervalued and underpaid but invaluable Livia Gershon
Essay/Quantum Theory Quantum common sense Despite its confounding reputation, quantum mechanics both guides and helps explain human intuition Philip Ball
Essay/Cognition & Intelligence How totalism works The brainwashing methods of isolation, engulfment and fear can lead anyone to a cult. I should know – I was in one Alexandra Stein
Essay/Politics & Government The bloodstained leveller Throughout history, plagues and wars have left greater equality in their wake. Can we get there again without violence? Walter Scheidel
Essay/Gender & Sexuality The orgasm cure What if we could expand ecstasy, reduce stress and lift depression, all by delaying and extending orgasm? Peter von Ziegesar
Essay/Cognition & Intelligence Had a good think lately? Not busy-work, ticking off to-do lists or keeping-up-with-stuff. Just sitting. And thinking. Is it so hard? André Spicer
Essay/Computing & Artificial Intelligence fAIth The most avid believers in artificial intelligence are aggressively secular – yet their language is eerily religious. Why? Beth Singler
Essay/Bioethics Which lives matter most? Thinking about children who are not yet born confronts us with the question of our ethical obligations to future people Dominic Wilkinson & Keyur Doolabh
Essay/Anthropology The scalp from Sand Creek Even after museums return human remains pillaged from a massacre in 1864, can repatriation heal the wounds of history? Chip Colwell
Essay/Subcultures What is a cult? Cults are exploitative, weird groups with strange beliefs and practices, right? So what about regular religions then? Tara Isabella Burton