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Essays

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Longform Essays written by serious and creative thinkers on philosophy, psychology, science, society and culture

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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