video
Biology
An elegy for a dying microbe explores what we really mean by ‘death’
9 minutes
essay
Ageing and death
Peregrinations of grief
A friend and a falcon went missing. In pain, I turned to ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ – and found a new vision of sorrow and time
Emily Polk
video
Death
A hunter’s lyrical reflection on the humbling business of being mortal
6 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
We’ll meet again
The intrepid logician Kurt Gödel believed in the afterlife. In four heartfelt letters to his mother he explained why
Alexander T Englert
essay
Cities
The haunting of modern China
In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts
Andrew Kipnis
video
Death
Even in modern secular societies, belief in an afterlife persists. Why?
9 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
The world turns vivid, strange and philosophical for one plane crash survivor
16 minutes
video
Death
Toby ponders the inner lives of the sheep that roam atop his parents’ graves
6 minutes
essay
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
video
Ageing and death
When his elderly parents make a suicide pact, Doron struggles to accept their choice
19 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
In a Mongolian wind burial, a body falls on land before getting swept up to the heavens
6 minutes
video
Values and beliefs
A funeral director takes in bodies that social stigma leaves unclaimed
11 minutes
video
Ageing and death
How an end-of-life doula found her vocation as a companion for the dying
7 minutes
essay
Death
Is grandad on the moon?
We no longer have a clear sense of how to introduce our children to death. But their questions can help us face up to it
Pragya Agarwal
essay
Meaning and the good life
Final thoughts
Do deathbed regrets give us a special insight into what really matters in life? There are good reasons to be sceptical
Neil Levy
video
Mood and emotion
Grieving Kobe Bryant, Conor wonders: why do untimely celebrity deaths hit so hard?
6 minutes
idea
Meaning and the good life
Sooner or later we all face death. Will a sense of meaning help us?
Warren Ward
idea
Meaning and the good life
Marcus Aurelius helped me survive grief and rebuild my life
Jamie Lombardi
essay
Death
This mortal coil
The fear of death drives many evils, from addiction to prejudice and war. Can it also be harnessed as a force for good?
Jeff Greenberg
idea
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
It’s complicated – why some grief takes much longer to heal
Marie Lundorff
essay
Rituals and celebrations
Death by design
We can choose how we live – why not how we leave? A free society should allow dying to be more deliberate and imaginative
Daniel Callcut
idea
Meaning and the good life
Thinking about one’s birth is as uncanny as thinking of death
Alison Stone
video
Animals and humans
‘When it comes to the end, we all want the same things.’ Why animals need a good death
15 minutes
video
Death
‘Where is it that we are?’ A poet conjures a journey along the waters of the afterlife
4 minutes