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Essays

Illustration of interconnected neurons with red, spiky dendrites on a blurred orange background.

essayNeuroscience

The empty brain

Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

Robert Epstein

Medieval painting depicting a battle scene with knights on horseback wearing armour and helmets against a colourful backdrop.

essayLanguage and linguistics

English is not normal

No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language

John McWhorter

An empty room with a chair against a wall on the right, scrunched paper on the floor by a bin, and electrical sockets on the wall.

essayWork

Fuck work

Economists believe in full employment. Americans think that work builds character. But what if jobs aren’t working anymore?

James Livingston

A person stands with arms crossed, looking into the distance on a dune in a vast, foggy desert. The image is in black and white.

essayMeaning and the good life

Indifference is a power

As legions of warriors and prisoners can attest, Stoicism is not grim resolve but a way to wrest happiness from adversity

Lary Wallace

Two children playing with a dog in a green field with yellow flowers, a goalpost and a yellow field in the background.

essayChildhood and adolescence

The play deficit

Children today are cossetted and pressured in equal measure. Without the freedom to play they will never grow up

Peter Gray

Abstract close-up view of human skin folds lit with warm lighting. The background is dark, highlighting the textures.

essayBiology

The obesity era

As the American people got fatter, so did marmosets, vervet monkeys and mice. The problem may be bigger than any of us

David Berreby

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Videos

Close-up of a yellowish amphibian embryo with black markings inside a transparent egg, on a dark background.

videoBiology

Watch a single cell become a complete organism in six pulsing minutes of timelapse

6 minutes

A woman in a yellow saree standing among large piles of colourful clothes outdoors, with trees in the background.

videoBeauty and aesthetics

This is the final resting place of your cast-off clothing

14 minutes

Man in a blue shirt and cap playing a cello in a forest setting.

videoEcology and environmental sciences

Yo-Yo Ma performs a work for cello in the woods, accompanied by a birdsong chorus

4 minutes

Digital artwork of an ancient Roman town, red roofs and columns, with Mount Vesuvius erupting in the background under a cloudy sky.

videoThe ancient world

From eruption to obliteration – the sights and sounds of 48 fateful hours in Pompeii

9 minutes

A map illustrating global human population distribution (1.2 billion) over time with significant historical events, created as an infographic.

videoDemography and migration

How we became more than 7 billion – humanity’s population explosion, visualised

6 minutes

A CCTV image showing a man walking in a lobby area with double wooden doors, a signboard, a plant and seating visible.

videoDeath

In 2009, a man arrived in an Irish town with a plan to disappear forever

19 minutes

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Ideas

Adolf Eichmann in court with headphones, wearing a suit and tie, looking to the side, against a plain background.

ideaWar and peace

What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil?

Thomas White

Painting showing three characters: a poor man, a child holding a newspaper and a rich man in a car smoking a pipe, industrial backdrop.

ideaPersonality

The bad news on human nature, in 10 findings from psychology

Christian Jarrett

Medieval painting of three individuals in robes, one holding a sword and shield, another stirring a pot over a fire, while the third person watches on.

ideaHuman rights and justice

Why the trial by ordeal was actually an effective test of guilt

Peter T Leeson

Film still from Grease showing a young crowd in 1950s-style diner, with Olivia Newton John in a yellow dress smiling at John Travolta in a booth.

ideaPleasure and pain

Psychogenic shivers: why we get the chills when we aren’t cold

Félix Schoeller

A painting of five labourers working on a construction site with tools and machinery, while a scenic landscape is seen in the background.

ideaSocial psychology

A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you

Clifton Mark

Diorama depicting astronauts on the Moon’s surface with a lunar module, US flag and filming crew under studio lights.

ideaKnowledge

You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to

Daniel DeNicola

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