Psychology
video
Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
The truth about love
In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?
Armand D’Angour
video
Wellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes
essay
Gender
Does testosterone make men?
In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree
Cordelia Fine & Carole Hooven
essay
Language and linguistics
The lonely life of a glyph-breaker
The heroic days of deciphering hieroglyphics and cuneiform make for great stories, but will we ever see that happen again?
Francesco Perono Cacciafoco
essay
Dance and theatre
What actors know
Acting is an ancient and intrinsically human way to establish vibrant connections with one another. And it’s available to us all
John Britton
video
War and peace
Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines
22 minutes
essay
Neurodiversity
Autism’s missing women
Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism
Gina Rippon
video
Love and friendship
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone
5 minutes
essay
Gender and identity
Requeering Wilde
Oscar Wilde is an icon of gay liberation from secrecy. But his life and his sexuality were not so simple – nor so binary
Sam Mills
video
Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
essay
Philosophy of mind
Suffused with causality
Humans have a superpower that makes us uniquely capable of controlling the world: our ability to understand cause and effect
Mariel Goddu
video
History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
6 minutes
essay
Food and drink
Adjust your disgust
The future of food is nutritious and sustainable – if we can overcome our instinctual revulsion to insects and lab-grown meat
Alexandra Plakias
video
Cognition and intelligence
A father forgets his child’s name for the first time in this poetic reflection on memory
4 minutes
essay
Addiction
The kratom question
Millions are turning to an unregulated herbal extract to curb their opioid addiction. But do the risks outweigh the benefits?
Xi Chen
video
Technology and the self
The commodified childhood – scenes from two sisters’ lives in the creator economy
14 minutes
essay
Neuroscience
Why nothing matters
It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences
Benjy Barnett
essay
Personality
The highly sensitive person
Those with this little-known trait think more deeply and feel more empathy. But they also deal with significant challenges
Elaine Aron
video
Anthropology
For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business
30 minutes
essay
Medicine
When I lost my intuition
For years, I practised medicine with cool certainty, comfortable with life-and-death decisions. Then, one day, I couldn’t
Ronald W Dworkin
essay
Thinkers and theories
The winter of civilisation
Byung-Chul Han’s relentless critiques of digital capitalism reveal how this suffocating system creates hollowed-out lives
Josh Cohen
essay
Childhood and adolescence
Hegemony and childcare
Early childhood development interventions in the Global South is a huge industry built on highly questionable assumptions
Francesca Mezzenzana & Gabriel Scheidecker
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
The art in the analyst’s room
The consulting office reflects the personality of the therapist, while also subtly shaping the experience of their patients
Anna Parker