video
Childhood and adolescence
Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress
8 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
10 minutes
essay
Human rights and justice
Utah is so gay!
The Mormon state is seen as deeply homophobic. Yet, from polygamy to pride, Mormons themselves are a distinctly queer lot
Kristi Rhead
essay
Subcultures
An undulating thrill
Once lauded as a wonder of the age, cocaine soon became the object of profound anxieties. What happened?
Douglas Small
video
Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
essay
Ethics
Main character syndrome
Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love
Anna Gotlib
video
Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
essay
Rituals and celebrations
Tender, yet creepy
Dolls help children create wonderfully vivid and imaginative worlds, while also serving as unsettling reminders of the abyss
Tishani Doshi
video
Ageing and death
We’re not the only animals that appear to grieve. What are the implications?
6 minutes
essay
Sleep and dreams
Spinning the night self
After years of insomnia, I threw off the effort to sleep and embraced the peculiar openness I found in the darkest hours
Annabel Abbs
video
Love and friendship
For two brothers who rely on one another, love is a daily act of devotion
11 minutes
essay
Virtues and vices
Make it awkward!
Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a chance to rewrite the social script
Alexandra Plakias
video
Meaning and the good life
A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado
9 minutes
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Targeted
For those who hear voices, the ‘broken brain’ explanation is harmful. Psychiatry must embrace new meaning-making frameworks
Justin Garson
video
Sex and sexuality
From secret crushes to self-acceptance – a joyful chronicle of ‘old lesbian’ stories
29 minutes
essay
Neuroscience
The melting brain
It’s not just the planet and not just our health – the impact of a warming climate extends deep into our cortical fissures
Clayton Page Aldern
video
Education
Scenes from a school year paint a refreshingly nuanced portrait of rural America
25 minutes
essay
Sex and sexuality
Sexual sensation
What makes touch on some parts of the body erotic but not others? Cutting-edge biologists are arriving at new answers
David J Linden
video
Pleasure and pain
The volunteer musicians who perform in the aftermath of violence and tragedy
12 minutes
video
Food and drink
Local tensions simmer amid a potato salad contest at the Czech-Polish border
14 minutes
essay
Human reproduction
Baby talk
When babies are born, they cry in the accent of their mother tongue: how does language begin in the womb?
Darshana Narayanan
video
Technology and the self
A filmmaker finds a tactile beauty in the creation of her prosthetic leg
11 minutes
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Decolonising psychology
At times complicit in racism and oppression, psychology has also been a fertile ground for radical and liberatory thought
Rami Gabriel
video
Technology and the self
How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm
16 minutes