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Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience

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Ageing and death

We’re not the only animals that appear to grieve. What are the implications?

6 minutes

Painting of a rural street on a dark night featuring a two-storey white farmhouse, a red barn, powerlines, and a bright light in the centre.

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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

Photo of a man in a wheelchair on a grass field with another man’s hand resting on the wheelchair’s handle.

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Love and friendship

For two brothers who rely on one another, love is a daily act of devotion

11 minutes

A busy beach scene with children on donkeys, people in the sea, a man reading on a sun lounger, and a dog urinating on a sun shade.

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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

Photo of two young Asian women wearing sunglasses sitting in the back of a pickup truck at an outdoor event with American flags and mountains.

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Meaning and the good life

A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado

9 minutes

A silhouetted figure walking with a dog through a dimly lit tunnel, contrasting with bright concrete walls in the foreground.

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Psychiatry and psychotherapy

Targeted

For those who hear voices, the ‘broken brain’ explanation is harmful. Psychiatry must embrace new meaning-making frameworks

Justin Garson

Two older women wearing hats and sunglasses raise their arms in celebration at a street parade, with a purple background.

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Sex and sexuality

From secret crushes to self-acceptance – a joyful chronicle of ‘old lesbian’ stories

29 minutes

Silhouette of a person walking through a spray of water at sunset with cars and buildings in the background.

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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

Children climbing on monkey bars, photographed from below, against a clear blue sky.

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Education

Scenes from a school year paint a refreshingly nuanced portrait of rural America

25 minutes

Close-up of a hand gracefully resting on a naked woman’s torso, soft lighting accentuating the skin’s smooth texture against a dark background.

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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

Close-up of a person with glasses playing the violin, illuminated by colourful lights in the background.

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Pleasure and pain

The volunteer musicians who perform in the aftermath of violence and tragedy

12 minutes

Residential street with terraced houses and power plant cooling towers in the background, one of which has a mural depicting a sun and mountains.

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Food and drink

Local tensions simmer amid a potato salad contest at the Czech-Polish border

14 minutes

Newborn baby being held by a person wearing blue gloves, with another masked individual looking at the baby in a medical setting.

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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

A person with a prosthetic leg stands in a room filled with plastic-wrapped prosthetics and limbs, showcasing orthopaedic supplies.

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Technology and the self

A filmmaker finds a tactile beauty in the creation of her prosthetic leg

11 minutes

A black-and-white photo of soldiers in uniform checking documents of several men standing outdoors, with laundry hanging in the background.

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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

Old photograph of a girl sleeping in a chair, a ghostly boy kneeling before her, and a ghostly girl standing by a wall with a religious tapestry.

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Technology and the self

How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm

16 minutes

Close-up of a dog with blue and brown eyes, grey and white fur, looking directly at the camera.

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Neuroscience

Dog vision is a trendy topic, but what can we really know about how they see?

11 minutes

A young girl in a pink dress stands on a step, holding the hand of an adult. Four adults are partially visible around her.

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Biography and memoir

The adoption paradox

Even happy families cannot avoid the reality – my reality – that adoption is predicated on transacting the life of a child

Fiona Sampson

Painting of a person in a striped dress, resting their head on their hand, sitting next to a table with bottles, and a green background.

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Pleasure and pain

Me versus myself

I work against myself through procrastination, distraction and addiction. Why do I consistently sabotage my own life?

Eliane Glaser

Silhouette of a soldier with glowing eyes and helmet, holding a rifle, with a blurred, colourful background.

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War and peace

A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?

9 minutes

Elderly couple holding hands while standing in the street. The woman holds a colourful fan partially covering her face. A man in casual attire walks by on the right. Two trees and a white building with large windows are in the background, with three people looking out of one of the windows.

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Ethics

Moral progress is annoying

You might feel you can trust your gut to tell right from wrong, but the friction of social change shows that you can’t

Daniel Kelly & Evan Westra

Illustration of two people high-fiving, with colourful abstract shapes around them representing conversation and connection.

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Language and linguistics

The little Peruvian guide to public speaking that conjures up a grandiose world

7 minutes

A detailed pencil sketch depicts a chaotic scene with fallen bodies, horses, and a broken chariot, with distressed figures in the foreground.

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Life stages

What Michelangelo’s late-in-life works reveal about his genius – and his humanness

13 minutes

Close-up image of a jumping spider showing its detailed features, including multiple eyes, hairy legs, and fangs. The spider is facing forward with a white background.

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Evolution

What is intelligent life?

Our human minds hold us back from truly understanding the many brilliant ways that other creatures solve their problems

Abigail Desmond & Michael Haslam