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Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience
The science of cuteness | Aeon
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video

Human evolution

Far from frivolous, cuteness is a powerful – and still mysterious – force of nature

6 minutes

Beautiful! | Aeon
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video

Family life

On a whirlwind morning, a couple learns if they’re facing an unplanned pregnancy

7 minutes

The joy of sulk | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

The joy of sulk

Full of implicit rules and paradoxes, sulking is a marvellous example of intense communication without clear declaration

Rebecca Roache

The diver | Aeon
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video

Love and friendship

A decade after his wife was swept away in a tsunami, Yasuo still searches the sea

9 minutes

In praise of irritation | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

In praise of irritation

Unlike anger, irritation has neither glamour nor radicalism on its side. Yet it might just be the mood we need right now

Will Rees

Ain’t no time for women | Aeon
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video

Politics and government

Join the spirited debate at a women’s hair salon before a pivotal election in Tunisia

19 minutes

Namesake | Aeon
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Earth science and climate

A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse

6 minutes

Blaulicht (Blue light) | Aeon
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video

Medicine

What is it like to be a paramedic, navigating human emergency?

17 minutes

Cluster feeding | Aeon
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video

Life stages

An unvarnished, poetic account of a new mother’s struggle to breastfeed

3 minutes

Perfecting the art of longing | Aeon
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video

Mood and emotion

‘Let me dream you into my reality’: memories illuminate an unthinkable isolation

12 minutes

The rocket on the roof | Aeon
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video

Personality

Wesley wants to solve the rooftop mystery – but does he have what it takes?

14 minutes

Reasons to be cheerful | Aeon
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essay

History of ideas

Reasons to be cheerful

A cheery mood, you might think, is a terribly self-absorbed response to serious times. But history tells us otherwise

Timothy Hampton

You’re astonishing! | Aeon
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essay

Meaning and the good life

You’re astonishing!

Life can be better appreciated when you remember how wonderfully and frighteningly unlikely it is that you exist at all

Timm Triplett

Nine letters | Aeon
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video

Mood and emotion

A century of letters captures the emotions of life in a new city, far from home

21 minutes

The smile: a history | Aeon
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essay

History

The smile: a history

How our toothy modern smile was invented by a confluence of French dentistry and Parisian portrait-painting in the 1780s

Colin Jones

When hope gets in the way | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

When hope gets in the way

Hope is usually seen as a positive agent of change that spares us from pain. But it can also undermine healing and growth

Santiago Delboy

The great malaise | Aeon
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video

Wellbeing

Wry animations expose the gap between anxious aspiration and real life

5 minutes

Adem’s island | Aeon
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video

Mood and emotion

Alone on a small island in Belgrade, a father grieves his daughter in quiet solitude

12 minutes

EXCLUSIVEThe first Tuesday in November | Aeon
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video

Mood and emotion

Close-ups on the night of anticipation in the 2020 US presidential elections

6 minutes

A is for autism | Aeon
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video

Neurodiversity

Autistic children and adults sketch out the look and feel of their sensory world

11 minutes

Hope is not optimism | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

Hope is not optimism

Even when you know that prospects are grim, hope can help. It’s not just a feeling, but a way to step into the future

David B Feldman & Benjamin W Corn

The meaning of anger | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

The meaning of anger

Is anger like energy, forever changing form but never dissipating, or part of our repertoire of desires, the cry of a need unmet?

Josh Cohen

Fear not | Aeon
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essay

Film and visual culture

Fear not

You might think that horror movies are a delicious, trashy pleasure. But watching them has surprisingly wholesome effects

Mathias Clasen

Feeling, in situ | Aeon
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essay

Mood and emotion

Feeling, in situ

What if emotions are not universal and hardwired but exquisite acts of meaning-making specific to context and culture?

Elitsa Dermendzhiyska