essay
Space exploration
The skyhook solution
Space junk surrounds Earth, posing a dangerous threat. But there is a way to turn the debris into opportunity
Angelos Alfatzis
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
A scientist’s poor eyesight helped fuel a revolution in computer ‘vision’
9 minutes
video
Ageing and death
Demystifying death – a palliative care specialist’s practical guide to life’s end
4 minutes
video
Future of technology
Is this the future of space travel? Take a luxury ‘cruise’ across the solar system
6 minutes
video
Metaphysics
Why mathematical truths exist with or without minds to consider them
8 minutes
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
Struggling to learn how to do a backflip, Nikita takes on an unusual training regimen
12 minutes
video
Deep time
When algae met fungi – the hidden story of life’s most successful partnership
4 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
From helicopter flybys to trail cameras, there’s no one way to count a wolf
8 minutes
video
Biology
Explore a bioluminescent world of cellular life via cutting-edge microscopy
27 minutes
essay
Space exploration
The final ethical frontier
Earthbound exploration was plagued with colonialism, exploitation and extraction. Can we hope to make space any different?
Philip Ball
essay
Astronomy
Panspermia
It’s possible that frozen worlds with subterranean oceans are incubators of organic life. But then how did life get here?
Balazs Bradak
essay
Medicine
Physician, invade thyself
Eager for medical breakthroughs, some doctors take enormous risks experimenting on themselves. Should we celebrate them?
Tom Doyle
essay
Space exploration
Uncertain contact
The detection of alien life won’t be obvious. It’ll be partial and inconclusive: a perfect task for the scientific method
Jaime Green
video
Biology
In 1886, a US agency set out to record new fruit varieties. The results are wondrous
5 minutes
video
Death
Even in modern secular societies, belief in an afterlife persists. Why?
9 minutes
video
Nature and landscape
Take a serene hike through an ancient forest, inspired by a Miyazaki masterpiece
6 minutes
essay
Music
To the tune of dystonia
One day, my hand stopped speaking to my brain. As a doctor and flute player, I had to understand this strange affliction
Lynn Hallarman
video
Design and fashion
The mundane becomes mesmerising in this deep dive into segmented displays
14 minutes
video
Physics
A song of ice, fire and jelly – exploring the physics and history of the trumpet
9 minutes
essay
Illness and disease
More than pink
The culture around breast cancer is full of positivity and femininity. But it comes at the expense of the marginalised
Philippa Hetherington
video
Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
5 minutes
video
Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
9 minutes
essay
Quantum theory
We are not empty
The concept of the atomic void is one of the most repeated mistakes in popular science. Molecules are packed with stuff
Mario Barbatti
video
Physics
A dreamy tribute to the music of Brian Eno, rendered in paint, soap and water
2 minutes