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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
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Knowledge
Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow
11 minutes
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Physics
Groundbreaking visualisations show how the world of the nucleus gives rise to our own
10 minutes
essay
Biology
Could humans hibernate?
Hibernation allows many animals to time-travel from difficult times to plenty. Could humans learn how to do it too?
Vladyslav Vyazovskiy
essay
Philosophy of science
The nature of natural laws
Physicists and philosophers today have formulated three opposing models that explain how laws work. Which is the best?
Mario Hubert
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Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes
video
Physics
To change the way you see the Moon, view it from the Sun’s perspective
5 minutes
essay
Beauty and aesthetics
Is beauty natural?
Charles Darwin was as fascinated by extravagant ornament in nature as Jane Austen was in culture. Did their explanations agree?
Abigail Tulenko
essay
Philosophy of science
Elusive but everywhere
A new theory argues that unseen ‘fields’ guide all goal-directed things in the Universe, from falling rocks to voyaging turtles
Daniel W McShea & Gunnar O Babcock
essay
Physics
The city of wisdom
Don’t be intimidated by physics: it is made of stories and metaphors. Learn these and the field will open up to you
Jamie Zvirzdin
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes
essay
Philosophy of science
The forces of chance
Social scientists cling to simple models of reality – with disastrous results. Instead they must embrace chaos theory
Brian Klaas
essay
Philosophy of mind
Rage against the machine
For all the promise and dangers of AI, computers plainly can’t think. To think is to resist – something no machine does
Alva Noë
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
12 minutes
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Philosophy of science
Life makes mistakes
Hens try to hatch golf balls, whales get beached. Getting things wrong seems to play a fundamental role in life on Earth
David S Oderberg
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Neuroscience
This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience
2 minutes
essay
Cosmology
Stars behaving absurdly
For centuries, the only way in which to illuminate the mysteries of black holes was through the power of mathematics
Steve Nadis & Shing-Tung Yau
essay
History of science
Forwards, not back
Medicine aims to return bodies to the state they were in before illness. But there’s a better way of thinking about health
Kate MacCord & Jane Maienschein
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
essay
History of science
Clock time contra lived time
Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein fundamentally disagreed about the nature of time and how it can be measured. Who was right?
Evan Thompson
essay
Physics
Chasing ghost particles
Without the neutrino, the Universe might be an empty void. But this inscrutable particle isn’t giving up its secrets easily
Corey S Powell
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Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes