essay
Philosophy of language
Extraterrestrial tongues
Imagining how aliens might communicate prepares us for first contact and illuminates the nature of our own languages
Nikhil Mahant
essay
Information and communication
Methodical banality
Like today’s large language models, 16th-century humanists had techniques to automate writing – to the detriment of novelty
Hannah Katznelson
video
History of science
Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history
29 minutes
essay
Physics
The cat that wouldn’t die
The weird paradox of Schrödinger’s cat has found a lasting popularity. What does it mean for the future of quantum physics?
Jim Baggott
essay
Cosmology
Just a pale blue dot
When we see the Earth as ‘a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’ what do we learn about human significance?
Tim Bayne
essay
Philosophy of science
More-than-human science
When AI takes over the practice of science we will likely find the results strange and incomprehensible. Should we worry?
Brandon Boesch
video
Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes
video
Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
essay
Space exploration
Have they been here?
When we look for extraterrestrials, we often peer into the depths of space. But alien life might be closer than you think
Ravi Kopparapu & Jacob Haqq Misra
video
Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
essay
Meaning and the good life
Welcome to the Chaoscene
The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities
Rupert Read
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
essay
Genetics
Beanbag genetics
Today a bitter dispute about the nature of biology is underway. A simple bag of beans may be what tips the balance
Zachary B Hancock
video
Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes
essay
Gender
Does testosterone make men?
In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree
Cordelia Fine & Carole Hooven
video
Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
essay
Neurodiversity
Autism’s missing women
Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism
Gina Rippon
essay
Physics
The stagnation of physics
Physicists today need to jettison the all-too-attractive myth that they are uncovering the hidden reality of our Universe
Adrien De Sutter
essay
Bioethics
Why the cat wags her tail
Here’s a puzzle: how could evolution favour such a costly, frivolous and fun activity as animal play?
Mathilde Tahar-Malaussena
video
Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
15 minutes
video
Cognition and intelligence
A father forgets his child’s name for the first time in this poetic reflection on memory
4 minutes
essay
History of science
Legacy of the angels
When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics
Rebekah Wallace
video
Animals and humans
Join seabirds as they migrate, encountering human communities along the way
13 minutes
essay
Addiction
The kratom question
Millions are turning to an unregulated herbal extract to curb their opioid addiction. But do the risks outweigh the benefits?
Xi Chen