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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
AstronomyBiologyBiotechnologyChemistryComplexityComputing and artificial intelligenceCosmologyDeep timeEarth science and climateEcology and environmental sciencesEngineeringEvolutionGeneticsHistory of scienceHuman evolutionHuman reproductionIllness and diseaseMathematicsMedicineOceans and waterPalaeontologyPhysicsQuantum theorySpace exploration
Two beetles with translucent wings flying against a pink background.
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video

Biology

Beetles take flight at 6,000 frames per second in this perspective-shifting short

9 minutes

Abstract art depicting DNA sequencing, with vertical bands of vibrant colours including yellow, red, blue and green, blending into each other with a glossy, reflective texture.
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essay

Genetics

We are not machines

Welcome to the new post-genomic biology: a transformative era in need of fresh metaphors to understand how life works

Philip Ball

Microscopic view of various microorganisms and particles in a blue liquid, showing a large oval-shaped microorganism amidst smaller particles.
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video

Biology

An elegy for a dying microbe explores what we really mean by ‘death’

9 minutes

Bright yellow bird building a nest with grass on a branch surrounded by green leaves.
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video

Engineering

For one of nature’s great builders, finding a mate means weaving the perfect nest

4 minutes

X-ray image of a single flower with visible petals, stem, and internal structures on a black background.
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essay

Philosophy of mind

Do plants have minds?

In the 1840s, the iconoclastic scientist Gustav Fechner made an inspired case for taking seriously the interior lives of plants

Rachael Petersen

Close-up image of a hand holding a pile of vibrant red powder, possibly a spice or pigment, displaying a textured and granular surface. The background is blurred, ensuring the focus remains on the red powder and the hand.
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video

Biology

How the world’s richest reds are derived from an innocuous Mexican insect

5 minutes

Two embryos, colourised in shades of pink, orange, and purple, against a black background. The embryos have distinguishable head, body, and tail regions.
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essay

Biology

Building embryos

For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway

John Wallingford

Overhead view of a person walking down a spiral staircase with yellow steps. The staircase creates a swirling visual effect.
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video

Chemistry

Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?

12 minutes

A colourful abstract image depicting intertwined organic shapes in shades of blue, green, and purple, with some pink accents.
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essay

Biology

The cell is not a factory

Scientific narratives project social hierarchies onto nature. That’s why we need better metaphors to describe cellular life

Charudatta Navare

Close-up of several reddish-brown ants on soil, with one carrying small white eggs. The background is blurry, focusing attention on the ants.
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essay

Animals and humans

Ant geopolitics

Over the past four centuries quadrillions of ants have created a strange and turbulent global society that shadows our own

John Whitfield

A double-exposure image of a dancer on stage against a black backdrop, his body is lit and partly shot in motion blur
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essay

Genetics

Artists of our own lives

The genome is the starting point for a performance we enact over a lifetime, not a blueprint we’ve got to follow

Richard O Prum

Illustration of two people sitting on colourful hills, gazing at a starry night sky with a crescent moon.
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video

Ageing and death

Demystifying death – a palliative care specialist’s practical guide to life’s end

4 minutes

Three colourful cell spheres with glowing pink and blue nuclei on a black background, showing cellular structures in vibrant detail.
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video

Biology

Explore a bioluminescent world of cellular life via cutting-edge microscopy

27 minutes

Peach Twig (Prunus Persica) (1918) by Royal Charles Steadman
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video

Biology

In 1886, a US agency set out to record new fruit varieties. The results are wondrous

5 minutes

Illustration showing a grid of nine eyes, each uniquely stylised, depicting a variety of creatures, including a human with a blue iris, a cat with a vertical slit pupil, and a toad with a heart-shaped pupil.
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video

Biology

To understand how an animal sees the world, start with the shape of its pupils

5 minutes

Illustration of three beige horses standing in a field, with green grass at their feet and a soft grey and white sky background.
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video

Animals and humans

Scientists brought a wild horse back from extinction. But is it truly the same animal?

5 minutes

A digital illustration of an ancient, twisted tree with sparse green leaves, set against a misty, green landscape and a bright, cloudy sky.
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video

Ecology and environmental sciences

The grassroots project that’s restoring an endangered Hawaiian ecosystem

22 minutes

Close-up of a green gecko with red markings and blue eyes, clinging upside down to a leaf.
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video

Biology

The key to geckos’ unrivalled climbing skills isn’t sticky feet. It’s subatomic

4 minutes

A blue planet with visible ice formations and rings, resembling a view of an icy gas giant from space.
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video

Space exploration

In the search for life, might alien ocean worlds be a better bet than Earth-like planets?

5 minutes

Close-up of wood grain with concentric rings and natural variations in colour and texture.
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video

Biology

A dazzling slice-by-slice exploration of wood exposes hidden patterns and hues

2 minutes

Illustration of an underwater scene with an octopus, coral, and various marine flora in blue and pink tones. Tentacles and sea plants are elaborately detailed.
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essay

Biology

Octopus time

We humans are forward-facing, gravity-bound plodders. Can the liquid motion of the octopus radicalise our ideas about time?

David Borkenhagen

Two stylised planets with blue oceans and brown land masses, surrounded by white clouds, float in a purple outer space background.
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video

Biology

The idea that life on Earth originated elsewhere is not as far out as it seems

6 minutes

A close-up of a green and brown maple leaf with distinct veins, set against a black background.
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video

Biology

Flicker through the eclectic beauty and biological diversity of 2,400 leaves

3 minutes

A close-up of a robotic prosthetic leg displayed on a wooden surface, with chrome and black components, reflecting light from surroundings.
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video

Biotechnology

What it’s like to wear a prosthetic that ‘feels’

6 minutes