Menu
Aeon
DonateNewsletter
SIGN IN

Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
Tiny planet photo of a snowy mountain under a starry sky and Milky Way galaxy with glowing horizon.

essay

Cosmology

Exploding the Big Bang

It was thought that science could tell us about the origins of the Universe. Today that great endeavour is in serious doubt

Daniel Linford

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

video

Chemistry

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

12 minutes

Childlike drawing of buildings, a house, pyramids, and a Greek temple on a curved surface under a starry sky with a radiating sun. Stick figures roam between structures.

video

Physics

Why the golden age of total solar eclipses is already behind us

5 minutes

A man in a hat stands next to a door covered with yellow caution tape, casting a shadow on the rough grey wall.

essay

Earth science and climate

When does after begin?

Three earthquakes hit Mexico City on the same date in 1985, 2017 and 2022. The coincidence left the city stranded in time

Lachlan Summers

Illustrated circle with colourful, abstract plant shapes and roots on a dark blue background.

video

Deep time

When algae met fungi – the hidden story of life’s most successful partnership

4 minutes

A misty, moss-covered forest with twisted trees and dense undergrowth, creating a mysterious, green and lush atmosphere.

video

Ecology and environmental sciences

In an ancient English rainforest, John creates charcoal and cultivates growth

12 minutes

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

video

Biology

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

6 minutes

A vast, green valley with rolling hills under a partly cloudy sky, featuring a prominent ridge extending into the distance.

essay

Deep time

The Rift

Splitting the African continent, it is the only place where our human story can be read continuously from the very start

Tristan McConnell

Graphic of a chimpanzee and two colourful, masked figures in lab coats standing behind a chessboard on a purple background.

video

Evolution

Why making if-then connections might be the key to consciousness

5 minutes

Illustration of Earth, the Moon with structures, a bridge between them, and a large satellite dish on the Moon.

essay

Space exploration

Telescopes on the Moon

Our future in space relies on settling the Moon and using it as a base to probe the deepest questions in the cosmos

Joseph Silk

A vast heathland landscape with purplish-brown vegetation under a partly cloudy sky, featuring a distant hill on the horizon.

essay

Deep time

Mutual entrapment

As Neolithic people transformed prehistoric forests, they stumbled into an ecological trap. Domestication goes both ways

Mette Løvschal

Blurry, reddish-orange image of a glowing ring with a dark centre, set against a black background. Resembles a black hole’s visualisation.

essay

Cosmology

Dark horses in the cosmos

Could primordial black holes from the beginning of time explain ‘dark matter’, the mysterious missing mass in the Universe?

Briley Lewis

A large, headless dinosaur sculpture next to a dustbin, with a shipping container in the background.

essay

Palaeontology

This riotous life

There’s no rhythm to mass extinctions, no pattern to evolutionary recovery. Life bursts forth, in cacophonous adaptation

Riley Black

Tents in a snowy, windy landscape with red flags on poles, under a partly cloudy sky, sunlight glinting.

video

Earth science and climate

‘Ice has a memory’ – an Inuit poem contemplates scientific exploration of Greenland

28 minutes

Photo of a person standing in the dark with a bright light on their head illuminating the night sky, houses visible in the distance.

essay

Physics

The cosmic chasm

Physics as we know it is elegant and exquisitely accurate. It tells almost nothing about the deepest riddles of the Universe

Pedro G Ferreira

A cave ceiling with prehistoric red ochre and brown cave paintings of animals and abstract shapes.

essay

Art

Cave art

For Palaeolithic societies, art-making was both a tool for survival and a tactile, joyous exploration of the world

Izzy Wisher

Abstract painting of a yellow circular shape at the centre with concentric rings of blue, green, and purple radiating outward.

essay

Evolution

Origin story

Perched on the cusp between biology and chemistry, the start of life on Earth is an event horizon we struggle to see beyond

Natalie Elliot

Two fighter jets in flight with vivid orange and red aerodynamic shock waves depicted in the background.

essay

Thinkers and theories

Before, now, and next

Pastness, presentness and futurity seem to be real features of the world, but are they? On McTaggart’s philosophy of time

Emily Thomas

A firefighter combatting a raging forest fire at night with flames and smoke illuminating the scene around them.

essay

Deep time

The planet is burning

Wild, feral and fossil-fuelled, fire lights up the globe. Is it time to declare that humans have created a Pyrocene?

Stephen J Pyne

A group of people stargazing under a night sky filled with stars. The image is a photo with silhouettes of people and trees.

essay

Cosmology

The cosmic now

Are you here now? Impossible to say. The idea that any group of events can truly happen at once is just an illusion

Anthony Aguirre

Abstract digital artwork of a black circle centre with white, wavy lines radiating outward on a dark background.

video

Cosmology

Deep time and beyond: the great nothingness at the end of the Universe

29 minutes

Several people in red jackets walking on an icy landscape with patches of open water under a grey sky.

idea

Ecology and environmental sciences

We are heading for a New Cretaceous, not for a new normal

Peter Forbes

Photo showing reflections of people, trees and colourful geometric shapes on a glass surface in an urban setting.

essay

Physics

Time after time

The question of whether time moves in a loop or a line has occupied human minds for millennia. Has physics found the answer?

Paul Halpern

Close-up photo of two translucent, pink comb jellies with visible cilia and internal structures, set against a dark background.

video

Evolution

Take a shimmering, surreal swim with what might be the Earth’s oldest animals

7 minutes