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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
Close-up photo of butterfly wing scales in shades of orange, pink, white and black arranged in a mosaic-like pattern.

video

Biology

Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings

3 minutes

A kingfisher underwater catching a fish amid rising bubbles.

essay

Complexity

Problem-solving matter

Life is starting to look a lot less like an outcome of chemistry and physics, and more like a computational process

David C Krakauer & Chris Kempes

Illustration of a dodo bird with grey feathers, brown beak, and stubby wings, standing on a grassy, sandy ground.

video

Evolution

How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution

60 minutes

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

video

Engineering

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

4 minutes

Close-up image of a jumping spider showing its detailed features, including multiple eyes, hairy legs, and fangs. The spider is facing forward with a white background.

essay

Evolution

What is intelligent life?

Our human minds hold us back from truly understanding the many brilliant ways that other creatures solve their problems

Abigail Desmond & Michael Haslam

Bees push coloured tabs to access a sugary reward

video

Cognition and intelligence

What’s this buzz about bees having culture? Inside a groundbreaking experiment

8 minutes

Close-up of a person’s hand gently holding the wet snout of a black cow, with a blurred green background.

essay

Evolution

Kinship

Science must become attuned to the subtle conversations that pervade all life, from the primordial to the present

David Waltner-Toews

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

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

Illustration of a prehistoric forest with various dinosaurs, including herbivores, a pterosaur flying, and a small carnivorous mammal-like creature.

essay

Palaeontology

The dinosaurs didn’t rule

When we think of changes in Earth’s history as changes of dynasty we miss out on understanding how life really works

Riley Black

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.

video

Biology

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

5 minutes

Blue Betta fish with flowing fins swimming in a black background.

essay

Genetics

Evolution without accidents

Despite advances in molecular genetics, too many biologists think that natural selection is driven by random mutations

James A Shapiro

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

video

Biology

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

4 minutes

Cartoon of a yellow character with pink hair buns, holding a small blue puppy, set against a light blue background.

video

Human evolution

Far from frivolous, cuteness is a powerful – and still mysterious – force of nature

6 minutes

Photograph of a small green frog with bright red eyes sitting on the edge of a green leaf, surrounded by darkness.

essay

Physics

Time is an object

Not a backdrop, an illusion or an emergent phenomenon, time has a physical size that can be measured in laboratories

Sara Walker & Lee Cronin

Close-up of a kiwi bird with a long beak and shaggy brown feathers, standing against a white background.

essay

Human evolution

How like the kiwi we are

To understand helpless human babies, our big brains and oddly involved dads, look to the evolution of birds not mammals

Antone Martinho-Truswell

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

Colourful coral reef underwater with vibrant pink and yellow corals, small fish swimming among them, and a reflective water surface above.

essay

Earth science and climate

Our Earth, shaped by life

Darwin was the first to see that all lifeforms, from worms to corals, transform the planet. What does that mean for us?

Olivia Judson

Close-up of a jumping spider with hairy legs and multiple eyes, sitting on a leaf with a blurred yellow-green background.

video

Biology

To understand the limits of human senses, look to the wild world of animal cognition

45 minutes

Close-up of a colourful crab with a large claw on a muddy surface, displaying prominent eye stalks.

video

Evolution

Symmetry rules life on Earth – but it comes with many fascinating exceptions

9 minutes

Close-up of a vibrant moth with orange and black patterned wings against a green background.

video

Biology

There’s no one way for an insect to fly, but they’re all amazing in close up and slo-mo

7 minutes

A boy sleeps sitting against a resting cow on a paved street, surrounded by pigeons.

essay

Consciousness and altered states

Seeing and somethingness

An evolutionary approach to consciousness can resolve the ‘hard problem’ – with radical implications for animal sentience

Nicholas Humphrey

Loon swimming on a misty lake with a dark forest in the background, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere.

essay

Evolution

Fortune favours the shrewd

Attaining and maintaining power lies at the heart of almost all animal societies. And it’s as devious as human politicking

Lee Alan Dugatkin

A whale seen underwater from below, white lines emanate from it, representing sound

video

Biology

Like pop music, humpback whale songs spread, mutate, and fall out of fashion

9 minutes

Microscopic image of a green cell adjacent to a larger pink cell on a black background.

essay

Evolution

What on earth is a xenobot?

The more we understand how cells produce shape and form, the more inadequate the idea of a genomic blueprint looks

Philip Ball