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History of science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science

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A detailed NASA photo of Mars showing the Valles Marineris canyon system with cratered terrain and dust-streaked surface.

essayCosmology

Megastructures on Mars

Images of vast ‘canals’ rippling across the red planet inspired fears of alien ‘engineers’ and changed science forever

Dagomar Degroot

A man in casual clothes observes an indoor exhibit with lifelike animal and human statues surrounded by tropical plants.

essayKnowledge

Valuable misunderstandings

Scientific progress depends on disagreement. So why are vaccine sceptics and other science critics not worth listening to?

Collin Rice & Kareem Khalifa

Painting of a man with a spear through his eye and head, showing a surreal and dramatic portrayal with detailed features.

essayHistory of science

Monstrification

For centuries we’ve used the declaration of ‘monster’ to eject individuals and groups from being respected as fully human

Surekha Davies

Black and white photo of a young boy playing simultaneous chess against three suited men watched by a crowd.

essayNeurodiversity

The puzzle of the ‘idiot savant’

The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounded scientists eager to place humans into neat categories

Violeta Ruiz

Graphic with a vertical split between a red and brown background, with a brown circle at the centre of each half.

essayNeuroscience

Brain man

How can you have a picture of the world when your brain is locked up in your skull? Neuroscientist Dale Purves has clues

Asif Ghazanfar

Painting of a group gathered around an orrery, with expressions of curiosity and wonder illuminated by its light.

essayArt

In the glow of the candle

Joseph Wright of Derby put science at the centre of his art. Eclipsed in his lifetime, his work still burns with radical ideas

Charlotte Mullins

A volcanic crater lake with green water surrounded by mist and rocky terrain.

essayEarth science and climate

When sleeping volcanoes wake

The next global disaster may be triggered by a catastrophic eruption. How can we prepare for the fire beneath our feet?

Mike Cassidy

A scientist standing a large metal tunnel with hexagonal gold mirrors at the end of it.

essayCosmology

The Big Bang’s big gaps

The current theory for the origin of the Universe is remarkably successful yet full of explanatory holes. Expect surprises

Jim Baggott

A woman and four children inside a car, under an orange sky. A boy is in the driver’s seat, the woman in the passenger seat.

essayMetaphysics

Reality is evil

Everything eats and is eaten. Everything destroys and is destroyed. It is our moral duty to strike back at the Universe

Drew M Dalton

Illustration of a blue dragonfly, a green leaf insect and a brown butterfly wing on a light background.

videoHistory of science

Insect aesthetics – long viewed as pests, in the 16th century bugs became beautiful

8 minutes

Painting of blind men with sticks leading one another, one has fallen, landscape and church in the background.

essayThinkers and theories

The French liar

René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy, was furiously condemned by his contemporaries. Why did they fear him?

Sandrine Parageau

Photo of a busy street corner with people gathering outside a cafe named Dante in a city setting on a cloudy day.

essayNeurodiversity

Rethinking adult ADHD

The diagnostic category of adult ADHD is becoming more inclusive. That’s not the same as it being overdiagnosed

Margaret Sibley

Illustration of two turquoise beams pointing from the Milky Way galaxy toward another galaxy on a black background.

videoHistory of science

How we came to know the size of the Universe – and what mysteries remain

26 minutes

Daguerreotype of a man in a Victorian-era suit holding a rod with one eye closed, framed by an ornate gold border.

essayHistory of science

Injury and inhibition

The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors

Ben Platts-Mills

Vintage painting of a man with glowing eyes surrounded by floating spheres on a decorative background.

essayStories and literature

Merveilleux-scientifique

With brain swaps and death rays, a little-known French sci-fi genre explored science’s dark possibilities a century ago

Fleur Hopkins-Loféron

Black and white photo of a woman and man sitting on a sofa holding a newspaper with a front-page story about a UFO sighting.

essayHistory of science

Incredible testimonies

In the 1980s, thousands of Americans began to suspect they may have been abducted by aliens. What happened?

Greg Eghigian

Abstract painting of textured forms resembling fibres and foliage overlaid on an antique map background.

videoArt

Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus

8 minutes

Renaissance drawing of two figures in robes in a circle on aged paper. One figure points to a celestial object composed of concentric circles on the left.

essayPhilosophy of science

Why philosophy of physics?

Some physicists reject philosophy as a distraction from ‘real’ science but it is in fact both useful and beautiful

James Read

essayHistory of science

A nasogenital tale

A bizarre theory (and a gory surgery) in fin-de-siècle Vienna help us get a grip on how science and medicine actually work

Urte Laukaityte

Infrared image of the Milky Way shows a glowing red band of stars across a blue background, indicating cosmic dust and gas.

essayHistory of science

The light beyond sight

Only a tiny sliver of the Universe’s light can be seen by human eyes. But today we’re catching glimpses of the invisible

Corey S Powell

Black and white photo of a woman cycling down a street with a wicker basket on the bike. She wears a checked coat.

videoHistory of science

Meet the Quaker pacifist who shattered British science’s highest glass ceilings

14 minutes

3D digital graphic of geometric shapes—cube, spheres and orbits—in space with a starry background.

videoHistory of science

Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history

29 minutes

Abstract colourful illustration showing various sections of a face and a black cat with lines and geometric shapes, from the perspective of someone peeing into a box.

essayPhysics

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

Photo of a black and white moth with speckled wings against a dark background.

essayGenetics

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