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
essay
Quantum theory
All is One
The ancient philosophy of monism and the physics of quantum entanglement agree: all that exists is one unified whole
Heinrich Päs
video
Information and communication
Mapping data visualisation’s meteoric rise from Victorian London to today
6 minutes
essay
History of science
Machina mundi
How medieval thinkers foreshadowed modern physics in investigating the character of machines, devices and forces
Henrik Lagerlund & Sylvain Roudaut
essay
History of ideas
Aristotle on making babies
He was the first great observer of nature. But his theory of human reproduction was deeply sexist – and enduring
Emily Thomas
video
History of science
How an ancient polymath first calculated Earth’s size, as told by Carl Sagan
7 minutes
video
Quantum theory
Why aren’t our everyday lives as ‘spooky’ as the quantum world?
7 minutes
essay
Gender and identity
Disarming transphobia
‘Rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is a popular weapon in the anti-trans arsenal. It is nothing but unscientific bunk
Quinnehtukqut McLamore
video
History of science
Bat-people on the Moon – what a famed 1835 hoax reveals about misinformation today
8 minutes
video
Physics
The tangled tale of how physicists built a groundbreaking wormhole in a lab
17 minutes
essay
History of science
Where God dwelt
For hundreds of years, Christians knew exactly where heaven was: above us and above the stars. Then came the new cosmologists
Stephen Case
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
essay
Cosmology
Cogitating black holes
The Universe cannot always be understood through observation. Instead, physicists explore by devising thought experiments
Michael Dine
video
History of science
How one of history’s most beautiful books was used to find fate in the cosmos
6 minutes
essay
History of science
A singular scientist
James Lovelock was a visionary whose greatest ideas were made possible by his unshakeable independence
Roger Highfield
essay
Biology
A touch of moss
Inside a rainforest or on the city pavement, moss asks so little yet offers so much: a tactile encounter with time itself
Nikita Arora
video
Astronomy
From zero to 5,000 – music and visuals express 30 years of exoplanet discoveries
1 minute
essay
Biology
Seeing life
Driven by insatiable curiosity, early histologists revealed the hidden structures of cells in works of sensual artistry
Benjamin Ehrlich
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Bad therapy
Some psychotherapeutic approaches are not only ineffective, they’re actively harmful. We’re now starting to identify them
Yevgeny Botanov, Alexander Williams & John Sakaluk
essay
Quantum theory
Quantum Wittgenstein
Metaphysical debates in quantum physics don’t get at ‘truth’ – they’re nothing but a form of ritual, activity and culture
Timothy Andersen
essay
Biology
The split-body problem
Why we need to stop thinking about parents, offspring and sex when we try to understand how life reproduces itself
Gunnar O Babcock
essay
Evolution
The web of life
Classic evolutionary theory holds that species separate over time. But it’s fuzzier than that – now we know they also merge
Juli Berwald
essay
History of science
Calculate but don’t shut up
The cliché has it that the Copenhagen interpretation demands adherence without deep enquiry. That does physics a disservice
Jim Baggott
essay
Philosophy of science
The beautiful experiment
Science has become extraordinarily technocratic and complex. Is the simple and decisive experiment still a worthy ideal?
Milena Ivanova