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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
Time is an object | Aeon
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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

All is One | Aeon
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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

Five graphs that changed the world | Aeon
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video

Information and communication

Mapping data visualisation’s meteoric rise from Victorian London to today

6 minutes

Machina mundi | Aeon
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History of science

Machina mundi

How medieval thinkers foreshadowed modern physics in investigating the character of machines, devices and forces

Henrik Lagerlund & Sylvain Roudaut

Aristotle on making babies | Aeon
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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

Carl Sagan on Eratosthenes | Aeon
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video

History of science

How an ancient polymath first calculated Earth’s size, as told by Carl Sagan

7 minutes

How do we know what’s real? | Aeon
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video

Quantum theory

Why aren’t our everyday lives as ‘spooky’ as the quantum world?

7 minutes

Disarming transphobia | Aeon
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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

The great Moon hoax | Aeon
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video

History of science

Bat-people on the Moon – what a famed 1835 hoax reveals about misinformation today

8 minutes

Creating a wormhole in a quantum computer | Aeon
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video

Physics

The tangled tale of how physicists built a groundbreaking wormhole in a lab

17 minutes

Where God dwelt | Aeon
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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

Our Earth, shaped by life | Aeon
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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

Cogitating black holes | Aeon
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Cosmology

Cogitating black holes

The Universe cannot always be understood through observation. Instead, physicists explore by devising thought experiments

Michael Dine

Using the Astronomicum Caesareum book | Aeon
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video

History of science

How one of history’s most beautiful books was used to find fate in the cosmos

6 minutes

A singular scientist | Aeon
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History of science

A singular scientist

James Lovelock was a visionary whose greatest ideas were made possible by his unshakeable independence

Roger Highfield

A touch of moss | Aeon
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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

5,000 exoplanets | Aeon
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video

Astronomy

From zero to 5,000 – music and visuals express 30 years of exoplanet discoveries

1 minute

Seeing life | Aeon
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Biology

Seeing life

Driven by insatiable curiosity, early histologists revealed the hidden structures of cells in works of sensual artistry

Benjamin Ehrlich

Bad therapy | Aeon
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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

Quantum Wittgenstein | Aeon
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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

The split-body problem | Aeon
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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

The web of life | Aeon
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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

Calculate but don’t shut up | Aeon
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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

The beautiful experiment | Aeon
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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