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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
How do we know what’s real? | Aeon
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Quantum theory

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

7 minutes

The sights of space: a voyage to spectacular alien worlds | Aeon
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Space exploration

Burning ice, metal clouds, gemstone rain – tour the strangest known exoplanets

31 minutes

Barry Loewer on causation | Aeon
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Metaphysics

Bertrand Russell wanted to kill off causation. Can contemporary philosophy rescue it?

8 minutes

Creating a wormhole in a quantum computer | Aeon
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Physics

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

17 minutes

Moths and beetles in slow-motion flight | Aeon
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Biology

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

7 minutes

Brilliant noise | Aeon
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Astronomy

Raw solar-storm footage is the punk-rock antidote to sleek James Webb imagery

6 minutes

Einstein’s twin paradox | Aeon
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Physics

An interstellar voyage explores the ‘paradox’ of twins separated by light years

6 minutes

Imaginary numbers are real | Aeon
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essay

Mathematics

Imaginary numbers are real

These odd values were long dismissed as bookkeeping. Now physicists are proving that they describe the hidden shape of nature

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Phenomena: electricity | Aeon
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Physics

Spectacular fractal patterns emerge when electricity meets a wooden surface

4 minutes

What is movement? | Aeon
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Metaphysics

To see the Universe more clearly, think in terms of processes, not objects

6 minutes

Phenomena: magnetism | Aeon
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Physics

This is not an animation: the spectacular sight of magnets meeting a metallic liquid

5 minutes

The turbulent brain | Aeon
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Neuroscience

The turbulent brain

Energy flow between brain and environment drives the non-equilibrium that sustains life. Could turbulence help us thrive?

Morten L Kringelbach & Gustavo Deco

Jeff Tollaksen: quantum mechanics experiments | Aeon
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Quantum theory

Mind-bending new quantum experiments are blurring past, present and future

10 minutes

Insects take flight | Aeon
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Biology

How insects become airborne, slowed down to a speed the human eye can appreciate

8 minutes

How to ride a pterosaur | Aeon
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Biology

It’s a massive, winged Cretaceous beast – could a human ride one?

9 minutes

Simulating star-destroying black holes | Aeon
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Physics

Models capture the world-warping physics of what happens when stars meet black holes

2 minutes

Phenomena: waves | Aeon
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Physics

Water, salt and music form a mesmerising visualisation of sound waves

7 minutes

Why simplicity works | Aeon
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Physics

Why simplicity works

Does the existence of a multiverse hold the key for why nature’s laws seem so simple?

Johnjoe McFadden

Moths in slow motion | Aeon
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Biology

Witness the majesty of moths taking flight at 6,000 frames per second

5 minutes

Magnetic river | Aeon
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Physics

In this 1975 lecture, the maglev train’s inventor deconstructs his ingenious design

19 minutes

Phenomena: energy | Aeon
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Chemistry

Liquid experiments show how beautiful things can happen when chemicals meet

6 minutes

The Standard Model | Aeon
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Physics

The Standard Model might be the most successful theory in science. But what is it?

16 minutes

Hisako Koyama, the woman who stared at the Sun | Aeon
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Astronomy

Meet the citizen scientist who changed how we see the Sun, and science itself

5 minutes

ORIGINALCosmology in the dark | Aeon
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Cosmology

Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?

7 minutes