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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
Photo of a young woman in a pink hijab skateboarding on a ramp, with a building and a flag visible in the background.

video

Sports and games

Young Palestinians find fleeting moments of freedom at a West Bank skate park

13 minutes

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

essay

History 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.

video

History of science

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

14 minutes

Mosaic of a man in a red coat and wide brimmed hat holding a scythe with three workers in the background on a patterned brick wall.

essay

Human rights and justice

Levelling the world

Gerrard Winstanley led a small band of radicals whose vision of justice encompassed the globe and continues to inspire

Rowan Wilson

A rocky cliff with natural caves and green vegetation growing on the surface.

essay

Human evolution

The other Homo sapiens

We are just one branch of a diverse human family tree. Aside from Neanderthals, who were they – and why did we replace them?

Nick Longrich

Engraving of a classroom with children sewing, some highlighted in red, teachers stand at the front with windows above.

video

Illness and disease

Humanity eradicated smallpox 45 years ago. It’s a story worth remembering

25 minutes

Painting of a man on a rocky cliff overlooking a foggy mountainous landscape, with a walking stick in hand.

essay

Art

Out of the fog

It’s a ‘failed painting’ that obscures the profound power of German Romanticism. Why do we love the ‘Wanderer’ so much?

Gianluca Didino

A painting of a mythical forest scene with centaurs, satyrs and wild animals in a chaotic setting.

video

Nature and landscape

‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden

5 minutes

People collecting water from a makeshift station in a camp, surrounded by orange netting and tents in the background.

essay

Ethics

Moral refuge

You can believe in border control yet protect those fleeing to safety. So what is our ethical obligation to refugees?

Bradley Hillier-Smith

A colourful underground car park with numbered pillars and painted lanes with directional arrows.

essay

Cities

Cars beneath the ground

The explosion of automobiles shaped cities and lives. But an enduring problem remains: where to put them when they’re parked

Alfie Robinson

Photo of three people stacking hay bales under a cloudy sky with a pink sunset.

video

Social psychology

What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus

18 minutes

Fisheye photo of a man in a suit leaning close to camera in a laundrette, with two people talking in the background.

video

Gender

A catchy tune explains the world’s ‘isms’ – according to your mum doing the laundry

5 minutes

Ancient Chinese painting of a man under a tree with a trail of smoke coming from his mouth containing scenes of various figures, surrounded by miniature figures.

essay

Religion

Demonology

By turns benign and malign, powerful and vulnerable, earthbound and aerial, daimons across the world resemble one another

David Gordon White

3D digital rendering of a cross-section of a Roman amphitheatre, showing architectural details and a large crowd inside.

video

Architecture

A 3D rendering of the Colosseum captures its architectural genius and symbolic power

17 minutes

Abstract image of a woman’s face with vivid swirls of blue, green, red and yellow on a black background.

video

Human rights and justice

Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home

10 minutes

An elderly couple sit beside a child standing next to a canal with bare trees behind them. The man talks to the child and has a walking stick beside him.

essay

Demography and migration

The vanishing of youth

The precipitous decline of birthrates throughout the world poses a serious threat to humanity. What is to be done?

Victor Kumar

Photo of a black dog lying on a blue background with a purple button on its left and a yellow button on its right.

video

Language and linguistics

Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?

9 minutes

Medieval painting of soldiers in armour on a boat and horseback near a fortress with Cyrillic script above.

essay

Global history

Vikings on the Silk Roads

The Norse ravaged much of Europe for centuries. They were also cosmopolitan explorers who followed trade winds into the Far East

Neil Price

A satirical painting of a giant man being fed with spoons by tiny attendants.

essay

Information and communication

Methodical banality

Like today’s large language models, 16th-century humanists had techniques to automate writing – to the detriment of novelty

Hannah Katznelson

Black and white photo of a person in glasses and military attire standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

video

Art

When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer

9 minutes

Photo of a woman in a white dress and purple headscarf leaning against a wall, covering her face near green foliage.

essay

Human rights and justice

Struggling to wake

After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?

Ayisha Osori

Photo of a framed picture with colourful string art overlays, featuring plants in the foreground and other photos around.

video

Values and beliefs

Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi

7 minutes

A dark building at night, the black building structure contrasting with a deep blue night sky, with many vertical rectangular windows, three windows are brightly lit.

essay

Philosophy of science

More-than-human science

When AI takes over the practice of science we will likely find the results strange and incomprehensible. Should we worry?

Brandon Boesch

Ancient stone sculpture of a reclining female figure on a smooth surface against a grey background.

essay

Thinkers and theories

The truth about love

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?

Armand D’Angour