Society
video
Design and fashion
The mundane becomes mesmerising in this deep dive into segmented displays
14 minutes
essay
Economic history
Deservingness
In post-communist eastern and central Europe, history is intensely personal and economics is saturated with moral feeling
Till Hilmar
essay
Nations and empires
Dream of the Russian tropics
Imperial Russia had little access to the bountiful tropics that other empires enjoyed. So it created its own in the Caucasus
Oleksandr Polianichev
essay
Stories and literature
Vergil’s secret message
Long derided as mere coincidences, acrostics in ancient poetry are finally being taken seriously – with astonishing results
Julia Hejduk
video
Architecture
Tour the European architecture that dreamed of a wondrous, fictitious China
16 minutes
video
Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
6 minutes
essay
Work
Freedom at work
There is always a demand for more jobs. But what makes a job good? For that, Immanuel Kant has an answer
Tyler Re
essay
Film and visual culture
Fighting kung fu
From chopsocky films to disco earworms, Asian caricatures have proliferated since the 1970s. Can Hollywood kick the habit?
Stephanie Wong
video
Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
14 minutes
video
Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
5 minutes
essay
Human rights and justice
Beyond obscenity
A century after the trial against ‘Ulysses’, we must revisit the civil liberties arguments of its defender, Morris Ernst
Brett Gary
video
Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
9 minutes
essay
Archaeology
The secret life of Druids
The Greeks and Romans portrayed these elusive priests as bogeymen who bathed in their victims’ blood. Who were they really?
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
video
Cities
The rise and fall of Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong’s infamous urban monolith
18 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
Why seek self-realisation?
In the face of climate crisis it might seem myopic but philosophers from Spinoza to Næss argue it is the only way forward
Helen De Cruz
essay
Film and visual culture
Exposed
Slum photography was at the heart of progressive campaigns against urban poverty. And it was a weapon against poor people
Sadie Levy Gale
essay
Global history
The polycrisis
Is this the word we need to describe unprecedented convergences between ecological, political and economic strife?
Ville Lähde
video
Gender
When aggression is viewed as brilliance, it hurts women in science, and science itself
5 minutes
video
Religion
From God’s shoes to satellites in heaven – children weigh in on religion
8 minutes
video
Stories and literature
Myths from Earth’s edge – what the Icelandic sagas reveal about Norse morality
57 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
Wittgenstein in the classroom
The philosopher understood that learning – of a concept, of ourselves, of each other – is the undertaking of a whole life
Calum Jacobs
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Analysis for the people
Group therapy promised to be both democratic and radical, but it failed to take hold. Has its time finally come?
Jess Cotton
essay
Nations and empires
The Arab Kingdom
Amid the chaos of the First World War, a new pan-Arab empire was proclaimed. It faltered, but its historical lessons remain
Adam Mestyan
essay
The ancient world
The great libraries of Rome
Passersby could wander at will into grand public libraries in imperial Rome. Could they trust what they found inside?
Fabio Fernandes