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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
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

Photo of a person applying varnish to the interior planks of a wooden boat on a sunny day.

video

Making

On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way

6 minutes

Black and white photo of a firing squad in a wooded area with snow on the ground, soldiers aiming rifles at standing figures.

essay

Death

The last letter

Condemned to death by firing squad, French resistance fighters put pen to paper. Their dying words can teach us how to live

Daniel R Brunstetter

Enhanced image of Ceres’ surface showing a bright crater and stars in space.

essay

Space exploration

Have they been here?

When we look for extraterrestrials, we often peer into the depths of space. But alien life might be closer than you think

Ravi Kopparapu & Jacob Haqq Misra

Photo of a wicker basket with two kittens and a squirrel inside against a decorative blue and white tiled wall.

video

Animals and humans

One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough

14 minutes

Photo of people walking outdoors carrying trays of plants, surrounded by bushes and greenery.

essay

Meaning and the good life

Welcome to the Chaoscene

The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities

Rupert Read

Abstract digital art with glowing spirals and spheres on a dark background.

video

Computing and artificial intelligence

A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away

9 minutes

Painting of two armoured warriors confronting three hooded witches under a turbulent sky, with one warrior holding a spear.

video

History

Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches

13 minutes

Photo of a rural scene: a man and child walk with ducks past a military motorcycle and three soldiers in a field.

essay

Nations and empires

Shame and revolution

Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame

Kevin D Pham

Aerial photo of a snowy town with colourful buildings and a vast frozen landscape in the background.

essay

The environment

On unstable ground

A ‘great reshuffle’ of the land is underway. It will force us to reconsider traditional ideas of property and ownership

Michael Albertus