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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
The free dogs of India | Aeon
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essay

Animals and humans

The free dogs of India

These canines have independent, peaceful, happy lives without a pet’s constraints. Why are they being persecuted and culled?

Krithika Srinivasan & Chris Pearson

How to design architecture for wildlife | Aeon
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video

Architecture

Modern architecture should embrace – not ignore or repel – the nonhuman world

8 minutes

Octopus time | Aeon
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Biology

Octopus time

We humans are forward-facing, gravity-bound plodders. Can the liquid motion of the octopus radicalise our ideas about time?

David Borkenhagen

The return of silvopasture | Aeon
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Earth science and climate

The return of silvopasture

This ancient practice, nurturing animals and trees in an ecological system, fights climate change and restores the land

Liz Carlisle & Niki Mazaroli

Where went the wolf? | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Where went the wolf?

The very attributes that make small dogs cute and popular are slowly strangling their ability to function as real animals

Jessica Pierce

The fate of the wild | Aeon
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video

Animals and humans

Laura fights to protect the magnificence of wild horses running free

6 minutes

What has feelings? | Aeon
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Computing and artificial intelligence

What has feelings?

As the power of AI grows, we need to have evidence of its sentience. That is why we must return to the minds of animals

Kristin Andrews & Jonathan Birch

If not vegan, then what? | Aeon
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essay

Ethics

If not vegan, then what?

A vegan diet can be hard to adopt, even if you’re convinced it’s the right thing to do. What are the next-best options?

Peter Godfrey-Smith

My Duduś | Aeon
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video

Animals and humans

What happened when one woman raised an abandoned squirrel as her own

8 minutes

Goodbye Pixel | Aeon
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essay

Animals and humans

Goodbye Pixel

Although it felt more like bereavement for a person than the loss of a thing, the death of a pet isn’t exactly like either

Julian Baggini

Home and the birdsong | Aeon
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essay

Nature and landscape

Home and the birdsong

In the dark, sylvan villages of medieval England, people named places after the birds that filled the night with music

Michael J Warren

Ed Yong: the hidden world of animal senses | Aeon
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video

Biology

To understand the limits of human senses, look to the wild world of animal cognition

45 minutes

Fortune favours the shrewd | Aeon
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essay

Evolution

Fortune favours the shrewd

Attaining and maintaining power lies at the heart of almost all animal societies. And it’s as devious as human politicking

Lee Alan Dugatkin

Happy the person | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Happy the person

She has deep emotions, complex social needs and a large, elephant brain. Her legal personhood should be recognised too

Lori Marino

Bird of prey | Aeon
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video

Biology

Journey deep into the Philippine forest in search of the world’s largest, rarest eagle

95 minutes

Semiotics of dogs | Aeon
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essay

Animals and humans

Semiotics of dogs

In all its baroque and sometimes cruelly overbred forms, the dog is a paramount symbol of both human hopes and foibles

Katrina Gulliver

In the gale | Aeon
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video

Ecology and environmental sciences

Yo-Yo Ma performs a work for cello in the woods, accompanied by a birdsong chorus

4 minutes

The dreams of animals | Aeon
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Sleep and dreams

The dreams of animals

The psychic lives of nonhuman dreamers reveal colours, harmonies and beauties of which we had little inkling until now

David M Peña-Guzmán

Freefall into darkness | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Freefall into darkness

Scientists study animals to illuminate human psychology. So why are we blind to the mental lives of our caged subjects?

Garet Lahvis

Against human exceptionalism | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Against human exceptionalism

In a tight spot, you’d probably intuit that a human life outweighs an animal’s. There are good arguments why that’s wrong

Jeff Sebo

Stray in Kars | Aeon
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video

Animals and humans

What the ancient city of Kars looks like from the perspective of its stray dogs

9 minutes

We must not own animals | Aeon
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essay

Ethics

We must not own animals

We will never truly advance our ethical relationship with other animals until we stop treating them as chattels for use

Gary L Francione

Why you should eat meat | Aeon
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Ethics

Why you should eat meat

Not eating animals is wrong. If you care about animals, then the right thing to do is breed them, kill them and eat them

Nick Zangwill

Becoming a centaur | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Becoming a centaur

The horse is a prey animal, the human a predator. Our shared trust and athleticism is a neurobiological miracle

Janet Jones