essayProgress and modernity
The shadow of prosperity
A shrub meant to end hunger now chokes Kenya’s farmlands. It’s a parable of how visions of progress can outgrow their promises
Samuel F Derbyshire
essayProgress and modernity
Authenticate thyself
Data has created a new and paradoxical social order: the promise of emancipation is made possible by classifying everything
Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy
videoProgress and modernity
Moving from Tibet to Beijing, Drolma reconciles big dreams with harsh realities
31 minutes
essayStories and literature
Merveilleux-scientifique
With brain swaps and death rays, a little-known French sci-fi genre explored science’s dark possibilities a century ago
Fleur Hopkins-Loféron
videoNature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
videoAnimals and humans
Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat
19 minutes
videoFairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
essayFood and drink
The flavour of mechanisation
Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention
Massimo Mazzotti
videoFilm and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes
videoAnthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes
videoPersonality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
essayProgress and modernity
The great wealth wave
The tide has turned – evidence shows ordinary citizens in the Western world are now richer and more equal than ever before
Daniel Waldenström
essayProgress and modernity
In praise of magical thinking
Once we all had knowledge of how to heal ourselves using plants and animals. The future would be sweeter for renewing it
Anna Badkhen
videoTechnology and the self
In the town once named Asbestos, locals ponder the voids industry left in its wake
16 minutes
videoCities
A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county
3 minutes
essayReligion
Conscientious unbelievers
How, a century ago, radical freethinkers quietly and persistently subverted Scotland’s Christian establishment
Felicity Loughlin
essayThinkers and theories
Our tools shape our selves
For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience
Bryan Norton
videoTechnology and the self
An artist swaps her head with everyday objects in a musing on consumerism
4 minutes
videoLanguage and linguistics
Messages born of melody – hear the whistled language of the Hmong people
18 minutes
essayEconomics
Going cashless
It’s not in the interests of the ordinary person but it’s not a conspiracy either. A cashless society is a system run amok
Brett Scott
essayCities
The haunting of modern China
In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts
Andrew Kipnis
essayLanguage and linguistics
Language is medicine
For First Nations people, health is not a matter of mechanical fitness of the body, but of language, identity and belonging
Erica X Eisen
essayCities
Sick city
My dad grew up in Robert Moses’s New York City. His story is a testament to how urban planning shapes countless lives
Katie Mulkowsky
essayMental health
People not professionals
Training individuals to support one another through difficult times is a profound step forward in our mental health crisis
Arjun Kapoor & Jasmine Kalha