Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Beginning in 2004, the evolutionary biologist Ed Scholes of Cornell University in New York and the US nature photographer Tim Laman embarked on an ambitious project to find and film the 39 then-known members of the birds-of-paradise family that live in remote regions of New Guinea, Australia and nearby islands. Living in largely predator-free habitats have allowed male birds-of-paradise to develop some of the world’s most colourful plumage and elaborate mating displays, making them the favourites of many a David Attenborough nature documentary.
During a 2016 trek to west New Guinea, Laman and Scholes did one better than simply capturing new images of these birds – they discovered a new species. Now known as the Vogelkop superb bird-of-paradise (Lophorina niedda), it was previously considered a subspecies of the Greater superb bird-of-paradise. However, Laman and Scholes’s documentation of the male’s mating dance revealed enough difference in its song, movement and feather display for the Vogelkop superb to be recognised as a distinct species. With its first documented observation dating back to 1930, this video marks the first known time that the male Vogelkop superb has been caught on camera in all its shimmying, brilliant black-and-blue glory.
Video by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

video
Space exploration
In the search for life, might alien ocean worlds be a better bet than Earth-like planets?
5 minutes

video
Thinkers and theories
Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?
13 minutes

video
Biology
A dazzling slice-by-slice exploration of wood exposes hidden patterns and hues
2 minutes

video
Architecture
Modern architecture should embrace – not ignore or repel – the nonhuman world
8 minutes

video
Philosophy of mind
We may never settle the ‘free will’ debate, but tapping into it is still worthwhile
32 minutes

video
Ecology and environmental sciences
In an ancient English rainforest, John creates charcoal and cultivates growth
12 minutes

video
Information and communication
Mapping data visualisation’s meteoric rise from Victorian London to today
6 minutes

video
Space exploration
What are you really seeing when you see magnificent images of space?
5 minutes

video
History of science
How an ancient polymath first calculated Earth’s size, as told by Carl Sagan
7 minutes