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In 1993, inspired by H G Wells’s short story ‘The Country of the Blind’ (1904), the renowned neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks set out to study life on Pingelap – a small Micronesian island where an estimated tenth of the population has achromatopsia, a rare genetic disorder that leaves people close to or entirely colourblind. The results of Sacks’s investigation, compiled in his book The Island of the Colorblind (1996) and explored in this brief animation featuring audio excerpted from a 1998 radio interview, attests to the brain’s – and societies’ – astonishing ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
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Wellbeing
Through a poetic account of childhood trauma, one woman reclaims her past
28 minutes
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Politics and government
‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai
20 minutes
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Earth science and climate
A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse
6 minutes
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Film and visual culture
The old-time cinema experience endures in a quiet corner of Japan
5 minutes
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Gender and identity
‘I didn’t fall in love with a couple of body pieces’ – on marriage and transition
3 minutes
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Sports and games
The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’
15 minutes
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Animals and humans
What happened when one woman raised an abandoned squirrel as her own
8 minutes
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Life stages
At 14, Asal is excited about her engagement. Her relatives all have their own opinions
33 minutes
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The future
What’s the healthiest way to handle a creeping feeling that the world is ending?
15 minutes