Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Gravity retained a somewhat mystifying quality, even after the Newtonian revolution: how could one object affect another from great distances? The same could be said about light, heat and magnetism, which all seemed to jump through empty space. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the scientists Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell made sense of these phenomena by developing electromagnetic field theory. With Faraday conceiving of electromagnetic fields and Maxwell expressing them with mathematics, the duo revolutionised physics by demonstrating how seemingly empty space isn’t so empty. In this animated short from MinutePhysics, the physicist Neil Turok of the Perimeter Institute in Ontario explains how Faraday and Maxwell revealed a hidden world that would lay the foundation for particle physics and help usher in our age of modern conveniences.
Video by MinutePhysics
video
Death
Even in modern secular societies, belief in an afterlife persists. Why?
9 minutes
video
Nature and landscape
Take a serene hike through an ancient forest, inspired by a Miyazaki masterpiece
6 minutes
video
Design and fashion
The mundane becomes mesmerising in this deep dive into segmented displays
14 minutes
video
Physics
A song of ice, fire and jelly – exploring the physics and history of the trumpet
9 minutes
video
Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
6 minutes
video
Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
14 minutes
video
Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
5 minutes
video
Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
9 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
The world turns vivid, strange and philosophical for one plane crash survivor
16 minutes