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Curated short documentaries and original Aeon productions exploring big ideas
Abstract illustration of a woman holding hands with a child, walking down a path, surrounded by colourful shapes.

videoPhilosophy of mind

Caring for the vulnerable opens gateways to our richest, deepest brain states

7 minutes

Illustration of a man with grey hair and arms crossed in front of full bookshelves.

videoCosmology

Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?

7 minutes

Illustrated portrait of a smiling woman with long hair, standing in front of a tree with purple flowers in a grassy landscape.

videoCognition and intelligence

How a ‘periodic table’ of animal intelligence could help to root out human bias

5 minutes

Illustrated portrait of a man in a hoodie with short hair who is Anil Seth, in front of a window with a view of rooftops, antennas and a tree.

videoPhilosophy of mind

Anil Seth on why our senses are fine-tuned for utility, not for ‘reality’

10 minutes

Illustration of four pregnant women dancing around a red fire with a red female fertility figure above them, set against a beige background.

videoAnthropology

Abundance has made fat an enemy, but it’s been a friend to humans for millennia

4 minutes

Illustration of two stylised figures in blue patterned dresses holding hands and dancing against an orange textured background.

videoDance and theatre

Dance seems to be the ultimate frivolity. How did it become a human necessity?

4 minutes

Collage artwork combining a colourful costumed figure, vintage car, and distorted buildings, against a backdrop of geometric shapes.

videoHistory of ideas

Splitting the truth: the philosopher that physics forgot

4 minutes

Painting of ancient sailors rowing a ship, with Odysseus tied to the mast, and two sirens, one reaching out, another singing.

videoSelf-improvement

Why preparation, not willpower, is the key to mastering self-restraint

5 minutes

Illustration of two men pointing at a moonlit landscape through a colourful, oval-shaped window surrounded by abstract shapes.

videoHistory of ideas

Sex, religion and envy – how Freud and Jung’s frenetic friendship tore itself apart

4 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a man hanging from a large clock on a building above a city street with traffic and buildings.

videoCognition and intelligence

For millennia, we’d never seen anything like film cuts. How do we process them so easily?

7 minutes

A person standing next to a damaged car in a desert landscape under a dramatic sky, suggesting a post-apocalyptic scene.

videoFilm and visual culture

Why do we crave the awful futures of apocalyptic fiction?

5 minutes

Watercolour painting of a man in a blue suit on a grey background with text “IN SIGHT Morten Kringelbach” on the right.

videoPleasure and pain

A happy life is built on pleasures such as sex and food, but also company and variety

7 minutes