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Essays

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Longform Essays written by serious and creative thinkers on philosophy, psychology, science, society and culture

Illustration of a crab using a laptop, captioned “Homo-crustaceous digitalis” on a textured background.

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The future

Homo crustaceous

‘Everything becomes crab’ is more than an absurd meme. The crab is a deep symbol of our devil’s bargain with technology

Michael Garfield

Photo of a rustic stone house with a shaded garden path lined with lush greenery and flowering plants under a clear blue sky.

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History of ideas

From scattered traces

How the ideas circulating among one noblewoman’s coterie in 16th-century Dubrovnik anticipated modern feminist thought

Luka Boršić

Photo of a busy street corner with people gathering outside a cafe named Dante in a city setting on a cloudy day.

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Neurodiversity

Rethinking adult ADHD

The diagnostic category of adult ADHD is becoming more inclusive. That’s not the same as it being overdiagnosed

Margaret Sibley

Photo of ornate 18th-century women’s shoes with floral embroidery and green trim on a neutral background.

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Design and fashion

Walk in these

Shoes are deeply personal, literally moulded to our lives. But they create our social lives as much as express them

Matthew McCormack

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Music

The beat of goombay

Diasporas are made of vast constellations of countless people, fused together through memory, meaning – and music

Salwa Halloway

Black and white photo of a woman and man sitting at a kitchen table appearing deep in thought or conversation.

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Virtues and vices

Awkward silences

What is it about lulls in conversation that make them so very uncomfortable? It has to do with how we connect with each other

Rebecca Roache

Cropped illustration of a person in a pink robe with orange patterns walking beside a horse, surrounded by grass and flowers.

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Gender

Taliban bride

Women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their own homes. This is the story of Marjan, married at 12 to a Taliban fighter

Zala & Asad Nariman

Daguerreotype of a man in a Victorian-era suit holding a rod with one eye closed, framed by an ornate gold border.

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History of science

Injury and inhibition

The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors

Ben Platts-Mills

Vintage painting of a man with glowing eyes surrounded by floating spheres on a decorative background.

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Stories 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

A person in a hi-vis vest sitting outdoors at a table with a drink, looking into the distance.

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Technology and the self

The unseen

Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being

Allison J Pugh

Black birds flying over snowy mountains with dramatic cloudy skies in the background.

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Evolution

Empire of flight

They have big brains, long childhoods and sociable, curious minds. So why haven’t birds developed complex culture?

Antone Martinho-Truswell

Medieval painting of a circular walled city with towers and a large lamb statue on a roof, surrounded by countryside.

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Political philosophy

The allure of autarky

Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t

Ben Chu