Just a pale blue dot
When we see the Earth as ‘a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’ what do we learn about human significance?
Popular this month
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Poverty and development
How Kerala got rich
Fifty years ago it was one of India’s poorest states, now it is now one of the richest. How did Kerala do it?
Tirthankar Roy & K Ravi Raman
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Neurodiversity
Autism’s missing women
Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism
Gina Rippon
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Physics
The stagnation of physics
Physicists today need to jettison the all-too-attractive myth that they are uncovering the hidden reality of our Universe
Adrien De Sutter
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Gender
Does testosterone make men?
In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree
Cordelia Fine & Carole Hooven
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Philosophy of science
More-than-human science
When AI takes over the practice of science we will likely find the results strange and incomprehensible. Should we worry?
Brandon Boesch
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
The truth about love
In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?
Armand D’Angour
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Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes
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Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
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Death
The last letter
Condemned to death by firing squad, French resistance fighters put pen to paper. Their dying words can teach us how to live
Daniel R Brunstetter
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Space exploration
Have they been here?
When we look for extraterrestrials, we often peer into the depths of space. But alien life might be closer than you think
Ravi Kopparapu & Jacob Haqq Misra
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Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
Welcome to the Chaoscene
The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities
Rupert Read
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
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Genetics
Beanbag genetics
Today a bitter dispute about the nature of biology is underway. A simple bag of beans may be what tips the balance
Zachary B Hancock
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History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
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Nations and empires
Shame and revolution
Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame
Kevin D Pham
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The environment
On unstable ground
A ‘great reshuffle’ of the land is underway. It will force us to reconsider traditional ideas of property and ownership
Michael Albertus
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Wellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes
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Philosophy of mind
By the light of brahman
Ideas from classical Indian philosophy help illuminate the enigmas of selfhood, consciousness and the nature of reality
Anand Vaidya & Manjula Menon
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Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes
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Gender
Does testosterone make men?
In probing whether there are basic sex differences in humans, a psychologist and a biologist agree to seriously disagree
Cordelia Fine & Carole Hooven
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Meaning and the good life
Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times
29 minutes
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Language and linguistics
The lonely life of a glyph-breaker
The heroic days of deciphering hieroglyphics and cuneiform make for great stories, but will we ever see that happen again?
Francesco Perono Cacciafoco
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Dance and theatre
What actors know
Acting is an ancient and intrinsically human way to establish vibrant connections with one another. And it’s available to us all
John Britton
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Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
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Poverty and development
Raising the threshold
The World Bank’s poverty line is inaccurate and out of date – an error that obscures the feebleness of market solutions
Attrishu Bordoloi
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War and peace
Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines
22 minutes