Philosophy Science Psychology Society Culture

DonateNewsletter

Four girls sitting on a riverbank, sitting in two groups of two; three upright and one lying down, with backpacks and bags nearby.

Autism’s missing women

Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism

essay

Neurodiversity

Autism’s missing women

Gina Rippon

Popular this month

Black and white photo of man standing in front of a massive industrial tunnel with a Jeumont sign.

essay

Neuroscience

Why nothing matters

It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences

Benjy Barnett

Black and white photo of people gathered by the Berlin Wall, a couple embracing in the foreground.

essay

Thinkers and theories

The necessity of Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time

Brandon Robshaw

Photo of two surgeons in blue scrubs and masks focused on a procedure, with one surgeon’s glasses reflecting the surgery.

essay

Medicine

When I lost my intuition

For years, I practised medicine with cool certainty, comfortable with life-and-death decisions. Then, one day, I couldn’t

Ronald W Dworkin

Photo of a crowd with a focused young woman looking to the side, surrounded by blurred faces in the foreground.

essay

Personality

The highly sensitive person

Those with this little-known trait think more deeply and feel more empathy. But they also deal with significant challenges

Elaine Aron

A desert highway at dusk with cliffs and the moon visible and a rear-view mirror showing a road and sunset reflection behind.

essay

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

Photo of two boys sitting in a dilapidated room surrounded by debris with a view of an overgrown outside through a broken wall.

video

War and peace

Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines

22 minutes

A cheetah cub playfully interacts with a brown dog on grass, with a toy in the background.

essay

Bioethics

Why the cat wags her tail

Here’s a puzzle: how could evolution favour such a costly, frivolous and fun activity as animal play?

Mathilde Tahar-Malaussena

Painting of a vibrant green hillside with trees and a winding river, showing detailed textures and overlapping colours.

video

Nature and landscape

California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker

10 minutes

Collage image of a smiling woman in patterned dress with colourful wavy borders set on a beach background.

video

Love and friendship

Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone

5 minutes

A busy urban street with cars, a motorbike and a truck passing by a neon-lit building at sunset.

essay

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

A large, artificial ice structure in a mountainous landscape with clear blue sky in the background.

video

Engineering

Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?

15 minutes

Sepia-toned photo of a person in formal Victorian attire, standing with a slightly tilted head, against an ornate backdrop.

essay

Gender and identity

Requeering Wilde

Oscar Wilde is an icon of gay liberation from secrecy. But his life and his sexuality were not so simple – nor so binary

Sam Mills

An older man in a red cap and printed T-shirt looking into the distance.

video

Virtues and vices

Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later

16 minutes

A child in a pink raincoat jumping in a puddle on a city street on a rainy day with terraced houses in the background.

essay

Philosophy of mind

Suffused with causality

Humans have a superpower that makes us uniquely capable of controlling the world: our ability to understand cause and effect

Mariel Goddu

Black-and-white photo of a person looking at vintage Honeywell 200 computer tape drives labelled A and B.

video

History of technology

Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966

6 minutes

A cupcake with pink icing topped with mealworms, surrounded by other cupcakes.

essay

Food and drink

Adjust your disgust

The future of food is nutritious and sustainable – if we can overcome our instinctual revulsion to insects and lab-grown meat

Alexandra Plakias

video

Cognition and intelligence

A father forgets his child’s name for the first time in this poetic reflection on memory

4 minutes

Painting of an angel in an orange glow flying with small birds across a night sky over a cityscape and bare trees.

essay

History of science

Legacy of the angels

When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics

Rebekah Wallace

Photo of three children in winter jackets sitting on grassland near a stream with a plastic container between them.

video

Animals and humans

Join seabirds as they migrate, encountering human communities along the way

13 minutes

Dried ground leaves being poured from a scoop into a container indoors.

essay

Addiction

The kratom question

Millions are turning to an unregulated herbal extract to curb their opioid addiction. But do the risks outweigh the benefits?

Xi Chen

Black and white night photo of historic Gothic-style buildings with arched windows, towers and courtyards.

essay

History of ideas

Ghosts among the philosophers

Cambridge, home of analytic philosophy, was also a hotbed of psychical research. How did this spooky subject take root?

Matyáš Moravec

Traditional Indian painting of a deity reclining on a serpent on water with another figure on a lotus against a red background.

video

Stories and literature

Two variants of a Hindu myth come alive in an animated ode to Indian storytelling

14 minutes

Vintage sepia photo of a group of soldiers in hats and uniforms posed with a US flag.

essay

War and peace

Could conquest return?

It’s only a century since US diplomats first persuaded the world that it’s wrong for countries to annex their neighbours

Kerry Goettlich

A young girl with curly hair applies makeup in front of a ring-lit mirror, her reflection visible.

video

Technology and the self

The commodified childhood – scenes from two sisters’ lives in the creator economy

14 minutes

A person in a hard hat and coveralls surrounded by thick white smoke, obscuring most of the view.

video

Fairness and equality

There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa

10 minutes

essay

Neuroscience

Why nothing matters

It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences

Benjy Barnett

essay

Thinkers and theories

The necessity of Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time

Brandon Robshaw

Photo of a diner interior seen through a window with patrons seated at tables and a counter under hanging lights.

video

Food and drink

The passage of time is a peculiar thing in a 24-hour diner

14 minutes