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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

A person’s hands pouring olive oil into a row of wine glasses with people blurred in the background at a tasting event.

essay

Food and drink

The flavour of mechanisation

Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention

Massimo Mazzotti

Black and white photo of ancient Egyptian artefacts in storage, including statues, chests, chairs, and bundles, within a room.

video

Archaeology

What did the first people who entered Tutankhamun’s tomb see?

5 minutes

Painting of a riverside scene with a large windmill, boats on the water, and three women standing on the bank next to a dock, under cloudy sky.

essay

History of technology

Learning to love monsters

Windmills were once just machines on the land but now seem delightfully bucolic. Could wind turbines win us over too?

Stephen Case

A collage showing a ‘just married’ car, a couple speaking with a bank teller, a couple by a crib, and a close-up of a BankAmericard with a gold coin in a money clip.

essay

Economic history

Credit card nation

Americans have always borrowed, but how exactly did their lives become so entangled with the power of plastic cards?

Sean H Vanatta

An oversized yellow plastic revolver gun displayed outside a brightly painted shop. There are palm trees in the background

essay

History of technology

Why America fell for guns

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history

Megan Kang

A stunning cityscape at dusk with a vibrant red sky, silhouetted skyscrapers, and a person near a railing taking a photo of the skyline across a river.

essay

Thinkers and theories

Our tools shape our selves

For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience

Bryan Norton

Close-up images of a display pixel grid, a black and white foam pattern, and a colourful honeycomb structure.

video

Engineering

A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations

9 minutes

A busy public library reading room with people using desktop computers at wooden tables, surrounded by bookshelves and lit by large windows and chandeliers.

essay

History of technology

Indexing the information age

Over a weekend in 1995, a small group gathered in Ohio to unleash the power of the internet by making it navigable

Monica Westin

A colourful close-up of a circular, textured artwork featuring butterflies, birds, and flowers against a blue background.

video

Design and fashion

The ornate, the aromatic, the cruel – Valentine’s cards before the age of Hallmark

16 minutes

Cartoon man with white hair and moustache smiling while holding pliers and a bloody tooth inside a candlelit building, against a snowy village background.

video

Medicine

Why surgery and barbering were one occupation in the Middle Ages

6 minutes

Medieval manuscript illustration showing a cutaway view of a multi-storey castle and a fortified structure, with inscriptions and arches.

essay

Architecture

The subtle art of elevation

Architectural drawing speaks of mathematical precision, but its roots lie in the theological exegesis of a prophetic book

Karl Kinsella

An intricate, colourful Persian artwork depicting a central figure on a throne, with four attendants surrounded by floral and animal motifs.

essay

History of technology

A silken web

From its mythic beginnings in a Chinese garden, the story of silk is a window into how weaving has shaped human history

Peter Frankopan, Marie-Louise Nosch & Feng Zhao

Aerial view of a river winding through a lush green valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains with a few red marked spots.

video

Computing and artificial intelligence

A scientist’s poor eyesight helped fuel a revolution in computer ‘vision’

9 minutes

A woman in a pink coat and carrying a pink umbrella walks past a protestor carrying a yellow placard appealing to people to use cash

essay

Economics

Going cashless

It’s not in the interests of the ordinary person but it’s not a conspiracy either. A cashless society is a system run amok

Brett Scott

A man in an apron operates a large wooden printing press wheel in an artisan workshop filled with tools, shelves, and a table.

video

Design and fashion

From spark of inspiration to final press – how William Blake built a book of poetry

8 minutes

A person adjusts a digital board displaying red illuminated numbers, possibly currency exchange rates, against a blurred background of people.

essay

Economics

Finance as alchemy

Finance fraud is not a deviation from an essentially rational system but a window onto the reality-distortion of markets

Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou

In the foreground a European mother cradles a newborn baby as an Indian woman looks on from the right

essay

Bioethics

Reproductive technologies

Infertility treatments aim to improve women’s lives. But they risk tying womanhood to the toxic expectation of motherhood

Gulzaar Barn

A grid of six uniquely styled number “8” designs in various colours and textures, each in different backgrounds: black, orange, blue, green, black, and grey.

video

Design and fashion

The mundane becomes mesmerising in this deep dive into segmented displays

14 minutes

Hand holding a paintbrush colouring a vintage map of England with various regions in different colours.

video

Mathematics

How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever

9 minutes

A monk in a robe holds up a small glass, inspecting its contents, with a serene expression and industrial equipment in the background.

essay

Economic history

A gospel of enjoyment

The French idea of the good life doesn’t always make rational economic sense. So much the worse for traditional economics

Charly Coleman

Person carving angel figures in stone with various chisels and brushes on a dusty table.

video

Art

From a pencil sketch to cherubs dancing in stone – recreating a Donatello work

7 minutes

A vintage photograph of a woman with a hookah, sitting on a couch and dressed in traditional attire, looking into the lens. The colorful image has a worn, aged effect.

video

History of technology

See the Mediterranean as it was captured in some of the earliest surviving photographs

20 minutes

Person using a vintage Raytheon computer terminal with text on the screen, next to a rotary phone on a desk.

essay

History of technology

Ingenious librarians

A group of 1970s campus librarians foresaw our world of distributed knowledge and research, and designed search tools for it

Monica Westin

A gecko with grey and orange spots rests on a piece of bark against a black background.

video

Thinkers and theories

Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?

13 minutes