Why we need to stop thinking about parents, offspring and sex when we try to understand how life reproduces itself - by Gunnar O Babcock Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The story of China’s one-child policy is told by felt puppets with fabricated memories in this acclaimed short animation - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
We must keep the flame of pessimism burning: it is a virtue for our deeply troubled times, when optimism is a vice - by Mara van der Lugt Read at Aeon | Continue reading
In the hands of a ceramicist-animator, pottery is a cyclical, elemental art form, deeply connected to the rhythms of nature - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Our excrement is a natural, renewable and sustainable resource – if only we can overcome our visceral disgust of it - by Lina Zeldovich Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Marx’s idea that societies were naturally egalitarian and communal before farming is widely influential and quite wrong | Continue reading
Unearthed audio recalls how a 1970 ‘leadership seminar’ descended into depravity, and why its participants went along with it - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Alan Turing was a pioneer of machine learning, whose work continues to shape the crucial question: can machines think? - by Sebastian Sunday Grève Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The art critic John Ruskin believed words couldn’t capture nature’s beautiful palette. So here it is in black and white - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Marx’s idea that societies were naturally egalitarian and communal before farming is widely influential and quite wrong - by Manvir Singh Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A man scaling a house of cards; a porcupine surrounded by balloons – wry animations on anxiety, aspiration and actuality - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The history of ideas still struggles to remember the names of notable women philosophers. Mary Hesse is a salient example - by Ann-Sophie Barwich Read at Aeon | Continue reading
If you really want decolonisation, go beyond cultural criticism to the deep structural insights of economist Samir Amin - by Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Does the artist’s intention matter, or is it indeed all in the eye of the beholder? The ongoing debate brought to animated life - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
For a century, the idea of truth has been deflated, becoming terrain from which philosophers fled. They must return – urgently - by Crispin Sartwell Read at Aeon | Continue reading
One grim day (when youth is over) you find that new music gets on your nerves. But why do our musical tastes freeze over? | Continue reading
Time seems to stand still on a small island in Belgrade where a father lives alone, grieving his daughter in quiet solitude - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Too many nature writers descend into poetic self-absorption instead of the sharp-eyed realism the natural world deserves - by Richard Smyth Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What would a sketch of your partner, or your twin, or you look like if drawn by an artist working from your words alone? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Indigenous peoples around the world tell myths which contain warning signs for natural disasters. Scientists are now listening | Continue reading
Classic evolutionary theory holds that species separate over time. But it’s fuzzier than that – now we know they also merge | Continue reading
You likely think of the American West as deeply conservative and rural. Yet history shows this politics is very new indeed - by Daniel J Herman Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A collector of vintage album art on savouring all things kitschy and campy, and his hunt for the record that got away - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
When a writer stares down a blank page, the whole of literature stares back. Why, then, leave the empty page as it is? - by Andrew Gallix Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A hand-painted animation of the Mongolian wind burial tradition, in which a body gets swept up from the Earthly to infinite - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Classic evolutionary theory holds that species separate over time. But it’s fuzzier than that – now we know they also merge - by Juli Berwald Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Proclaiming one’s own goodness is deeply annoying. Yet signalling theory explains why it’s a peculiarly powerful manoeuvre | Continue reading
When Paradise, California burned, its teens became instant climate refugees. How do they rebuild their lives from the ashes? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Proclaiming one’s own goodness is deeply annoying. Yet signalling theory explains why it’s a peculiarly powerful manoeuvre - by Tadeg Quillien Read at Aeon | Continue reading
As tasks mount up, our brain’s ability to juggle goes down. Neuroergonomic tactics can relieve the cognitive burden | Continue reading
As tasks mount up, our brain’s ability to juggle goes down. Neuroergonomic tactics can relieve the cognitive burden - by Emily Willingham Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Franz Kafka believed illness was at the root of his writing yet he embraced wellness fads with hearty vigour | Continue reading
Corruption is a truly global crisis and the wealth addiction that feeds it is hiding in plain sight | Continue reading
The exquisite eye-candy of magnets meeting ferrofluid reveals an oft-hidden force that is still mysterious to scientists - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Corruption is a truly global crisis and the wealth addiction that feeds it is hiding in plain sight - by Sarah Chayes Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A collaboration over 365 days between a musician and a storyteller results in a poignant reflection on age and memory - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Franz Kafka believed illness was at the root of his writing yet he embraced wellness fads with hearty vigour - by Will Rees Read at Aeon | Continue reading
‘My life isn’t your porn’: what the spy-cam epidemic in South Korea says about the country’s law enforcement and gender equality - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The desire for certainty is often foolish and sometimes dangerous. Scepticism undermines it, both in oneself and in others - by Nicholas Tampio Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A 1969 documentary goes inside a samurai sword workshop to explore the craft and history behind the iconic Japanese weapon | Continue reading
A 1969 documentary goes inside a samurai sword workshop to explore the craft and history behind the iconic Japanese weapon - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Fire is a planetary feature, not a biotic bug. What can we learn from Yosemite’s experiment to restore natural fire? - by Stephen J Pyne Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Being on-call, out-of-sync and underslept is not just personal but a pervasive political injustice. Bold change is needed | Continue reading
The nail-biting night of the US presidential elections in 2020 from the perspectives of eager onlookers across the country - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Being on-call, out-of-sync and underslept is not just personal but a pervasive political injustice. Bold change is needed - by Jonathan White Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Autistic children and adults sketch out the look and feel of their sensory world in an early awareness-raising film - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
How do ancient stories of talking elephants and singing birds encourage a life of truth, nonviolence and compassion? - by Keerthik Sasidharan Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Powerful tricks from computer science and cybernetics show how evolution ‘hacked’ its way to intelligence from the bottom up | Continue reading