The fear of being duped is ubiquitous, but excessive scepticism makes it harder to trust one another and cooperate - by Tess Wilkinson-Ryan Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Cuteness overload! What makes us want to touch, pinch and squeeze adorable creatures is still a bit of a mystery for science - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The sexual revolution promised new norms of intimacy based on egalitarianism. So far, only the rich have cashed in - by Daniel Tutt Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Watch as a traditional artisan of Noh masks cuts, carves and paints an eerily lifelike human face from a single block of wood - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Radicals in the Age of Revolution saw the classical world as a common inheritance that could aid their fight for liberty - by Francesca Langer Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Two filmmakers, awaiting the result of a pregnancy test, take turns recording their experiences in this honest, intimate short - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Conceptual art often confounds. The key is to understand the rules of the artwork and the aesthetic experiences they yield - by Sherri Irvin Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Jacques Derrida was fascinated by the figure of the Marrano Jew, whose identity could barely be told even to themselves - by Peter Salmon Read at Aeon | Continue reading
War and wine: how decadent Persian wine vessels were given a playful, dynamic makeover in the hands of Athenian potters - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
A sonnet contains an emotional drama of illusion and deception, crisis and resolution, crafted to make us think and feel - by Timothy Hampton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How the celebrated South African photographer David Goldblatt captured apartheid’s contradictions in stark black and white - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The Marind people of West Papua deploy mourning not only to grieve their animal and plant kin but as political resistance - by Sophie Chao Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Should we believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says its time to ditch such immaterial concepts once and for all - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Not a backdrop, an illusion or an emergent phenomenon, time has a physical size that can be measured in laboratories - by Sara Walker & Lee Cronin Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What if massive ocean worlds – ‘Hycean’ planets – are a better bet in the search for life than terrestrial exoplanets? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
All countries must balance the freedom of individuals with the demands of the community. Sweden’s solution is unique - by Lars Trägårdh Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How can an all-powerful, all-loving god allow suffering in the world? A Catholic philosopher explains the problem of evil - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Analytic and continental philosophers were once united in their obsession with language. But now new questions have arisen - by Crispin Sartwell Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The intimacy that developed between an artist and his muse over hundreds of sittings is an exercise in love and drawing - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
After an abuse scandal destroyed my Buddhist community, I had to reconsider what it means to live an ethically attuned life - by Jessica Locke Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Full of implicit rules and paradoxes, sulking is a marvellous example of intense communication without clear declaration - by Rebecca Roache Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Amid ecological catastrophe, is the rise of simulation theory just a way to find ‘solace in the face of paralysis’? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Science is not the only form of knowledge but it is the best, being the most successful epistemic enterprise in history - by Moti Mizrahi Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A mesmerising music video uses innovative stop-motion animation to reveal, slice-by-slice, the patterns and hues in wood - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Is it time to abandon the century-old idea that cancer is best met with a ‘fight’ from patients and their doctors alike? - by Elaine Schattner Read at Aeon | Continue reading
When Sébastien finally meets his father and travels to his native Rwanda, he finds the answers to his lifelong questions - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The spooky sensation that someone or something else is right there haunts us all. But what does this felt presence mean? - by Ben Alderson-Day Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The 400-year-old book that first collected Shakespeare’s plays will take you on a riveting journey through theatre history - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
These canines have independent, peaceful, happy lives without a pet’s constraints. Why are they being persecuted and culled? - by Krithika Srinivasan & Chris Pearson Read at Aeon | Continue reading
In a poignant portrait of grief and the strength it can inspire, Yasuo searches the sea for his wife, lost in a tsunami - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The ancient Cynics taught that masturbation is about more than pleasure: it suggests how to live simply and autonomously - by M D Usher Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Why architects should take inspiration from the sustainable ways that animals build, and integrate wildlife into their work - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Now is the time to revitalise our relationship with nature and immerse ourselves in the little wonders of the universe - by Ed Simon Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The ancient philosophy of monism and the physics of quantum entanglement agree: all that exists is one unified whole - by Heinrich Päs Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Why did Maoist mango mania grip China in the 1960s? Animating the history of the Cultural Revolution’s painful decade - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Now associated with childhood fun, the swing has a near-universal history of ritual transgression and transformation - by Javier Moscoso Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Investigating where the ‘free will’ debate currently stands, from the vantage of neuroscience, physics and moral philosophy - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Unlike anger, irritation has neither glamour nor radicalism on its side. Yet it might just be the mood we need right now - by Will Rees Read at Aeon | Continue reading
With a deep view of time, a regenerative forester extracts resources to cultivate growth in an ancient English rainforest - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
When the rules break down, you must judge what to do on your own. Discretion is necessary for navigating the muddle of life - by Lorraine Daston Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Once considered fanciful, today data visualisation charts, and changes, our world. But it can misinform as much as it informs - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
We humans are forward-facing, gravity-bound plodders. Can the liquid motion of the octopus radicalise our ideas about time? - by David Borkenhagen Read at Aeon | Continue reading
From flowers to teapots to amphibians, hundreds of 19th-century engravings form a dizzying contemplation of consciousness - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The iconoclastic French historian Paul Veyne illuminated the past by showing how deeply alien it is to the present - by Carlos Noreña Read at Aeon | Continue reading
On the eve of a pivotal presidential election in Tunisia, women at a hair salon debate the 26 candidates – and their future - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Machine learning theory is shedding new light on how to think about the mysterious and ineffable nature of art - by Peli Grietzer Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Cruel and unscientific, the ‘vegetative state’ diagnosis stems from a hierarchical and bigoted view of all living things - by Ben Platts-Mills Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The colourised deep-space images from NASA are more than just intergalactic eye candy – they help us understand better - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading