video
Stories and literature
Robert Frost’s poetic reflection on youth, as read in his unforgettable baritone
5 minutes
video
Sex and sexuality
After a sextortion scam, Eugene conducts an unblushing survey of masturbation
14 minutes
essay
Wellbeing
Learning to be happier
In order to help improve my students’ mental health, I offered a course on the science of happiness. It worked – but why?
Bruce Hood
essay
Consciousness and altered states
Acid media
How perforated squares of trippy blotter paper allowed outlaw chemists and wizard-alchemists to dose the world with LSD
Erik Davis
video
Language and linguistics
Closed captions suck. Here’s one artist’s inventive project to make them better
8 minutes
video
Anthropology
Why are witchcraft accusations so common across human societies?
4 minutes
video
Subcultures
Drop into London’s eclectic skate scene, where newbies and old-timers find community
5 minutes
video
Technology and the self
A deepfake porn victim confronts the pain of having her likeness stolen and vandalised
19 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
essay
Metaphysics
The enchanted vision
Love is much more than a mere emotion or moral ideal. It imbues the world itself and we should learn to move with its power
Mark Vernon
essay
Human rights and justice
My elusive pain
The lives of North Africans in France are shaped by a harrowing struggle to belong, marked by postcolonial trauma
Farah Abdessamad
video
Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
essay
Neuroscience
How to make a map of smell
We can split light by a prism, sounds by tones, but surely the world of odour is too complex and personal? Strangely, no
Jason Castro
video
Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
The therapist who hated me
Going to a child psychoanalyst four times a week for three years was bad enough. Reading what she wrote about me was worse
Michael Bacon
essay
Consciousness and altered states
A reader’s guide to microdosing
How to use small doses of psychedelics to lift your mood, enhance your focus, and fire your creativity
Tunde Aideyan
essay
Family life
A patchwork family
After my marriage failed, I strove to create a new family – one made beautiful by the loving way it’s stitched together
Lily Dunn
video
Work
A Swedish expat in the Philippines wonders: what’s up with people sleeping at work?
14 minutes
video
Biography and memoir
The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands
29 minutes
video
Cognition and intelligence
What’s this buzz about bees having culture? Inside a groundbreaking experiment
8 minutes
video
Earth science and climate
The only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact
22 minutes
essay
Public health
It’s dirty work
In caring for and bearing with human suffering, hospital staff perform extreme emotional labour. Is there a better way?
Susanna Crossman
essay
Social psychology
The magic of the mundane
Pioneering sociologist Erving Goffman realised that every action is deeply revealing of the social norms by which we live
Lucy McDonald
essay
Stories and literature
The real Miss Julie
Victoria Benedictsson assumed a male identity, achieved literary stardom, and took her own life. Then Strindberg stole it
Elisabeth Åsbrink