Menu
Aeon
DonateNewsletter
SIGN IN

Audio

Latest and most popular thought-provoking articles about human nature from diverse thinkers with audio
Save

idea

Physics

Why we can stop worrying and love the particle accelerator

Joel Frohlich

Save

essay

Neuroscience

The empty brain

Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

Robert Epstein

Save

idea

Economics

Conspicuous consumption is over. It’s all about intangibles now

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett

Save

idea

Cognition and intelligence

What know-it-alls don’t know, or the illusion of competence

Kate Fehlhaber

Save

essay

Language and linguistics

English is not normal

No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language

John McWhorter

Save

idea

Social psychology

A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you

Clifton Mark

Save

essay

Work

Fuck work

Economists believe in full employment. Americans think that work builds character. But what if jobs aren’t working anymore?

James Livingston

Save

essay

Human reproduction

The macho sperm myth

The idea that millions of sperm are on an Olympian race to reach the egg is yet another male fantasy of human reproduction

Robert D Martin

Save

essay

Biology

The obesity era

As the American people got fatter, so did marmosets, vervet monkeys and mice. The problem may be bigger than any of us

David Berreby

Save

idea

War and peace

What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil?

Thomas White

Save

essay

Meaning and the good life

Indifference is a power

As legions of warriors and prisoners can attest, Stoicism is not grim resolve but a way to wrest happiness from adversity

Lary Wallace

Save

essay

Childhood and adolescence

The play deficit

Children today are cossetted and pressured in equal measure. Without the freedom to play they will never grow up

Peter Gray