Aeon

One More Time

Why do we listen to our favourite music over and over again? Because repeated sounds work magic in our brains

Spot the psychopath

Psychopaths have a reputation for cunning and ruthlessness. But they are more like you and me than we care to admit

To be is to participate

For Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, a person is not self-contained, but the outcome of a lifelong process of living with others: we before I

What The Evolution Of Bitch Says About Gender And Power

The word can morph from noun to verb to adjective, from dog to human, from female to male. What will it do next?

Frank Lloyd Wright As A Mirror Of The American Condition

Frank Lloyd Wright exalted the individual and made ordinary life beautiful. But his life was marked by scandal and grief.

How Nazism Ended Centuries Of Catholic Protestant Enmity

In the 1930s, the rise of Nazism brought centuries of animosity between Europe’s Catholics and Protestants to an end. Why?

Children of the Ice Age

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To converse well

A good conversation bridges the distances between people and imbues life with pleasure and a sense of discovery

The Ungreat Replcement

Workers in the West have indeed been repressed – but not by immigrants. The policies of their own governments are to blame

Beyond the !Kung

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Typos, tricks and misprints

Why is English spelling so weird and unpredictable? Don’t blame the mix of languages; look to quirks of timing and technology

Life with Purpose

Biologists balk at any talk of ‘goals’ or ‘intentions’ – but a bold new research agenda has put agency back on the table

Hand to Mouth

If language began with gestures around a campfire and secret signals on hunts, why did speech come to dominate communication?

But is it Science?

Theoretical physicists who say the multiverse exists set a dangerous precedent: science based on zero empirical evidence

What Is Everything Made Of?

To answer whether the fundamental building blocks of reality are particles, fields or both means thinking beyond physics

Did Laughter Make the Mind?

A psychological relief valve and a guard against despotism, laughter is a uniquely human – and collective – activity

Through Two Doors

How a sunbeam split in two became physics’ most elegant experiment, shedding light on the underlying nature of reality

The Deterrence Myth

Nuclear deterrence continues to dominate international relations. Yet there is no proof it ever worked, nor that it ever will

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

Who Decides What Words Mean?

Bound by rules, yet constantly changing, language might be the ultimate self-regulating system, with nobody in charge