The necessity of awe

In awe we hold fast to nature’s strangeness and open up to the unknown. No wonder it’s central to the scientific imaginationBy Helen De CruzRead at Aeon

18h

Peter and Ben

For decades, Peter lived alone in a Welsh valley – until he found friendship with a fellow ‘dropout’, a sheep he named BenBy Aeon VideoWatch at Aeon

1d

From vice to crime

European empires were addicted to opium smoking. Then their own agents launched a moral crusade to prohibit itBy Diana S KimRead at Aeon

1d

Sunken films

Trawling for memories in the wreckage of the deep sea, recovered early 20th-century films offer haunting glimpses of historyBy Aeon VideoWatch at Aeon

3d

Laughter is vital

For philosopher Henri Bergson, laughter solves a serious human conundrum: how to keep our minds and social lives elasticBy Emily HerringRead at Aeon

3d

The paradox of the ravens

Is a red apple proof that all ravens are black? Marc Lange on Carl Gustav Hempel’s counterintuitive paradox of confirmationBy Aeon VideoWatch at Aeon

4d

Unboxing mental health

Our system for diagnosing mental disorders doesn’t work. The transdiagnostic model offers a humane, clinically sound alternativeBy Melissa BlackRead at Aeon

4d

The face of the fish

They’re not cuddly, they don’t behave at all like us – yet they are sentient. Why fish belong in the moral communityBy Michael WoodruffRead at Aeon

1w

Shelter in place

To avoid deportation from the US, Vicky Chavez and her kids moved into a church. They’re still in lockdown, two years onBy Aeon VideoWatch at Aeon

2w

Ashoka’s moral empire

Being good is hard. How an ancient Indian emperor, horrified by the cruelty of war, created an infrastructure of goodnessBy Sonam KachruRead at Aeon

2w