Bookmarks (116)

What might a people, subjected to unspeakable historical suffering, think about the ethics of vengeance once in power? - by Shachar Pinsker Read at Aeon

‘So was I once myself a swinger of birches’ – Robert Frost reads his celebrated poem on yearning for the freedoms of youth - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway - by John Wallingford Read at Aeon

The target of a sextortion scam upends the experience by soliciting his friends’ views on masturbation and shame - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Given its intimacy with the body and deep play on form and function, furniture is a ripely ambiguous artform of its own - by Emma Crichton Miller Read at Aeon

Men and women can’t touch in Iranian cinema, so filmmakers creatively work around the ban by using props as a go-between - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

In order to help improve my students’ mental health, I offered a course on the science of happiness. It worked – but why? - by Bruce Hood Read at Aeon

How perforated squares of trippy blotter paper allowed outlaw chemists and wizard-alchemists to dose the world with LSD - by Erik Davis Read at Aeon

Captioning dialogue is one thing; captioning sound is another. This is how the artist Christine Sun Kim would do it - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

In the liminal time when the brain is dead but organs are kept alive, there is an urgent tenderness to medical care - by Ronald W Dworkin Read at Aeon

Meet Hypatia of Alexandria, a rare female – and moderate secular – public intellectual, who was murdered by religious zealots - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

We need to find a way for human societies to prosper while the planet heals. So far we can’t even think clearly about it - by Ville Lähde Read at Aeon

Profile of the pioneering Canadian architect whose modernist designs disintegrated boundaries between structure and place - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

New research transports us back to the shadowy firelight of ancient caves, imagining the minds and feelings of the artist - by Izzy Wisher Read at Aeon

In Jack London’s novel, Martin Eden personifies debates still raging over the role and purpose of education in American life - by Nick Romeo Read at Aeon

A novel study in rural China suggests that witchcraft accusations may have arisen as a means of damaging female competitors - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

In a country of such extraordinary diversity, the UN definition of ‘indigenous’ does little more than fuel ethnic violence - by Dikshit Sarma Bhagabati Read at Aeon

‘60 per cent community, 40 per cent skateboarding’ – a portrait of London’s growing skate scene on animated sketchbook pages - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Not long ago the search for extraterrestrials was considered laughable nonsense. Today, it’s serious and scientific - by Adam Frank Read at Aeon

‘This girl, this woman, this… me?’ Helen shares her horrifying experience of being deepfaked for pornography - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

In the Middle Ages, a new sense of balance fundamentally altered our understanding of nature and society - by Joel Kaye Read at Aeon

In constantly reaching for past parallels to explain our peculiar times we miss the real lessons of the master historian - by Mark Fisher Read at Aeon

For an aspiring nurse, staying in the US holds out the precarious promise of a life far from China’s strict gender norms - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

There’s a mystery of mirror molecules at the origin of life on Earth – and these scientists may have solved it - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

I migrated to my ancestral homeland in a search for identity. It proved to be a humbling experience in (un)belonging - by Jessica Buchleitner Read at Aeon

For an Iñupiat whaling crew north of the Arctic Circle, waiting on the ice for the migration of whales is an act of prayer - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Americans have always borrowed, but how exactly did their lives become so entangled with the power of plastic cards? - by Sean H Vanatta Read at Aeon

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 - by Mark Vernon Read at Aeon

Cosmologists understand what happened after the Big Bang. But what was our Universe before then? Enter the quantum multiverse - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

The term is ubiquitous and double-edged. It is both a key source of authentic knowledge and a danger to true solidarity - by Patrick J Casey Read at Aeon

For a truly ‘naive melody’, listen as musicians try to mirror a song in realtime, accompanied by a dreamy animation - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

The lives of North Africans in France are shaped by a harrowing struggle to belong, marked by postcolonial trauma - by Farah Abdessamad Read at Aeon

Jumping the fire and shaking the house: a joyful beginner’s guide to the ancient Persian celebration of spring renewal - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

For Margaret Macdonald, philosophical theories are akin to stories, meant to enlarge certain aspects of human life - by Peter West Read at Aeon

We can split light by a prism, sounds by tones, but surely the world of odour is too complex and personal? Strangely, no - by Jason Castro Read at Aeon

Ever since astronomers have looked to the skies, they’ve filled their knowledge gaps with wild theories of alien life - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

How, a century ago, radical freethinkers quietly and persistently subverted Scotland’s Christian establishment - by Felicity Loughlin Read at Aeon

‘God gave me enough power to fight for my rights’ – hear the voices of women across Afghanistan over a year of Taliban rule - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history - by Megan Kang Read at Aeon

Capturing the daily routines of a chain-smoking Polish couple, this short finds an unlikely poetry in life’s mundane rhythms - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Going to a child psychoanalyst four times a week for three years was bad enough. Reading what she wrote about me was worse - by Michael Bacon Read at Aeon

How to use small doses of psychedelics to lift your mood, enhance your focus, and fire your creativity - by Tunde Aideyan Read at Aeon

‘There is a world of created things … in the least part of matter’: an introduction to the Universe according to Leibniz - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

It is time to take seriously the painful consequences of appearance discrimination in the workplace - by Andrew Mason Read at Aeon

After Ed Dwight lost out on becoming the first Black astronaut, he carved out a celebrated later career as a sculptor - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

In the American South, an oligarchy of planters enriched itself through slavery. Pervasive underdevelopment is their legacy - by Keri Leigh Merritt Read at Aeon

When the flame of ancient Rome goes out, a Vestal Virgin is accused of unchastity and buried alive in a ceremony of sacrifice Alt: The Vestal Virgins were tasked with keeping fire of ancient Rome alight. Their lives, and the safety of Rome, depended on it - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience - by Bryan Norton Read at Aeon

‘Like colour-changing styrofoam’: a close-up look at electronic paper shows why it’s still a pale imitation of the real thing - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

After my marriage failed, I strove to create a new family – one made beautiful by the loving way it’s stitched together - by Lily Dunn Read at Aeon