Rising far above the desert, the walls of these magnificent hills carry the ancient story of humanity’s creative spark ...

It was a rust bucket, sure, but this car delivered the most precious good to a group of friends in 1980s Poland: freedom ...

In the US, long-term solitary confinement is still widely practised, with an estimated 122,000 people isolated in small prison cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. This persists despite movements across ...

Aeon Essays and Videos on Art In the glow of the candle Joseph Wright of Derby put science at the centre of his art. Eclipsed in his lifetime, his work still burns with radical ideas Charlotte Mullins ...

You notice an ant struggling in a puddle of water. Their legs thrash as they fight to stay afloat. You could walk past, or you could take a moment to tip a leaf or a twig into the puddle, giving them ...

Light is one aspect of the Universe that, for most people, holds a deep and noticeable value in everyday life, helping them ...

For India’s travelling stunt drivers, who risk their lives for a living, freedom lies on the other side of fear ...

In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature ...

At the time of writing, Australia is on fire. The fires have killed at least 25 humans and more than a billion animals. Animals such as koalas are especially at risk, since their normal response to ...

Here I am, lying in bed. If you walk in now, you’ll think I’m sleeping. But I see you. Although my eyelids look shut, they are fluttering slightly. They are the only parts of me that I can move. I am ...

A typical university course in the history of philosophy surveys the great thinkers of Western civilisation as a stately procession from Plato to Aristotle to Descartes to Kant to Hegel to Nietzsche.