• Science and Technology

    Mind over matter


    Philip Goff |  March 19, 2024


    The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve.


  • International

    Russia after Putin


    Robert Person |  March 19, 2024


    Vladimir Putin has rubber stamped himself in power for another six years, but at 71 he has no successor, no living rivals and no retirement plan, so his eventual death will set off a vicious power struggle for the ruins of the country he leaves behind.


  • Artificial Intelligence

    AI in the dock over fake cases


    Michael Legg |  March 19, 2024


    A combination of lazy lawyers and hallucinating AI have seen a slew of invented cases presented as fact to exasperated judges.


Latest Story

  • Red sea blues

    Saba Sinai     |      March 18, 2024

    The Yemeni Houthi rebels’ continued attacks on shipping in the Red Sea serve as a reminder that global supply chains remain highly vulnerable to disruption and that food insecurity can simultaneously be an effect and cause of conflict.

  • Parkruns not pills

    Siân Slade     |      March 18, 2024

    ‘Social prescribing’ sees health professionals connect patients to non-medical services and physical activities to improve their health and wellbeing.

  • Ten years after

    Stefan Wolff     |      March 18, 2024

    It is ten years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea on March 18 2014. Subsequent efforts to firmly integrate the peninsula into the Russian Federation, however, have been far from the success story that the Kremlin often likes to portray.

  • Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness

    Sheila Fitzpatrick     |      March 16, 2024

    This year is the centenary of Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We – a major influence on George Orwell’s dystopia 1984 and a seminal work of science fiction.

  • Angry young men

    Josh Roose     |      March 16, 2024

    Dire economic prospects are opening the door for an angry world of emotional manipulation that is targeting young men.

  • It happened one night – 90 years ago

    Alexander Sergeant     |      March 16, 2024

    Frank Capra’s cynical romantic fable, It Happened One Night, celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and is well due a critical revisit.

  • The four waves of feminism

    Open Forum     |      March 15, 2024

    Feminist history is generally packaged as a story of “waves”, the first lasting from the mid-19th century to 1920. The second wave spanned the 1960s to the early 1980s. The third wave began in the mid-1990s and lasted until the 2010s and some say we are experiencing a fourth wave in the online age of today.

  • Political bees and talking pigs

    Julia Kindt     |      March 15, 2024

    The differences and similarities between humans and (other) animals fascinated ancient philosophers and story tellers, and are still a point of scientific and moral contention today.

  • Does long COVID exist?

    Open Forum     |      March 15, 2024

    Long COVID may be no different to other post-viral syndromes, according to Australian research which found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 a year ago were no more likely to report moderate-to-severe functional limitations than people who had influenza.

  • How to have better arguments

    Sherry Landow     |      March 15, 2024

    Taking steps to fine-tune our argument style can help clarify our thoughts, increase positive debate, reduce anger and emotion, and help us reach a common understanding of the truth more often.

  • Junk food for the mind

    Marten Risius     |      March 15, 2024

    Generative AI is pumping out endless torrents of garbage books, pictures and social media posts for scammers and fraudsters – up to 70% of tweets on Elon Musk’s X are generated by bots – undermining the public’s trust in all kinds of online information.

  • A sham election in a hollow state

    Matthew Sussex     |      March 15, 2024

    Having murdered or imprisoned anyone who dared stand up to his murderous rule, Vladimir Putin will install himself for yet another term as Russian President this weekend, driving his country ever further down a dark road of repression, aggression and decay.