Travel
![Photo of a busy night street market with people and colourful tricycles in the Philippines, lit by street lights and signage.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/7b007395-abc0-4c6d-bdae-746900c2b698/rt-final-gettyimages-1154697268.jpg?top=4&left=0&cropWidth=1936&cropHeight=1089&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Communication and language
idea
The tentacles of language are always on the move
An evolutionary biologist explains how human language can shift as slowly or rapidly as organisms adapting to life on Earth
by Klaus M Stiefel
![A woman sitting inside a red double-decker bus at night, with a busy street and shops in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/490c8de8-56da-4bfc-9af0-2a7de6f6d195/original.jpg?top=4&left=0&cropWidth=1936&cropHeight=1089&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Freedom and choice
idea
Why not driving is my own form of resistance
As romantic petrochemical-fuelled narratives slip into the past, I’ve found my own kind of freedom in a life without a car
by Vicky Grut
![A person walking on a pier towards a lighthouse, holding a book behind their back, with the sea on the right under a grey sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/39a3d7ba-d2b6-411f-aa0a-25ef83848231/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Pleasures and pastimes
guide
How to wander
Whether in a city or the wilderness, near or far, there’s joy to be had in a journey where the destination doesn’t matter
by Jordan Fisher Smith
![Painting of an outdoor community gathering, with people dancing and playing music near a house with a thatched roof. Many onlookers are seated.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/cdf8da5c-fa21-4520-8b71-1cc88b7341e8/original.jpg?top=21&left=0&cropWidth=2000&cropHeight=1125&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Rituals and celebrations
film
Come on this painterly journey to Madagascar’s ‘turning of the dead’
Directed by Bastien Dubois
![Photo of large jagged icebergs in dark ocean waters under a cloudy sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/0a1de964-dbd9-45dd-82c9-6640e1810662/panos_00293815.jpeg?top=469&left=0&cropWidth=4992&cropHeight=2808&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Travel
idea
Why virtual travel is no substitute for being in a place
Around the world in 80 virtual-reality simulations? Why armchair travel will never be a substitute for the weary trudge
by Emily Thomas
![Photo of an elderly person in a wheelchair on a beach facing a large picture of a forest and shrine.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/1cd43288-8cbc-4e4a-a9da-6e8abf088ac3/panos_00276818.jpeg?top=313&left=0&cropWidth=3200&cropHeight=1800&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Imagination
idea
Nourish your imagination and you will be forever free
The imagination is fundamental to the human experience, freeing us from physical confines and anchoring us during unrest
by Tania Zittoun
![Red train travelling through a snow-covered mountainous landscape with frosted pine trees and snowy hills, viewed from inside one of the carriages.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d24a5b4a-1e39-4871-80d6-83cd347d17c3/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Travel
guide
How to be a more ethical traveller
You are itching to get out there and want to do it with care. How do you avoid traps like voluntourism and greenwashing?
by Carolin Lusby
![Illustration of a coastal landscape with a yellow tower, green hills, and cacti in the foreground, overlooking a calm sea under a blue sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/471aca07-fe48-48e8-9f1b-c6a455f2e6ab/original.jpg?top=0&left=0&cropWidth=1792&cropHeight=1008&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Travel
film
Postcards from a Tuscan island where an unhurried pace is a way of life
Directed by Tom Schroeder
![Black wire sculpture of a person dancing, with a sketchy background of buildings, trees, and a street in black, blue, and red.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/dd19cf34-46bc-41ad-8109-72b5819d83b8/original.jpg?top=21&left=0&cropWidth=2000&cropHeight=1125&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Parenting and families
film
When a young woman leaves home, her parents’ world literally begins to unravel
A film by Dina Velikovskaya