Human nature
![A young woman in a red bikini and an older man in black trunks cool off at an outdoor shower, with a sunny beach background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/49751cd0-9f84-42a7-a27f-570945253849/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Gender
idea
What sex-difference science misses about the messy reality of sex
Men aren’t from Mars, women aren’t from Venus, and other persistent myths derived from debunked sex-difference science
by Jeffrey W Lockhart
![Marble bust of an ancient Greek man with curly hair, a beard, and an intense expression, set against a black background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fd393576-d493-4ad4-a8cd-47721f9f44c3/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Human nature
idea
Our innate ideas prevent us seeing what is innate in human nature
We have a great deal of trouble telling what is innate and what is learned in human nature, whether ideas or emotions
by Iris Berent
![Two people are on top of a craggy hill in lakeland scenery in winter. They look small against a big sky](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/70c91c24-62b4-4083-bae3-606ad2b8a147/sq-panos_00279460.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Nature and the environment
guide
How to rewild yourself
You didn’t evolve to live in this techno-industrialised world. Find health and happiness by embracing your wild nature
by Jessica Carew Kraft
![A painting of a woman with wide, dark eyes and expressionless face, holding a lit match. She wears a red dress with white polka dots.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fa6b7c39-8bce-4931-aa23-9d936fd35a84/the-hangman-at-home-landscape-1.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Poetry
film
The unseen lives of others take centre stage in this surreal poetry adaptation
Directed by Michelle Kranot and Uri Kranot
![A portrait painting of a woman with a solemn expression and dark hair against a dark, textured background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/25e18ea5-eee9-44a5-b71d-59ea3014f974/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Emotions
idea
Are you sure you know what emotions are?
It’s tricky to define what an emotion is: is surprise one, or something else? Here are a few simple rules to get started
by Andrew Ortony
![Illustration of animals dressed as humans in a courtroom setting. A lion is the judge, surrounded by various other animal characters.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8bf98c92-afef-403c-87b8-59c616e5e0f2/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Animals
idea
What our use of animal-based slurs and endearments says about us
The image of the adorable kitten and the insult of calling someone a ‘pussy’ have more in common than you might realise
by David Egan
![Illustration of a person with curly hair, wearing large glasses and a sleeveless top, looking back over their shoulder.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/ae703830-4833-481a-9adb-5403a5f66639/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Love
film
Surreal vignettes form a meditation on love in this Oscar-winning short
Directed by Alberto Mielgo
![Black-and-white photo of people scrubbing the ground while a large crowd watches. Buckets of water are placed around them.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/f74a0220-773a-40f9-820f-e73866b1ed8b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Social history
idea
The rise of the bystander as a complicit historical actor
‘The appalling silence of the good people’: how the bystander rose to prominence as a morally complicit actor in history
by Dennis Klein
![Black and white photograph of people among the rubble of collapsed buildings, including a partially standing tower, with bare trees in view.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/45a7ed53-41e2-49d4-8493-977b9676ec71/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Human nature
idea
The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing
Peter Kropotkin took on social Darwinism, casting evolution in a cooperative light and laying the groundwork for mutual aid
by Lydia Syson
![Close-up image of a NASA parachute with alternating orange and white panels against a clear blue sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/be388e9b-1256-4f62-b9da-b6e4eafb42b8/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Transcendent experience
film
We soar, we plunge, we labour: here is all peak human experience
Directed by Dylan Werkman