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Nature and the environment

A couple sits on a ledge overlooking a city and harbour at twilight, sharing an umbrella.

Meaning and the good life

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You can be a materialist and find meaning in the universe

My hard-nosed materialism led me to an existential crisis, but then I realised the difference between science and scientism

by Jessica Tracy

Mountain landscape with a winding dirt path, large rocks, green hills and a cloudy sky.

Sacred places

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Nan Shepherd delved into a queer erotic kinship with nature

In the Highlands, Nan Shepherd found an erotic kinship with nature: ‘The Living Mountain’ a core text for queer ecology

by Melissa Matthewson

A boy eats at a table while a smiling woman holds a kitten in a rustic kitchen with peeling walls and various items on a counter.

Food and drink

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La cucina povera delivers the fare we need to sustain us now

La cucina povera made do with whatever was available in nonna’s kitchen garden, and remains the perfect fare for our times

by Louise Fabiani

Braided river with shallow channels flowing through a landscape of red and brown vegetation, against a backdrop of distant mountains.

Nature and the environment

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What does water want? Most humans seem to have forgotten

Asking what water wants sounds a bit mystical, even radical. But it’s a practical, proven path to creating a better world

by Erica Gies

A woman and child stand on a barren, fire-ravaged landscape with scorched trees and hills in the background under a cloudy sky.

Sacred places

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Our children will need to find the beauty in our burnt planet

How will our children find beauty in a world rapidly breaking into what observers call a spectacle of unremitting loss?

by Stephen J Pyne

Two people sitting on a blanket under a starry night sky, with mountains and tall trees in the background.

Nature and the environment

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Why people across the world see constellations, not just stars

Orion, the Big Dipper and the rest reflect shared features of human perception – but also diverse cultural interpretations

by Simon J Cropper, Duane W Hamacher, Daniel R Little & Charles Kemp

A tiny, pink pygmy seahorse camouflaged against coral in an underwater scene with vibrant orange and pink hues.

Animals

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Sex lives of the pygmy seahorses – a hidden, miniature marvel

Randy females, pregnant males and breeding quartets: the secret sex lives of the pygmy seahorses of Sulawesi in Indonesia

by Richard Smith

A large whale surfacing next to a boat with people in life jackets observing and taking photos on a clear day.

Nature and the environment

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Grey whales taught me how to mother, how to endure, how to live

When I was in crisis, grey whales taught me how to mother and how to endure, till I could find my own paths through change

by Doreen Cunningham