Pleasures and pastimes
Sex and sexuality
idea
Everything I know about flirting, I learned from the Cold War
The rewards of flirtation go beyond sex or romance. But, as in other exchanges, you have to know where the red line is
by Youngbin Yoon
Addiction
idea
You can want things you don’t like and like things you don’t want
The distinct neurochemistry of wanting and liking is helping to make sense of addiction – and more everyday behaviours
by Shayla Love
Play
idea
All you need to know to start skipping stones like a pro
With the right attitude, stone skipping is a rebellious act that will leave you feeling like you have glitter in your veins
by Julie Benda
Creativity
idea
A life of splendid uselessness is a life well lived
Like the fertile soil of a well-kept garden, a life of splendid, utter uselessness yields abundance beyond our immediate aims
by Joseph M Keegin
Play
idea
A game is not a game without a special kind of conflict
From 5,000-year-old boardgames to last year’s video-game blockbusters, all games feature a kind of collaborative conflict
by Eric Zimmerman
Pleasures and pastimes
idea
The brewer, the yeast, and the boundaries of human agency
The brewer and the yeast: why brewing beer sheds light on the philosophical debate about the boundaries of human agency
by Andrei A Buckareff
Sacred places
idea
I swim to think and to stay afloat in an ever-wetter world
‘The Beames my Bones, my flesh the plankes’: in pools, I glimpse the future of our terrestrial bodies in an ocean world
by Steve Mentz
Meaning and the good life
idea
What surfing says about the importance of serendipity in life
What surfers call the elated state of ‘stoke’ is really a celebration of life and the meaningful serendipities it brings
by Aaron James
Stories and literature
idea
On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send
Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self
by Anandi Mishra
Sports and games
idea
Sisyphus, skateboarders, and the value in endless failure
Skateboarders regularly fail at their chosen activity. But that doesn’t make it a meaningless task of Sisyphean proportions
by Andrei A Buckareff
Neurodiversity
idea
Why neurodiversity and entomology so often go together
Science has neglected to study the passions of autistic people like me. Here’s why so many of us are drawn to insects
by Alice Laciny
Stories and literature
idea
What Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist tell us about talking to strangers
Minor characters in 19th-century novels show us why banal smalltalk with strangers can be alienating – but also pleasurable
by Tara K Menon