Aeon Magazine

Easy access to desperately needed drugs has made India the global accelerant of our antimicrobial resistance crisis. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, ps...

Physicists believe a third class of particles – anyons – could exist, but only in 2D. What kind of existence is that?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science,...

Humanitarian journalism is a moral calling to document human suffering. But in practice, it’s an ethically murky undertaking. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, sc...

Frank Lloyd Wright exalted the individual and made ordinary life beautiful. But his life was marked by scandal and grief. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, scienc...

A centuries-old network of secret codes and shadowy brokers continues to outpace financial systems controlled by the state. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, scie...

ADHD isn’t merely a dysfunction. It’s best understood as an impulsive motivational drive for novel information. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psychol...

Some saw the Moon as representing creation, yearning for the Divine, some saw the Moon as almost Divine herself. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psycho...

The idea that we should reduce sleep to an efficient minimum in our lives gets something fundamentally wrong. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psycholog...

Americans love to gamble. But placing bets on wildfires, floods and storms comes with serious moral and social costs. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, p...

China’s regime insists on national unity and international harmony. Is this anything more than an imperial posture?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, ps...

The biologist Victoria Foe discovered a timing device in ‘junk’ DNA that could unlock the evolution of complex life. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, ps...

Lansana Keita rejected Eurocentric ideas, tracing the philosophical tradition back to African Kemet or ancient Egypt. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, p...

Elephant families are matriarchal, inclusive and caring. But when environmental scarcity hits, everything changes. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psyc...

We know that black holes are strange, but they could be hiding something even weirder beyond their horizons. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psychology...

The word can morph from noun to verb to adjective, from dog to human, from female to male. What will it do next?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psych...

As the 18th-century war between mechanism and romanticism returns, we face a new question: can we build artificial souls?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, scien...

Since living requires choosing, we will always feel regret about the paths not taken. But what matters is the future we forge. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, s...

In the early 20th century, Emmy Noether’s mathematics transcended the physical world. She longed to do the same herself. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science...

Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, sc...

Ayahuasca has gone global. But do corporate managers in China’s megacities have the same visions as shamans in Peru?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, p...

African philosophical values of harmony and vitality have much to offer our thinking about what we owe to ourselves. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, ps...

Technologies of preserving and reviving organisms are already redefining the meaning of life, death, and extinction itself. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, scie...

Franz Boas helps us solve the puzzle of where our emotional lives originate: in our selves or in the cultures around us. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science...

Who belongs to our moral community? The Greek philosopher Empedocles had an answer: all life, from humans to the laurel bush. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, sc...

The gravest of all decisions, to go to war, happens without the consent of the people. This is a great flaw in democracy. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told through essays that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, scienc...