Beware the gadget

Our obsession with social media and non-stop immersion in our mobile phones are isolating us off from real human interaction, prompting calls for young people to be protected.

Fire, flints and fiction

Fiction remains one of humanities greatest inventions and we seem to need stories in our lives not only to explain the mysteries of existence but to enhance the fact of existence.

Mental aberrations

Humans are interacting more than ever with artificial intelligence and this technology is not only changing how humans relate with it but also with each other.

The dress and the rabbit

Optical illusions and ambiguous pictures are more than parlour puzzles but can open our eyes to the scientific study of human perception and the role our brains play in shaping what we think we see.

Self determination – or delusion?

The debate over whether humans have free will is a long-standing and complex issue in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. Do we really have free will – and therefore moral responsibility for our actions – or are our choices shaped our genetic makeup and social influences in ways that put them out of our control?

Scepticism v credulity

The ability to perceive patterns is a fundamental building block of human intelligence, but we need the scientific method to ensure these patterns are real, rather than illusions.

Trust your instincts

We’re surrounded by technology and spend decades honing our intellects at school and university but intuition – the ability to understand something without conscious reasoning – remains a powerful force in our lives, and can sometimes even be a life saver.

Myth and religion

Religions have been the repositories and interpreters of myths and sacred stories and the creators of rituals to express them, but as religions become institutionalised or associated with secular political power, they are all too often distorted for self-serving purposes.

Unraveling the riddle of cognition

Cognition – the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses – was once thought the preserve of the human brain, but scientific research increasingly suggests that simple organisms and even plants are capable of understanding and reacting to their environments in remarkable ways.

We are the stories we tell about ourselves

Myths of gods and monsters and legends of great and heroic deeds have played a vital role in shaping and passing on cultures around the world, and remain important in what they can tell us about human nature today.

Home grown science

Long before the understanding of modern chemistry came to these shores, indigenous people were treating native plants to eliminate arsenic and render them edible. Who knows what other traditional practises may offer scientific insights today?

Green mental health

Getting out into nature helps people improve their mental health – and bringing nature back into our cities can reduce crime.