Bookmarks (1163)

In 1900 my grandfather’s generation imagined a modernising Arab world, multireligious and progressive. What happened? - by Ussama Makdisi Read at Aeon

Diving into the literal and figurative layers behind that mysterious smile to explain why the Mona Lisa still matters - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Science has become extraordinarily technocratic and complex. Is the simple and decisive experiment still a worthy ideal? - by Milena Ivanova Read at Aeon

A golden bowl of porridge after a long famine – how the Hindu legend of Annapurna connects nourishment with spirituality - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

The week is the most artificial and recent of our time counts yet it’s impossible to imagine our shared lives without it - by David Henkin Read at Aeon

To make this version of ‘Vertigo’, an artificial intelligence computer watched Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film 20 times - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Diagnosing men as violent and oversexed beasts is tempting but it’s a regressive idea built on dubious analogies - by Matthew Gutmann Read at Aeon

One of the great buildings of the Renaissance reminds us that buildings are made to be explored, smelled and even tasted - by David Karmon Read at Aeon

Retired LGBTQ+ people celebrate their hard-earned self-acceptance at a belated senior prom night in Los Angeles - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Far from being hardwired to flee fire, some animals use it to their own ends, helping us understand our own pyrocognition - by Ivo Jacobs Read at Aeon

High-definition microscopy brings the strange beauty and wide variety of single-celled plankton into view - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

As a society we are failing people with severe, persistent mental illness. It’s time to reimagine institutional care - by Madeleine Ritts & Daniel Rosenbaum Read at Aeon

In 1960s Liverpool, four friends started a rock band. The rest is not the history you’re expecting. Meet the Liverbirds! - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

How the rebellious novelist left behind her provincial self to learn about life, charging around Paris dressed as a man - by Belinda Jack Read at Aeon

Dream-hacking techniques can help us create, heal and have fun. They could also become tools of commercial manipulation - by Adam Haar Horowitz, Robert Stickgold & Antonio Zadra Read at Aeon

How to diagnose and then counter ‘limerance’, or the debilitating psychological disorder suffered by hopeless romantics - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

There’s no rhythm to mass extinctions, no pattern to evolutionary recovery. Life bursts forth, in cacophonous adaptation - by Riley Black Read at Aeon

Take in the sounds of silence via this collaborative, crowdsourced performance of John Cage’s infamous composition, 4’33” - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

We should be able to acknowledge that disabilities can cause pain and suffering without disabled people feeling dehumanised - by Tom Shakespeare Read at Aeon

A vintage travelogue looks beyond picture-postcard beaches to the thriving industries of Trinidad on the cusp of independence - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

The world is a black box full of extreme specificity: it might be predictable but that doesn’t mean it is understandable - by David Weinberger Read at Aeon

Instead of treating Mars and the Moon as sites of conquest and settlement, we need a radical new ethics of space exploration - by Ramin Skibba Read at Aeon

An interactive theatre performance explores what touch means in an age of lockdown, and what we lose when we don’t touch - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Modern biomedicine sees the body as a closed mechanistic system. But illness shows us to be permeable, ecological beings - by Nitin K Ahuja Read at Aeon