What are the largest shapes in the Universe? The answer might be found in the most unassuming places here on Earth ...

Growing up in countercultural California, ‘enlightenment’ had real glamour. But decades of practice have changed my mind ...

The systems that make people unfree are deeply intertwined. This prison abolitionist dares to envision real alternatives ...

Dissonance and harmony might seem straightforward, but a deep dive into the physics reveals their delightful complexity ...

It’s so toxic, curators can’t handle it without gloves – but drinking wine from this cup was once a popular wellness trend ...

Interpreting the emotional lives of animals requires a subtler and more nuanced understanding of anthropomorphism ...

Life is complicated. In Cameroon, initiated diviners read the messages of spiders to untangle possible futures ...

What does it mean to be Mexican? Meet the artist who forged Mexico’s identity in the brushstrokes of his landscape paintings ...

Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. We publish in-depth essays from the world's most incisive and ambitious thinkers, and a mix of original and curated videos — free to all.

René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy, was furiously condemned by his contemporaries. Why did they fear him?