Breeding dogs to be cute is animal cruelty

With their big eyes and flat faces, small dogs are designed to be cute. But, as Jessica Pierce explains, the infantile features that make them so adorable are also preventing their ability to live healthy animal lives.

Aeon is a digital magazine, publishing profound and provocative thinking by leading thinkers on science, philosophy, society and the arts.

Aeon

Where went the wolf?

From the Kalahari Desert to Australia, Vivek V Venkataraman explains why hunter-gatherer societies' deep appreciation of rest puts the industrialised world to shame.

Lessons from the foragers

Secrets hurt their keeper

Did you know that keeping secrets can considerably affect your mental health? Michael Slepian discovers why this is and how you can overcome it.

Secrets hurt their holders

A fully vegan diet can be challenging to adopt, but how about aiming to get close? After spending years researching animal ethics, Peter Godfrey-Smith explains why simply doing your best to reduce meat and dairy consumption is good enough.

If not vegan, then what?

Do you think screens are destroying your brain? Technology often gets the blame for poor attention spans, but Joe Stadolnik explains that worries about our focus have existed for as long as writing itself.


We’ve always been distracted

Are you a visual or auditory learner? According to Carl Henrick, as he argues that the learning styles theory in the classroom could harm students' ability to fully grasp a subject, you're actually neither.

Learning styles don’t exist

Could human colonisation of Mars be a  real possibility? As we set our sights beyond Earth's damaged horizons, Arwen E Nicholson and Raphaëlle D Haywood use scientific evidence to explain that there's no second chance waiting after we destroy our original home.

There’s no planet B

The women pioneering change in classical music

Could change be on the orchestral horizon? As female conductors begin to make inroads into a centuries-old male profession, Xenia Hanusiak uses her own experiences as a percussionist to discuss the prevailing sexism in classical music.

Enter the conductrice

It's empowering to lose yourself in a crowd.

Everyone knows there's safety and power in numbers, but herd mentality can also be dangerous. Costica Bradatan explains the evolutionary science and philosophy behind it and why we must embrace a contrarian spirit.

The herd in the head

Can humans survive on the red flag planet? 

Although we've conquered the most hostile environments on Earth, dust storms and freezing temperatures are making our Mars ambitions more challenging than expected. But, as Simon Morden explains, humans can still thrive on the Red Planet if we're prepared to put the work in.

Thriving on Mars

Can we solve moral problems with logic and probability?

Oxford research fellow Elad Uzan argues that subjecting the problems of ethics to the cool quantifications of logic and probability can help us to be better people.

Moral mathematics

Some popular feminists have overlooked something vital about pornography.

Long before Lacan or Judith Butler, pornography saw through the lies of patriarchy and the illusion of the phallus. Often vilified as a weapon of male supremacy, Kathleen Lubey argues that pornography, in fact, has much to tell us about ourselves and our culture.

The honesty of pornography

The Romans were a cosmopolitan network of adventurers.

The Empire enabled an early version of globalisation that offered travellers adventure, novelty and opportunity. Fabio Fernandes considers what propelled ancient Romans to venture forth beyond the confines of their native lands.

Wanderlust of the ancients

Evidence is growing that mental illness is more than dysfunction.

Justin Garson, a professor of philosophy, reflects on the urgency to think of mental health in multiple ways. Here, he explains that it can help professionals understand and interpret causes and possible new pathways to engage in conversation surrounding these often misunderstood illnesses.

The helpful delusion

The history of alcohol across America is contentious at best.

We're often guilty of reframing and revising the past, and American Prohibition is no exception. From Hollywood to the history books, Mark Lawrence Schrad breaks down the sobering truth about the predatory capitalism of liquor traffic.

Freedom from liquor

Should beauty be regarded above all else? 

We often admire aesthetically pleasing things, from awe-inspiring galaxies to dew on the grass. Which is why Tom Cochrane argues that we shouldn't scorn aesthetic value but embrace and appreciate beauty as a common ground.

Attuned to the aesthetic

From deep inside lunar craters, we launch a new human future in space. 

The moon has been a celestial body within human reach for decades. However, we haven't set foot on its surface since 1972. But with space, resources and time on Earth running out, Joseph Silk explores how the moon could be our saving grace.

Telescopes on the Moon

How did an Irish radical challenge the British Empire in Burma?

The true story of the Irish-born Buddhist monk U Dhammaloka at the turn of the 20th century is not an easy one to pin down. But, having used multiple aliases to hide his identity, Laurence Cox untangles the mystery of the white monk who challenged imperial power.

Blue-eyed Buddhist

Ten questions about the hard limits of human intelligence.

Science and mathematics may never fully capture the physical universe. Are there hard limits to human intelligence? David H Wolpert reflects on a range of ideas that provide insight into how we might begin conceiving of what lies beyond the limits of human intelligence.

A sliver of reality

How forensic science can aid the human rights movement

The forensics-based human rights movement's objectives are simple: to help families find, recover and rebury loved ones who were victims of state terror, war and genocide. But, how societies reckon with their past is always complicated. Still, Nicole Iturriagai, an assistant professor at the University of California, explains why it's essential to uncover the real stories of violent and chaotic pasts.