What makes gold so valuable? Read more
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Gold
What makes gold so valuable?
Social Intelligence
Some people seem to get on with anyone and everyone: is it down to talent or practice?
Challenging Assumptions
What does it really mean to challenge received wisdom?
Forgiveness
Can you have forgiveness without remorse?
Indirect Experience
What can we learn by observing others?
Invisibility
Is invisibility good or bad? Is it a matter of optics, morality or magic?
Risor Festival: Outcasts
When is it better to remain an outsider? And what makes outcasts unwelcome?
Time to Rethink What is 'Normal'?
Where is the dividing line between what is normal and what is a mental disorder?
South Africa: Education
What鈥檚 the future of education in South Africa?
Democracy and the Arts in South Africa
The Forum at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Bubbles
The curious properties of bubbles in the oceans, in our bodies and in art.
Grass
Grass provides 60% of human calorie intake and covers a quarter of the planet
Blood
The life-giving fluid in science and in our culture
Multilingualism
The advantages and disadvantages of speaking more than one language
Rivers
Why they are essential to our planet and how they can even shape our psyche
Challenges of Nanoscience
Transforming biosciences with particles just a few billionths of a metre across
Rewilding
The impact of leaving the land to its own devices
Aliens
Why do some people believe in aliens and extra-terrestrials, and not others?
Self Assembly
How simple cells, molecules and even robots can work together to achieve complexity
Uncertainty
How to approach uncertainty in the modern world
Natural Navigation
Spatial processing in the brain, bird migration and natural navigational clues.
Robots with a Heart
Do we want robots to be more social? The Forum at World-Changing Ideas Summit in New York
Uniformity
When is regularity good and when does it become boring, or even oppressive?
Big Data and Us
Who can we trust in the world of Big Data and how is it changing our lives?
Lines
How a spark of inspiration is transformed into a line on canvas or a line of verse.
Mutations in Nature
How do organisms change and evolve to adapt to their environment?
Temperament
Are our personalities shaped by what we are born with or shaped by our experiences?
Unintended Consequences
How seemingly insignificant decisions can lead to dramatic outcomes
Hierarchy
Do we have to have a 鈥榩ecking order鈥�?
Possessions
Do the things we own and collect enrich our lives or weigh us down?
Self-Control
How important is our ability to postpone pleasure and can we ever master it?
