Metaphysics special: Philosophy’s biggest questions unravelled
Metaphysics special: How do I know I exist?
Could you be living inside a simulation created by a more advanced intelligence? Where does your unerring belief that you are not come from?
Metaphysics special: What is consciousness?
How does something as physical as the brain create something as immaterial as your sense of self? It could all just be one big trick of the mind
Metaphysics special: Why is there something rather than nothing?
In part because nothing is not what you think it is. Also don’t forget the multiverse
Metaphysics special: What is the meaning of life?
Your life may feel important to you, but does it have meaning? It’s the biggest of all questions – and it has more than one answer
Metaphysics special: Where do good and evil come from?
We all have a sense of morality, and most of us agree on what is good. But in truth, good may not be all that different to pure evil
Metaphysics special: Do we have free will?
Biology suggests we might not have free will, but everything changes when you get down to the quantum level
Metaphysics special: What is reality made of?
Molecules are made of atoms, atoms of particles, and particles are quantum fluctuations. But where do consciousness, dark matter and mathematics fit in?
Metaphysics special: Is time an illusion?
We are born, time passes and we die. So time must exist, right? The trouble is, it’s tricky to pin down what time actually is
Metaphysics special: Can we ever know if God exists?
No one has proved that God exists, but then no one has proved there is no God. Is working out the truth a supernatural feat?
How a young maverick’s grit saved the world’s rarest bird
Carl Jones battled with his scientific elders to save the Mauritius kestrel. His renegade success taught him that mainstream conservation needs a rethink