In the 1930s, Kahlo adopted the clothing of the Zapotec women. It was a political as well as personal act, emphasising her ...

A dinosaur spine is one source of inspiration, but the human body also embodies some elements of tensegrity. It contains 206 ...

Our research shows that it emerges in response to what I call the eight wonders of life: the strength, courage and kindness of others; collective movement in actions like dance and sports; nature; ...

When Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán strode up to the podium in April to give his victory speech, a look of glee was spread across his face. He had just beaten a six-party united opposition to ...

In his 1976 debut volume, Richard Dawkins pioneered the concept of the “selfish gene” – the idea that genes propagate themselves through whatever mechanisms necessary, thus explaining phenomena such ...

Rowan Williams (left) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002–2012. Andrew Copson (right) is a humanist leader and author. He is chief executive of ...

The story of cancer touches countless human lives. We are all invested in the race for a cure. But “cancer” encompasses some 200 diseases, each with their own biological quirks, which can’t be ...

On paper, Buddhism looks pretty good. It has a philosophical subtlety married to a stated devotion to tolerance that makes it stand out amongst the world religions as uniquely not awful. Even ...

This piece accompanies Marcus Chown’s feature on the discovery of cosmic background radiation, from the Spring 2015 edition of New Humanist. Perhaps the most famous accidental discovery of all is ...

Sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov’s prescient genius produced a series of classic stories, collected together as I, Robot, in which intelligent machines are confronted with existential issues. However, even ...

This article is a preview from the Summer 2014 edition of New Humanist. You can find out more and subscribe here. Bertrand Russell must be one of the most celebrated public intellectuals of all time.

David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, author, presenter and BAFTA-winning filmmaker. He is professor of public history at the University of Manchester. His most recent television series ...