Culture
Poland has never been homogeneous. The author of There's Too Much World talks about how to describe a world in chaos, how the Nobel Prize changed her life, and why Prus is displacing Sienkiewicz. By Michał Okoński, Tomasz Stawiszyński, and Olga Tokarczuk Michał Okoński, Tomasz Stawiszyński: If you
Science
A vast hole yawns in our planet's geological record, spanning as much as a billion years. Perhaps this is because the entire Earth was once locked in ice — ice that put life to an extreme test and ground down thick layers of rock. By Łukasz Kwiatek The American
Spirituality
In the years after the Second World War, contemplation became a lifeline for many who had been traumatized by their wartime experiences and were searching for meaning in life. By Maciej Bielawski Let's now look at this story from a different perspective — from the perspective of those who
Psyche
Prof. Dariusz Doliński, social psychologist: We expect other people to treat our perspective as central, the way our therapist does. We want to be understood and heard, not to understand and hear others. By Ewa Pągowska and Dariusz Doliński Ewa Pągowska: A Polish travel company recently described on LinkedIn how
Society
I took the ball away from my daughter — she answered with a shriek. I gave it back — it flew off across the nave. A moment later, the two of us fled the church. By Zuzanna Radzik Mass fell between nap time and lunch. A playground would have suited that slot
Society
They fled to Kazakhstan to escape Chinese repression. But today it's Kazakhstan that hunts them down when they speak up for relatives in China's Xinjiang. A story about people who are strangers everywhere. By Agnieszka Pikulicka, reporting from Kazakhstan Alimnur Turganbay crossed the Kazakh-Chinese border
Science
A humanoid can lose to a dirty sock. Whether robots built in our own image find a place in the world will depend on how well AI copes with the mess of real life. By Agata Kaźmierska and Wojciech Brzeziński This August in Beijing, the robot Tiangong Ultra ran 100
Society & Culture
Living alone has become easier and more convenient than ever. Large corporations have built an entire business model around it. By Jakub Dymek There is one thing that the internet — as it forced its way into our lives in the first decade of the 21st century — promised above all else.
Artificial intelligence has firmly established itself in many fields of science. It may help us uncover the rules governing birdsong — and even its meanings. By Wojciech Mamak For a long time, studying bird communication meant a lot of squinting. The human ear is too slow to catch the split-second
Aggressive interrogation techniques sometimes lead suspects to confess to crimes they didn't commit. And they begin to believe they deserve the punishment coming to them. By Kaja Głomb A few months ago, Paul Heaton, a respected criminologist from the University of Pennsylvania, announced that he had got ChatGPT
In the small town of Maní in the Yucatán, the memory of the Spanish conquest of the Maya mingles with religion, ancient rituals, and questions about the future. We visited this "magical town." By Stanisław Strasburger, from Maní (Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico) Maní: the name of this Maya town
More than 50,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans began migrating into Europe and interbreeding with Neanderthals. The genes of some of them survive to this day. By Łukasz Kwiatek The name Paul Broca is most often encountered in neurobiology textbooks. This French physician made his name performing the autopsy
Eran Levin, zoologist: Mouse-tailed bats would make ideal pets. They are clean, smell wonderfully of fruit, don't take up any space because they hang from the ceiling, like people, and can be trained just like dogs. By Maria Hawranek and Eran Levin Maria Hawranek: I was surprised
Millions of NSDAP documents have been posted online this year. Germans are increasingly looking into their ancestors’ wartime experiences. Will digital archives break through the wall of family amnesia? By Paweł Zarychta A few months ago, the acclaimed German writer Judith Hermann published her autobiographical novel entitled Ich möchte zurückgehen
Why has a behaviour that is widespread in the natural world and has recurred many times throughout human history become subject to one of the strongest human taboos? By Kasper Kalinowski On 9 March 1945, at 9 am, the commander of a Japanese battalion, Major Matoba – who was later taken
Ian Rankin, author of the John Rebus series, has never really experienced a dip in form, even though he has sold tens of millions of books. After a break of several years, he returns with A Heart Full of Headstones. By Piotr Kofta The contemporary crime novel is governed by
A vice-president with African-American or Asian roots, such as Kamala Harris, was unthinkable even to people whose job it is to make up stories in Hollywood. By Piotr Tarczyński No American politician aspires to the role of vice-president; no one enters politics in the hope of one
Agata Sikora, essayist: Millennials were promised a world without major conflicts — all they had to do was get on with their lives. The price of this peace of mind was to be withdrawal from public life and the belief that only the private sphere matters. By Monika Ochędowska and Agata
Prof. Maria Beisert: Catholic moral norms diverge from what we know about human beings. Contemporary knowledge about sexuality says something different. By Edward Augustyn Maria Beisert Edward Augustyn: Did you read Katarzyna Wasiak's piece, Professor? Maria Beisert, sexologist: Yes. I hear many questions there that are probably the