“On the way to the prison camp, they stopped for the night in Tobolsk where a town bell had been sent into exile, convicted of ringing for seditious purposes. Its sentence was eternal silence.” By Laurie Sheck.

When people want to believe that the world is just, and that bad things won’t happen to them, empathy can suffer. By Kayleigh Roberts.

Charles Foster, author of “Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide,” proposes that humans spend less time thinking about or even observing animals and more time emulating them. To appreciate what it’s like to be an otter, try catching fish in your mouth. To appreciate what it’s like to be a fox, try sleeping under a porch by day and foraging through garbage bins at night. The conceit is obviously demented, and Foster, a man of—by his own description—“shaggy, anarchic pretensions,” pursues it with unhinged élan. By Elizabeth Kolbert.

Nonhuman minds have a great deal to teach us. By Alison Gopnik.

The idea of empathy for all ignores the limits of human psychology. By Adam Waytz.

For 28 years, Kay Grayson lived side-by-side with wild black bears in North Carolina's swampy coastal forests, hand-feeding them, defending them against poachers, and letting them in her home. When she went missing last year, the only thing the investigators could find were her clean-picked bones. And that's just the start of the mystery.

An Op-Ed By Natalie Morales. (Mar. 1)

Facial tics will help streamline marketing in our future consumerist dystopia. By Daniel Oberhaus.

He ate earthworms as a badger, tore open binbags as an urban fox, and was hunted by a bloodhound as a deer. By Anoosh Chakelian.

Stuck in Johannesburg alone, Amanda Jones meets a true human chameleon who teaches her a lesson she’ll take to her grave.

Schizophrenia’s effects are often discussed in metaphors. What is it like to live with those metaphors? By Esmé Weijun Wang.

One kick was all it took to make Osama Mohsen, a professional soccer coach from Syria, into one of the most famous refugees to arrive in Europe last year. After a Hungarian camerawoman sent Mohsen tumbling, his life took an unexpected turn. By Ralf Hoppe.

On coming to terms with a mother’s unspoken mental illness. By Fariha Roisin.

The German town of Arnsberg bans New Year firework displays around migrant and refugee shelters to avoid triggering traumatic flashbacks.

Art makes the world, and it can break us. By Rebecca Solnit.

One self-proclaiming psychopath has described how he presents himself in society and given a breakdown on his behaviour in different situations in what may provide an answer to that question.

A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what's in front of it. To prove this we invited six photographers to a portrait session with a twist. ‘Decoy’ is one of six experiments from The Lab, designed to shift creative thinking behind the lens.

‘A few years ago I helped push a beached humpback whale back out into the sea, only to witness it return and expire under its own weight on the sand...‘ By Rebecca Giggs.

Often depicted as a feel-good emotion and “soft” skill, empathy can be a powerful secular force for social and political transformation. By Roman Krznaric.

Wanderment = Wonderment + Wander. Enjoy the adventures of a playful blind kitten journeying across town to find its friend. Particle-based 3D platformer. Sense your surroundings by splashing and walking. Take your time, savor and enjoy the experience.