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Here's a red-letter date in the history of science: November 5th, 1955. Yes! Of course! November 5th, 1955! That was the day I invented time travel. I remember it vividly. I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the sink, and when I came to I had a revelation, a vision… A picture in my head, a picture of this – this is what makes time travel possible! Doc Brown – Back to the Future (1985) It was seventy years a

One week ago, more than six million of us tuned into The Celebrity Traitors  (UK)  – and haven’t stopped talking about it since! Starring a raft of bona fide household names – a rarity for “celebrity” editions nowadays – the opening episode delivered a feast of mind games, side-eyes, and rising paranoia as 19 hopefuls descended on the Scottish Highlands to root out the traitors among them, all in the name of charity. And it didn’t take long for the accusations to fly. Within

My inbox is overflowing. Every day I get bombarded with promotions, pointless updates, and notifications I never signed up for. Most of the time I swipe away without even opening. But imagine if, just once, an email landed that you actually  looked forward to reading... Alright, you caught me – this is a shameless plug for the iluli newsletter . But I promise there’s a good reason. Each month, we take on subjects that might sound intimidating at first – from bioprinting huma

Black Mirror’s  “ USS Callister ” first beamed onto screens in late 2017, wrapped in the familiar aesthetics of a Star Trek tribute – high-necked uniforms, retro sets, and a Shatner-esque captain at the helm. But beneath the camp was something far darker: a lonely, resentful tech genius – Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) – trapping digital clones of his co-workers in a sadistic simulation of his own design. A classic descent into techno-horror from the brilliant mind of Charlie Br

More than thirty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park captivated audiences with its amber-encased DNA, lab-grown dinosaurs, and a franchise so enduring even Dr. Ian “life, uh… finds a way” Malcolm might not have predicted its staying power.   And with the aptly titled Jurassic World Rebirth  (yes, there’s another one!) roaring into cinemas this July, it’s the perfect time to ask: how close are we to turning science fiction into fact? These days, with dino DNA long gone

Does “more” always equal “better”? When it comes to things we enjoy – holidays, money, gadgets, convenience – it seems obvious that the answer must be a resounding “yes.” We equate “more” with progress. Businesses promise more products for their customers and more returns for their shareholders. Charities aim to provide more support to greater numbers of people. Content creators hope for more readers, views and subscribers. Politicians continually promise more economic growt

What’s the formula for success? Hard work? Talent? Grit? That’s what we’re often told. But what if there’s another important ingredient that we rarely acknowledge? The truth is that luck plays a much greater role in success than we like to admit. Whether we’re talking pop megastars, entrepreneurs or world leaders, random chance can be the difference that helps some people make it to the top. So why do we overlook the role of luck? And, if we’re all at the mercy of random chan

Messi or Ronaldo? Coke or Pepsi? Republican or Democrat? Whether it’s politics, fan allegiances or opinions on Marmite, we love to frame our choices as black and white. This “binary bias” can be a useful way to simplify complex decisions and spur us into action. But it can also harm our decision-making more than we realise and lead to unhelpful divides. Here’s my quick explainer on the subject: The appeal of binary From Shakespeare and The Beatles , to JFK and The Clash , w

If you ever need clear evidence of a business's success, look for when its brand name becomes so ingrained in everyday language that it replaces a verb. Not convinced? You can Google it. It’s one of the reasons why many were perplexed by Twitter’s rebranding – millions of us “tweeted” daily, but when was the last time you “Xd”?   This puts Netflix in a rather unique linguistic and cultural, er, position, thanks to the phrase “ Netflix and Chill ” entering the lexicon as far b

Certain aspects of life become so ingrained in our daily routines that we hardly notice them.   Not too long ago, this could easily have described smoking. For much of the 20th century, smoking was so widespread that many people smoked hundreds of cigarettes a week, with a cigarette often feeling like an extension of the hand.   But changes in laws, culture, and attitudes – alongside the rise of vaping – have transformed this once-common routine into something that could feel

Why do we measure things? That might seem like a silly question until you consider just how much we do it. From population data and GDP to steps and screentime, we measure almost every aspect of our lives. And the reason we do this is always the same – to make things better. But what if our obsession with measuring things is actually making things worse? Watch my short explainer to find out more: The metric minefield A metric is basically a system for measuring something and

Can you believe iluli turned five (!!) in March? I was so oblivious to the rapid passage of time that the landmark date completely passed me by – until late April, that is, when a Webby Award or two came a-knocking.   Yes, you read that right! Having been a nominee and honouree on multiple occasions, 2024 was the year we finally won, securing both the Jury and the People’s Voice awards for best video in the Health & Wellness category. The video that did the business? Magic

The global population is expected to pass 10 billion within the next few decades. That means we’ll have doubled the number of people on the planet in less than 100 years. As a result, the world faces an existential dilemma: how do we boost production to feed billions more people while reducing agriculture’s negative impact on the environment?  For thousands of years, farming has been central to human civilisation. But the looming "population bomb" means we’re going to need so

From eyes that see over a million different colours to ears that detect a staggering range of frequencies, the human senses are incredible. But none can hold a candle to the most powerful part of our sensory system: the brain. The human brain does the most impressive feat of data analysis imaginable – decoding electrical impulses from all over the body and combining them to create the rich, multi-modal experience we call reality. But what if a connection fails, and a sense is

When things go wrong, humans love to find someone to blame. It often seems to make sense, because it feels both fair and effective — people who screw up get punished and everyone learns not to make the same mistake again. But what if we’ve been getting this all wrong? Pointing the finger of blame might feel satisfying, but it can stop us from learning. And when you consider that we all make mistakes, that’s a lot of valuable learning we could be missing out on. Fortunately, t

If you think Marmite divides opinion, wait until you spend some time in the company of capitalism. Is it the greatest concept in the history of human civilisation? Or is it the root of all that is unfair in the world, helping the rich get richer at everyone else’s expense? It’s probably a topic best avoided at dinner parties. But, how well do we actually understand how economies work? In his book, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism , Yani

Here’s a cheery question: what medical condition claims more lives than any other? The answer might surprise you. It’s not cancer, heart disease or strokes. It’s old age. That may sound a bit ridiculous – old age isn’t a disease, it’s just a fact of life. Right? But what if old age isn’t as inevitable as we think? Recent advances in medical science might help us to push back old age and even bring the idea of "eternal youth" out of the realm of fantasy and into the real world

Do you often find yourself endlessly scrolling your social media feeds for no apparent reason? You may have asked yourself "Why am I doing this?" The answer to that very 21st century question is likely to be a single naturally occurring chemical – dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – a chemical that brain cells use to communicate with each other. It is released into the brain when we experience something pleasant or new and plays a big role in motivating behaviour. In t

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a lot of talk of folk leaving their jobs in record numbers. Professor Anthony Klotz from Texas A&M University dubbed this "The Great Resignation." It sounds dramatic – but did it actually happen? My explainer video below explores this question in greater depth... I’m fascinated by what the future of work might look like (something we also considered in the iluli explainer on Universal Basic Income ). The pandemic has accelera

In years gone by, parents would worry about letting their children play out in the street. Nowadays, it’s the potential dangers lurking online that are just as likely to keep mums and dads awake at night. The explosion of games, apps, and video content has happened faster than regulators and the rest of us can possibly keep up with. In that respect, the internet is like the new Wild West. Some countries are now turning to facial recognition to identify the age of those consum