briefs
Topic · across the network

Pseudoscience

Claims wearing the costume of evidence.

17
briefs
4
subjects
9:24
average
160 min
in total
Abstraction 407Absurdism 137Acoustics 220Acting 65Adaptation 372Addiction 95Adolescence 202Advertising 77Age of exploration 14Ageing 113Agriculture 100Algorithms 114Ambition 46Anarchism 38Ancient Egypt 17Ancient Greece 38Ancient Rome 30Animals 172Anthropology 23Apartheid 12Architecture 165Archives 32Argentina 10Art Deco 26Artificial intelligence 78Astronomy 81Attention 42Australia 32Automation 73Avant-garde 164Aviation 79Banking 72Banned works 40Bauhaus 12Beer 5Behavioural economics 22Berlin 16Big tech 6Biodiversity 136Biography 86Birds 41Black holes 20Blockchain 12Boxing 14Branding 77Brazil 43Bread 29Britain 131Brutalism 4Bubbles 3Buddhism 28Byzantium 10California 17Canada 18Capitalism 94Cars 468Celebrity 59Censorship 110Cheese 24Chefs 9Chemistry 104Chess 2Childhood 87China 109Chocolate 8Christianity 49Cinematography 343Cities 90Class 485Climate change 107Club culture 100Cocktails 2Coffee 11Cognitive bias 14Collecting 16Colonialism 284Colour 42Comedy 89Community 52Complexity 21Computing 309Consciousness 16Conservatism 14Conspiracy theories 8Cooking 178Corruption 38Cosmology 31Cover versions 64Craft 116Crate digging 42Creativity 8Crime 234Cryptocurrency 8Cryptography 24Cuba 10Cybersecurity 30Dada 12Debt 38Decision-making 28Decolonisation 46Deep time 80Democracy 45Denim 16Deserts 45Detroit 17Dinosaurs 12Directing 168Disasters 59Disease 109DJ culture 89Dreams 32Drones 5Drum machines 96Dystopia 69East Africa 28Ecology 337Economics 36Editing 72Education 92Egypt 12Electric vehicles 59Emotion 22Empire 92Endurance 49Energy 120Engineering 541Entropy 8Epidemics 13Equality 9Espionage 31Ethics 44Evolution 174Existentialism 106Expertise 2Exploration 49Extinction 23Failure 37Family 240Fandom 22Fascism 45Fashion 215Fast fashion 12Fear 34Feminism 122Fermentation 126Film music 81Fishing 12Folklore 71Food history 588Football 16Forests 31Forgery 7France 163Fraud 15Free will 13Freedom 16French literature 15Friendship 24Furniture 36Gambling 14Gender 63Generations 28Genetics 87Geology 96Germany 66Globalisation 74Gothic 32Greece 5Grief 126Habits 6Happiness 2Hardware 709Haute couture 22Headphones 8Hi-fi 12Hinduism 12Hoaxes 1Human history 23Human nature 41Identity 138Illustration 8Impressionism 6Improvisation 249India 89Indonesia 15Industrial design 342Inequality 13Inflation 4Information 34Infrastructure 280Insects 29Intelligence 8Interiors 31Internet culture 88Invention 329Iran 41Islam 40Islands 17Israel 9Italy 52Jamaica 10Japan 114Jewellery 5Journalism 34Judaism 13Justice 42Korea 41Language 70Law 90Leadership 20Learning 6Liberalism 1Libraries 6Literary criticism 26London 12Loneliness 61Los Angeles 62Lost works 9Love 67Luxury 55Machine learning 15Management 10Maps 5Marketing 21Markets 51Mars 6Marxism 26Masculinity 46Materials 138Mathematics 79Meaning 6Medicine 124Memory 82Mental health 70Mesopotamia 4Mexico 38Migration 95Minimalism 68Mining 30Misinformation 9Modernism 63Money 24Monopoly 32Mortality 61Motivation 2Mountains 16Museums 27Mysticism 11Mythology 60Nationalism 40Neuroscience 23New York 36Nigeria 7Nihilism 10Noise 31Nostalgia 33Nuclear 29Nutrition 17Oceans 48Oil 42Open source 45Painting 18Palaeontology 29Parenting 14Paris 18Partition 6Patents 71Patronage 14Perception 44Personal style 27Personality 2Persuasion 8Peru 10Philosophy 77Photography 37Physics 206Plants 26Platforms 89Podcasting 1Poetry 25Poland 17Policing 34Pop Art 16Populism 2Portraiture 6Portugal 18Postmodernism 23Power 91Prehistory 24Preservation 28Printmaking 21Privacy 11Probability 6Productivity 1Programming 54Prohibition 1Propaganda 35Protest 75Pseudoscience 17Psychology 80Publishing 22Punishment 16Quantum mechanics 44Race 145Radio 30Railways 35Rave 17Realism 47Record labels 19Recording 810Relativity 23Religion 154Resilience 15Restaurants 30Restoration 2Retail 94Revolution 58Risk 18Ritual 96Robotics 26Romance 96Russia 58Salt 9Sampling 246Satire 84Scandinavia 28Scientific method 186Screenwriting 26Sculpture 7Secularism 2Self-deception 14Semiconductors 73Sexuality 102Ships 18Silence 24Silicon Valley 17Slavery 35Sleep 2Smartphones 27Sneakers 15Social media 58Socialism 9Software 68Songwriting 180Sound design 332Sound systems 20South Africa 19South East Asia 30Space exploration 84Spain 18Special effects 41Spices 62Spirits 12Sport 82Startups 21Statistics 10Status 9Stoicism 4Storytelling 68Strategy 70Street food 99Streetwear 16Studio craft 508Subcultures 59Sugar 12Supply chains 115Surrealism 53Surveillance 21Sustainability 30Synthesis 232Tailoring 37Taxation 14Tea 24Textiles 97Thailand 11The American Revolution 19The American South 88The Arab world 41The Arctic 19The Balkans 17The Belle Epoque 13The body 29The brain 26The Caribbean 28The civil rights movement 62The Cold War 160The eighties 268The Enlightenment 29The financial crisis 19The First World War 39The food industry 157The French Revolution 9The Gilded Age 9The Great Depression 18The Holocaust 20The Industrial Revolution 93The internet 61The interwar years 135The Middle Ages 35The Moon 4The music business 169The Netherlands 10The nineties 26The Olympics 10The pandemic 13The Reformation 1The Renaissance 16The Russian Revolution 19The Second World War 102The seventies 58The sixties 28The space race 5The United States 19The universe 7The Victorian era 37Therapy 20Tokyo 11Trade 48Tragedy 22Translation 5Trauma 85Travel 5True crime 2Turkey 18Typography 54Uniforms 23Unions 8Urban planning 66Utilitarianism 1Utopia 5Vaccines 10Vegetarianism 15Venture capital 6Video games 291Vietnam 12Vintage 65Vinyl 6Virtual reality 11War 169Watches 4Water 11Weather 29West Africa 29Wilderness 10Wine 3Work 22Workwear 19Worldbuilding 121

film.briefs Film

All 1 in film →
13:00

The Magician

Ingmar Bergman · 1958

Ingmar Bergman’s 1958 The Magician follows a travelling troupe of performers led by mute magician Albert Vogler, whose claims of supernatural ability provoke suspicion in a Swedish village. Through layered deceptions, an autopsy gone awry, and a final royal summons, the film examines belief, authority, and the blurred line between fraud and revelation — all rendered in Gunnar Fischer’s muted, reflective cinematography and sustained by Max von Sydow’s physically restrained performance.

games.briefs Games

All 10 in games →
9:35

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

Revolution Software · 1997

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a 1997 point-and-click adventure by Revolution Software. It runs on PC and PlayStation. Players guide George Stobbart—and briefly Nicole Collard—through hand-drawn 2D environments using a mouse or gamepad. Interaction relies on right-clicking for clues, branching dialogue for exposition, and collecting/combining objects to solve puzzles. A dynamic map unlocks new locations as the story progresses. It sold one million copies in the mid-1990s and was well received.

10:15

Braid (video game)

Jonathan Blow · 2008

Braid is a 2D puzzle-platform game developed by Thekla Inc., published by Microsoft, released on XBLA in 2008. Its art was created by David Hellman. It uses time manipulation as its central design pillar, delivered through six sequentially unlocked worlds, each governed by a distinct temporal rule. Narrative is conveyed through text between worlds, environmental art, and gameplay itself.

11:58

Gunpoint (video game)

Tom Francis · 2013

Gunpoint is a stealth-based puzzle-platform game where players control freelance spy Richard Conway to infiltrate buildings, avoid guards, and bypass security using gadgets like the Crosslink tool.

11:09

Sweet Home (video game)

Capcom · 1989

A 1989 Famicom RPG that uses mansion architecture, fixed-character utility, and irreversible consequences to build tension—not through jump scares, but through scarcity and spatial logic.

10:09

The Dig (video game)

LucasArts · 1995

The Dig is a 1995 LucasArts point-and-click adventure game for PC and Macintosh. It casts the player as Commander Boston Low, stranded on an alien world after a failed lunar mission, investigating ancient ruins to understand a vanished civilisation and find a way home.

10:48

The Longest Journey (video game)

Funcom · 1999

The Longest Journey is a third-person point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Funcom in 1999. It is structured in chapters where players advance the story by completing tasks like talking to characters and solving puzzles. Dialogue is expansive and mostly non-essential to progression, serving instead to build character, location, and lore. Input differs by platform: PC uses a context-sensitive mouse cursor, iOS uses touch-screen interaction. Interaction is guided by icons: Eye for examine, Mouth for talk/consume, Hand for use/pick up. On PC, the cursor changes colour to signal interactivity: red for exits, light blue for multi-action objects. A map screen enables travel between major locations, with new destinations unlocking as the story progresses. Puzzles rely on subtle environmental and conversational clues. Items are stored in an inventory and flash when usable on a compatible object. The game was very well-received both by critics and users. The game was published in 9 languages: English, Norwegian, French, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

10:44

Puyo Puyo Tetris

Sonic Team · 2014

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a deliberate, unapologetic juxtaposition—not an integration—of two established puzzle systems. Its strength lies in clarity, consistency, and competitive rigour. Its limitation is structural separation: no rule, constraint, or feedback bridges Puyo and Tetris beyond shared menus and scoring.

9:28

Day of the Tentacle

LucasArts · 1993

Day of the Tentacle is a 1993 LucasArts point-and-click adventure built on the SCUMM engine. It uses time travel as a structural puzzle mechanic, splitting three protagonists across past, present, and future. Players switch between them and move items across eras using Chron-o-Johns or temporal placement. It features voice acting — a LucasArts first — and relies on cause-and-effect logic over reflexes or narrative choice.

culture.briefs Culture

All 3 in culture →
9:08

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism isn’t Darwin’s. It’s Spencer’s — and it was never science.

food.briefs Food

All 3 in food →
1:11

Carbonara

A Roman pasta dish of cured pork, hard cheese, eggs, salt, and black pepper.
0:57

Chana masala

A chickpea curry in tomato sauce, seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger, chilies, and spices like amchoor and garam masala.
10:09

Green tea

Green tea is not medicine — it’s a culturally persistent placebo with documented harms.