Brainstorm | Opinion, Analysis, Reports, Features | RTÉ

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"We can never prescribe a certain type of music to promote relaxation, but we can prescribe when and where it might be helpful."

How music helps us relax

Music • 23 Oct

US president Donald Trump dances to "YMCA" at a campaign rally in Virginia. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Why is Donald Trump dancing to "YMCA"?

US Election 2020 • 20 Oct

"There is possibly no better reference point than this book for anyone anxious to get an insight into what it was like to live in rural Ireland during the middle decades of the 20th century" Photo: Paul Butler

Why John McGahern's Amongst Women is still a masterpiece

Books • 16 Oct

"Undoubtedly, Mrs Doyle from Father Ted spoke for vast swathes of Irish people when, disgusted by the TeaMaster salesman who assured her that his contraption took the misery out of making tea, she retorted, 'Maybe I like the misery.'"

What's behind the Irish obsession with death and misery?

History • 05 Oct

Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Beheading Holofernes (1620). Image: National Gallery

How artist Artemisia Gentileschi created her own #MeToo moment

visual arts • 29 Sep

Edvard Munch's The Scream on display at Sotheby's auction house in 2012 before it was sold for $120 million. Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Why Edvard Munch is a painter for this time of great anxiety

The way things were: the audience at the last Electric Picnic

Are alcohol-free live music events really a good idea?

Health • 24 Sep

Gulliver at rest in the Liffey in 1988 as part of Dublin's Millennium celebrations. Photo: Dublin City Photographic Collection, Dublin City Council

How literary locations help us understand the world we inhabit

Culture • 04 Sep

The Galway team take the pitch for The Big Game in Castlebar in 1987. Photo: Macnas Archives

A game of two halves: when Irish sport meets theatre

Culture • 21 Aug

Meeting the British by Paul Muldoon with artwork by Mary Farl Powers. Photo: Great Book Of Ireland/UCC

How did they make Ireland's modern day Book of Kells?

History • 19 Aug

Who wore it best: Taylor Swift, Marilyn Monroe or Tommy Clancy?

The rise, fall and rise again of the Aran jumper's fashion appeal

Ireland • 02 Oct

'Both Kevin and Sadie are described as restless and easily bored, so it is ironic that their youthful defiance involves them embracing the most expected institution of all: marriage' Photo: Getty Images

Normal people: Kevin and Sadie's teenage love story

Books • 11 Aug

'If senior management, councillors and TDs made a genuine effort to understand what it is that the arts are providing to the community, they would have a greater appreciation of the value of it'

What are local authorities doing to help artists and the arts?

Culture • 10 Aug

'Border crime writing often questions the role of the state in regulating big business and preventing crime and finds it wanting'

Why borders are perfect locations for crime fiction and drama

Crime Fiction • 06 Aug

A scene from the Abbey Theatre's 1942 production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough And The Stars featuring FJ Mc Cormick, Joan Plunkett, Austin Meldon, Eric Gorman and others. Photo: Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

How theatre promotes conversations around social injustice

Brainstorm • 05 Aug

"The portrayal of the two young teenagers from the northside of Cork City parallels several classical criminological theories that explain young people's transgressive behaviour"

Here's what criminologists make of The Young Offenders

The Young Offenders • 28 Aug

"We are not the only animals that create rhythm, but we are the only animals who can do entrainment"

Groove is in the heart: just what exactly is rhythm?

Music • 21 Jul

Planet of the Humans: "we end up with a piece where you could well come away thinking wind turbines are worse than coal power plants." Photo: Rumble Media

Why you can't rely on some documentaries for the full picture

Documentaries • 09 Jul

Garth Brooks at Croke Park in 2014: he really should have called Jim Gavin about the drive for five

The summer Garth Brooks didn't come to town

Garth Brooks • 09 Jul

Lights, cameras, timber

How hurling conquered Hollywood

Gaelic Games • 02 Jul

"Hamilton has won multiple awards for its acting, design and choreography, but it's the music that makes it stand out"

Why Hamilton is the film we need right now

Hamilton • 02 Jul

Enjoying breakfast at the James Joyce Centre on Bloomsday 2019

What Leopold Bloom's food diary tells us about Bloomsday

Bloomsday • 16 Jun

Frederick Douglass edits a journal at his desk, late 1870s. Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Were the Irish slaves? Frederick Douglass and his Irish awakening

History • 15 Jun

In bed with Connell and Marianne

Why are we so obsessed with Normal People?

Normal People • 27 May

Irish playwright and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, Lady Gregory. Photo: George C. Beresford/Beresford/Getty Images

Why Lady Gregory is one of Ireland's greatest cultural figures

Brainstorm • 20 May

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