Time, they say, flies when you’re having fun – and drags when you’re not! But what exactly is time? Is it an illusion, as some physicists and philosophers think? Is the future really different from the past? What do we mean when we speak of the “flow of time”? Time also influences our attitudes and decisions in ways that are hard to rationalise. For example, studies show that people pay more for a piece of work described as “yet to be carried out”, rather than “already completed”. Psychologist Professor Teresa McCormack (Queen’s University Belfast) and philosopher Professor Christoph Hoerl (University of Warwick) present a fascinating insight into time and how we think of it.