Liquid by Mark Miodownik review – drinkable seawater and walking on custard
The follow-up to the prizewinning Stuff Matters shows a delight in innovation and makes liquid crystal displays and ballpoint pens excitingMark Miodownik is the science communicator’s science...
View ArticleLiquid by Mark Miodownik review – lacking in substance
A weak central conceit mars this study of the many liquids that keep western societies running smoothlyOur lives are dominated by fluids. Petrol and aviation fuel let us travel the world, coffee and...
View ArticleEugenia Cheng and Tim Radford on finding solace in science - books podcast
This week, we turn away from the crowds of catastrophist headlines and dystopian fiction and discover hope in the world of scienceCan advanced mathematics and physics help us navigate a path through...
View ArticleYuval Noah Harari: the myth of freedom
Governments and corporations will soon know you better than you know yourself. Belief in the idea of ‘free will’ has become dangerousShould scholars serve the truth, even at the cost of social harmony?...
View ArticleIn brief: States of Passion; Unnatural Causes; Devil’s Day – reviews
A story of passion in Syria’s golden age; a compassionate memoir by a leading pathologist; and a tension-filled gothic horrorPushkin, £12.99, pp256Continue reading...
View ArticleThe human league: what separates us from other animals?
From masturbating dolphins to chimps using tools, animals often display behaviours that we’d consider human. So what makes us unique?You are an animal, but a very special one. Mostly bald, you’re an...
View ArticleHow Charlottesville forced Reddit to clean up its act
The use by white supremacists of Reddit to organise last year’s violent rally in Virginia was a catalyst for change at the digital giant. In an extract from her new book We Are the Nerds, Christine...
View ArticleThe Ends of the World by Peter Brannen review – Earth under threat
Are we heading for a sixth mass extinction? This is a journey into the past to evaluate our futureAs science journalist Peter Brannen points out, life is extremely fragile, a “thin glaze of interesting...
View ArticleHello World by Hannah Fry – AI and why we over-trust what we don’t understand
A mathematician and advocate for technology challenges the influence of algorithms and calls for a better understanding of what we’re giving awayAre you a concerned citizen of the modern world? Do you...
View ArticleDara Ó Briain: ‘Who do I write science books for? The curious’
It’s tricky knowing where to pitch a book for children – either you overshoot or undershoot, says the comedian and author of Secret ScienceDara Ó Briain is a comedian, TV presenter and author of...
View ArticleMyth-busting study of teenage brains wins Royal Society prize
Inventing Ourselves by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore wins £25,000 prize with investigation praised by judges as ‘truly a book that everyone should read’A radical reframing of our understanding of the teenage...
View ArticleUntrue by Wednesday Martin review – the ‘new science’ on infidelity
How much does anthropology help to destroy the myth that women ‘naturally’ seek one steady partner?According to Wednesday Martin, if you want to know how early humans organised their sex lives, before...
View ArticleThe Book of Humans by Adam Rutherford review – a pithy homage to our species
A crisp appraisal of human nature is a welcome addition to an often laboured genreIn 2017, scientists in Australia observed some striking avian behaviour. A handful of kites and falcons in the outback...
View ArticleLife on Earth by David Attenborough review – a reissued classic
The classic TV series and book influenced a generation. Its welcome reissue and update reveals how scientific knowledge has moved onSomewhere in my parents’ photo albums there is a picture of me, aged...
View ArticleI’m a Joke and So Are You by Robin Ince review – beyond a joke and into our...
Comedian Robin Ince uses his profession as a springboard to an exploration of the human mindRobin Ince is quite possibly the UK’s best-read comedian and is certainly one of the most criminally...
View ArticleBrief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking review – God, space,...
This absorbing posthumous book draws on essays, lectures, speeches and the questions the physicist was so often askedThe late Stephen Hawking did not believe in an afterlife, but he has one all the...
View ArticleBlueprint by Robert Plomin review – how DNA dictates who we are
An introduction to the brave new world of personal genomics argues that it solves the puzzle of nature v nurture We will soon be able to identify the likelihood that a newborn baby – perhaps your baby...
View ArticleTop 10 books about steroids
From Kathy Acker to Cordelia Fine, novelist Matthew Sperling introduces the best writing on a huge but barely acknowledged part of cultureAstroturf is a novel – part black comedy, part literary...
View ArticleLandfill by Tim Dee review – gulls and us
The seabird’s relationship with our urban worlds is examined in these wonderful reflections from a rubbish tipDuring the severe winter of 1892-93, the naturalist WH Hudson described how for several...
View ArticleHoratio Clare on south Wales: ‘Sheep farming sinks your hands in birth and...
The nature writer and children’s author on his adventurous childhood on a hill farm, and how he learned to make use of his imaginationPerhaps I have made a life writing about many places because I was...
View Article