3 February 2021
We are relying on specialist knowledge to guide us through the coronavirus pandemic – so it is more important than ever to grasp what expertise is and where it comes from, says Roger Kneebone, author of a new book on the subject
16 December 2020
Any idea what an Aa is? How about frass? This is your chance to show off your knowledge of (or just have a good snigger at) some of the more arcane and delightful words used by scientists
9 December 2020
According to the laws of physics, everything we do follows inevitably from what happened before – and yet we’re convinced we can change the world. Can we?
11 November 2020
Conservation biologist Paul Ehrlich raised fears about our rapidly growing population in his 1968 book The Population Bomb. Fifty years later, he reflects on what has changed
11 November 2020
The world population is 7.7 billion. What do our growing numbers mean for economic security, climate change, environmental destruction and the likelihood of pandemics?
23 September 2020
Do species really exist? Are genes destiny? Do only the fittest survive? Can we shape or stop evolution? New insights into nature are providing surprising answers, and a glorious new picture of life’s complexity
25 March 2020
A new book from Jim Al-Khalili makes cutting-edge physics easily understandable and makes it clear why he fell in love with the subject as a teenager
26 February 2020
Why is there something rather than nothing? We’re finally making enough antimatter to extract an answer – and it might reveal the dark side of the universe too
19 February 2020
A difference in the properties of matter and antimatter could help explain our universe – but a property called the Lamb shift is similar in particles of both
12 February 2020
In a universe that unthinkingly follows the rules, human agency is an anomaly. Can physics ever make sense of our power to change the physical world at will?
