In his powerful new book, The Young Atheist’s Handbook, Alom Shaha challenges young Muslims to be honest if they don’t believe, and calls on organised atheism to broaden its appeal beyond an intellectual elite. Here he explains why he wrote it
The crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant raised the spectre of nuclear disaster. But, one year on, it has made atomic power safer than ever. Angela Saini on the productive upside of failure
Lisa Randall is both a top research cosmologist and one of the best guides to the dizzying world of theoretical physics. Manjit Kumar collides with her
Voyager’s distant photo of Earth should remind us that we’re all in this together, says Marcus Chown
Marcus Chown on the hottest body in the Solar System
In America rationalists find themselves in a new battle – opposing the passing of ‘academic freedom’ laws that allow the undermining of science in the classroom. Paul Sims reports
A perplexing plane puzzle from Quizmaster Chris Maslanka
Michael Binyon revisits Cold War brinksmanship
Adam Rutherford tires of zombie arguments about creationism
Stephen Hawking’s childlike glee in overturning assumptions, especially his own, is what makes him such an iconic scientist, says his biographer Kitty Ferguson