Film review: Prometheus
Beyond the slick production and big-budget hype, is Prometheus the philosophical blockbuster that was promised? Fred Rowson wonders what to believe
Ideas
Stayin’ alive
Humans have invented an endless series of strategies to try and outwit the Grim Reaper. Stephen Cave explores our fascination with immortality
What’s wrong with university? Laurie Taylor interviews Stefan Collini
Amid the research targets and funding reforms our once world-leading centres for higher learning have lost their way. Laurie Taylor meets Stefan Collini, the Cambridge don mounting a fight back
Atheists can embrace the power of Tarot
Elizabeth Wilson lays her cards on the table
No fire, no brimstone: An interview with Alain de Botton
Alain de Botton thinks atheists should take the best ideas from religion, and leave the bad stuff behind. Caspar Melville goes in search of enlightenment
Quiz: Boggles goes around
A perplexing plane puzzle from Quizmaster Chris Maslanka
Book review: Towards a New Manifesto by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer
Nina Power puzzles over a heavyweight intellectual partnership
Against the barbarians
Hannah Arendt’s humanism was not the opposite of religion but of self-absorption and totalitarianism, says Finn Bowring
D’oh my God: faith in The Simpsons
This year, The Simpsons celebrate their 25th birthday and their 500th episode. Andrew Mueller pays homage to the family we can all believe in
Quiz: do bears sit in the woods?
Chris Maslanka challenges you to work out the Three Bears' exam results