A boost for antibiotic resistance
An unusual grant from a private company to the University of Oxford may signal a growing appreciation of the need to prevent global health crises before they occur.
Science & Technology
Solar power mystery
Polarons, quasi-particles thought to be behind the efficiency of the latest solar cells, have been observed for the very first time.
Does the epigentic clock hold the secret of eternal youth?
The discovery that age-related disease and degeneration can be reversed by manipulating the epigenome may help humans with an age-old quest.
Superfast fold
AlphaGo, from the team at DeepMind, is now tantalisingly close to solving the protein-folding problem: a breakthrough which could lead to solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.
Nature’s nanomachines
To solve the big problems of Covid-19 and the climate crisis, we need to think small.
On ASMR and the intimacy deficit
ASMR is booming on YouTube. More than just a weird subculture, it is meeting a real need for care and attention.
Book review: Doing Philosophy
If philosophy isn't a science, then what is it? Timothy Williamson's new book confronts opposing ideas about the discipline and its place in the world.
In a word: quarantine
Michael Rosen's column on language and its uses.
Escaping the logic of work, w/ Mareile Pfannebecker
We talk to the co-author of "Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism" on how the logic of labour dominates our lives, and how we might…
Taking sex robots seriously w/ Kate Devlin
Will future sex tech be more inclusive? What role should robotics play in human relationships? We talk to the author of "Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots" about her research…