The city and the sublime
Today, are we more awestruck by our own scientific and technological achievements than by the glory of nature?
Science & Technology
Ten cosmic myths
Why is the sky at night dark? What does gravity do? How big is the universe? Does time go forwards or backwards? The answers may surprise you . . .
Understanding water, dying stars, and genetically modified mosquitoes
Chemistry, Biology, Physics: Three scientists talk through big recent developments in their fields.
Chinese medicine should not be available on the NHS
Thousands of studies have shown acupuncture to be little more than a placebo, and herbal remedies have been barely tested. There is no case for public funding, argues David Colquhoun
British Medical Journal comes out in support of Assisted Dying legislation
Support from leading voice in academic medicine is significant in campaign for reform
The dark side of our universe
It is sobering to think that our telescopes can observe only a tiny fraction of the cosmos, writes Marcus Chown
How Turkey’s Twitter ban backfired
How do you police the internet? It’s a question that most governments are confronting in one way or another, from America’s mass surveillance programme, to Britain’s sentences for Twitter trolls,…
In pursuit of happiness
A policy revolution is under way to improve our well-being. Are its motives genuine? Niki Seth-Smith reports
How Cosmos moved us all to tears
Neil deGrasse Tyson's remake of Carl Sagan's classic series is worthy of the hype – it even introduced my six-year-old to the vastness of the universe, says Dale DeBakcsy
What on earth is mindfulness?
Cheap and easy to deliver, a new mental health treatment is all the rage. But should we be asking tougher questions about its effectiveness?