Articles
Hawking Hawking
In a new book, Charles Seife raises two vital questions. What is the nature of scientific fame? And why did Stephen Hawking, in particular, succeed in achieving it?
The democratic designs of J.B.S. Haldane
A story about an air-raid shelter designed by JBS Haldane holds evergreen truths about the tense relationship between science, government and capital. Those truths have only become apparent again during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rich vs the Very Very Rich
When in 2015 a Chinese billionaire bought Wentworth, one of Britain’s most prestigious golf clubs, affluent dentists and estate agents were confronted with the unsentimental force of globalised capital.
Waves Across the South
Sivasundaram isn’t the first historian to stretch the geographical range of the age of revolution. He escorts it through the Persian Gulf, down the Bay of Bengal and southern India, across Singapore and Indonesia, via Tonga and New Zealand, and finally to Tasmania
Journalism Under Siege
In the era of Covid-19, misinformation, and authoritarianism, a grisly rape in India revealed the ominous challenges reporters face. Covid gives the state the power to hide what it does not want to be seen.
Vultures
In the breeding centre in Haryana, near the town of Pinjore, Vibhu Prakash needs a hundred goats a day to feed his 360 vultures. During the pandemic, to source these goats, Prakash and his colleagues had to work until they wilted.
Data Disappeared
The Trump administration corrupted, erased and degraded data with great deliberation. By gutting federal statistics, the government burned away its capacity to regulate. By attacking numeracy, it attacked democracy.
Inside the Aviation Meltdown of 2020
Airlines stashed most of their planes in boneyards, flew relief flights, and wondered when travel would recover—and how they’d cope with the costs of meeting emissions targets.
Over And Over And Over Again
At 38, Jimmy Anderson, Test cricket’s most successful fast bowler, is running farther than ever. This year, he picked up his 600th wicket in a strange, locked-down summer of cricket, in which he practised into a golf net, kept his spit off the ball, and tried not to hug his teammates.