Natural sciences

The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone's freezer door at the same time? Maybe it's time for a bri

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence.

Stories brought us together Books spread our ideas – and our mythologies The internet promised infinite knowledge The algorithm learned our secrets – and then turned us against each other What will AI do? NEXUS is the thrilling account of how we arrived at this moment, and the urgent choices we must now make to survive – and to thrive.

From the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement

From prehistoric cave paintings to the prints and etchings of Picasso, owls have captivated and inspired us for millennia. Whether they appear as ancient Athenian symbols of wisdom, ghostly harbingers of death, or the cuddly sidekicks of Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh, these birds have continued to fascinate and disturb us in equal measure. Through revelatory new behavioural research, Jennife

Good Nature is a groundbreaking exploration that reveals how, if we bring nature more into our lives, it can help improve our health and well-being in so many unexpected ways. Oxford professor Kathy Willis has spent her career researching fossilised plants and plant matter - but when she stumbled across a study that showed that patients recovering from surgery improved faster jus