Humans

New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss

Humans

31 August 2022

Ast Freelancer/Alamy
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The Science of Middle Earth is a live talk, based on the eponymous book, that explores the role of science in the writing of J. R. R. Tolkien. Take an unexpected journey to the Royal Institution in London at 7pm BST on 8 September.

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Sweet in Tooth and Claw is a new attempt to rebalance our view of evolution. Author Kristin Ohlson argues that, despite appearances, cooperation plays as big a role in survival and adaptation as competition. On sale from 8 September.

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Seasons of Storm and Wonder by nature writer … More

Giving a TED talk wasn’t easy, but I wanted to make sure my audience came away with a better understanding of dark matter, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Humans

| Columnist

31 August 2022

By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein speaks at SESSION 5 at TED2022Gilberto Tadday/TED
TED talks are increasingly ubiquitous in pop culture. TED’s motto is “ideas worth spreading” and it has become famous for accessible, pristinely produced 10 to 15-minute presentations on big ideas.
Of course, this makes them a prime target for satire. Sometimes this will take the form of a short, tweeted statement, such as “Black cats are the best cats!”, followed by the note: “Thank you for coming to my TED talk!” I have definitely been an active participant in this satirical TED talk … More

Gaia Vince’s new book, Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval, argues that mass migration caused by Earth’s climate crisis could be turned into a plus. Could her plan work?

Humans

31 August 2022

By James McConnachie
Megacities in the near future could be built on vast swathes of Russia, Canada and ScandinaviaAndriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images
Nomad CenturyGaia Vince (Allen Lane)
GAIA VINCE is something of a star in climate science writing. Her debut, Adventures in the Anthropocene, was a compelling blend of climate science reporting and travelogue. Transcendence, her second book, sought to explain human evolution in ambitious “big history” terms – think Yuval Noah Harari meets Matt Ridley.
Her latest, Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval, offers more big history, though it tackles the future. Vince … More

Five people in recovery from psychosis guide artist Marcus Coates as he recreates aspects of their experience in this series of disorienting and sometimes very frightening short films, finds Simon Ings

Humans

31 August 2022

By Simon Ings
Recreating experiences of psychosis leads Marcus Coates to dark placesArtangel/Marcus Coates
The Directors
Five short films by Marcus Coates
At venues in London from 4 September to 30 October
IN A flat in a social housing block in London’s Pimlico, artist Marcus Coates is being variously nudged, bullied and shocked out of his sense of what is real.
Controlling the process is Lucy Dempster, a teenager in recovery from psychosis. In his ear, Coates hears Dempster prompt him in how to behave, when to sit, what to touch and what to think … More

Matthew Cobb’s latest book is a disturbing history of genetic engineering, which asks whether it is worth the money – or the risk

Humans

24 August 2022

By Michael Marshall
Gene editing, exemplified by CRISPR technology, has elicited both hopes and fearsELLA MARU STUDIO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
The Genetic Age
Matthew Cobb
Profile Books
FOR more than 50 years, biologists have been genetically engineering organisms in increasingly precise ways. From the early, crude methods of the 1960s and 1970s, to the modern “gene editing” exemplified by CRISPR technology, genetic engineering has elicited great hopes and terrifying fears.
In his disturbing and readable new book The Genetic Age: Our perilous quest to edit life, biologist and science historian Matthew Cobb tells the story of this field. … More

The idea of plant consciousness may be wild, but finding objective ways to probe their inner lives could bring benefits to us all

Humans

| Leader

24 August 2022

HelloRF Zcool/Shutterstock
TAKE a look at that plant sitting on the windowsill or tree in the local park. What might it be feeling? Could it be thinking? Experiments are probing the idea of plant cognition, even going so far as to suggest they possess some form of consciousness.
As wild as it sounds, it isn’t a new idea. The field of “plant neurobiology” began in 2006, aimed at understanding how plants process information from their environment.
It is now clear that plants are capable of complex communication and can intricately sense their surroundings, ideas that were originally dismissed. But proponents of plant … More

Nearly forty years of letters between the two scientists who co-developed the paradigm-changing Gaia hypothesis make for fascinating, humanising reading

Humans

24 August 2022

By Adam Vaughan
James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis corresponded for nearly 40 years.Tim Cuff/Alamy
Writing Gaia
Edited by Bruce Clarke and Sébastien Dutreuil
Cambridge University Press
HERE’S something for the archive: “The New Scientist one seems to have stirred up some interest including an amazing number of crank letters of a gentle and non-aggressive kind,” wrote the late independent scientist and polymath James Lovelock, in a letter to biologist Lynn Margulis.
The “cranks” were responding to an article in this magazine, dated 6 February 1975. In it, Lovelock presented the idea and world view of Earth as a self-regulating system, the Gaia hypothesis, to a wider … More

Green roofs have existed for more than 2000 years, but, along with living walls, they are becoming more popular – and provide major eco-benefits, writes Beronda L. Montgomery

Humans

| Columnist

24 August 2022

By Beronda L. Montgomery
JSMimages/Alamy
SOME of my favourite writing spaces of late have had a living wall – a vertical garden of plants – or a bountiful green roof. There is something very soothing to me about being in a space with a visible, robust community of plants.
Green roofs aren’t new: they have been reported to exist as early as 500 BC, in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But they appear to have become more common recently, or at least my noticing of them has become more frequent. I have seen them at hotels, restaurants and my current and former workspaces.
Living walls and green … More