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

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

Nope might adopt the flying saucer cliché, but this beautifully shot spectacle from director Jordan Peele breathes new life into the sci-fi horror genre

Humans

24 August 2022

By Chen Ly
L to R: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Brandon Perea in NOPE, written, produced, and directed by Jordan Peele.Universal Pictures
Nope
Jordan Peele
On general release
SOMETHING strange is lurking in the clouds above a dusty, unassuming valley deep in southern California. On a horse ranch, taciturn Otis “OJ” Haywood Jr and his sister, the somewhat livelier Emerald, are struggling to save their business, Haywood’s Hollywood Horses, which supplies horses for film and television. Six months earlier, their father, who founded the business, was killed when a nickel mysteriously fell out of … More

Taken from Anna EscardÓ’s book Science Illustration: A history of visual knowledge from the 15th century to today, these images range from Galileo’s watercolours to a sketch from Einstein’s notebook

Humans

24 August 2022

By Gege Li
TASCHEN
THESE seminal scientific images, taken from the new book Science Illustration: A history of visual knowledge from the 15th century to today by Anna EscardÓ (published by Taschen), are more than just a treat for the eyes.
The lateral view of the human brain, shown above, is taken from French physician and anatomist Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery’s Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery. First published in 1831, this textbook is known as the most comprehensive ever produced on human anatomy.Advertisement
By courtesy of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBACT), Central National Library of Florence, Ban of Reproduction; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; By courtesy of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBACT), Central National Library of Florence, Ban of Reproduction
The three images above show, from left to right: nerve synapses called the calyces of Held, drawn in 1934 by Santiago RamÓn y Cajal, whose neuron doctrine showed that the nervous system isn’t continuous, but is made from discrete cells; Albert Einstein’s 1905 sketch of a puzzle game from his relativity notebook; and watercolour illustrations of the moon by Galileo Galilei, based on observations made with a telescope he constructed in 1609 that was powerful enough to examine objects in the night sky.
NASA/T. Benesch, J. Carns
Shown above is NASA’s 2012 image of two “doughnuts” of charged particles, or plasma, surrounding Earth, an example of how computer graphics have created more precise and realistic depictions of invisible phenomena. These rings are called Van Allen radiation belts. NASA launched two probes in 2012 to better understand these regions and space weather more widely.
“Scientific illustrations allow the conveyance… of complex scientific concepts,” says EscardÓ. “Even today… it is still necessary to use illustration as a tool to capture images that can only be made through this medium.”

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Morfydd Clark (Galadriel)Amazon Studios
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The Rings of Power takes us back to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, where Morfydd Clark (above) plays a younger (but still ancient) Galadriel in Amazon’s bid to tell Sauron’s origin story. On Prime Video from 2am BST on 2 September.
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Taxi from Another Planet records the unlikely conversations between astrobiologist Charles Cockell and taxi drivers about aliens and space exploration. So is Mars our plan B? Will we understand aliens? And what if we are alone? On sale from 30 August.

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