A talent for murder: Agatha Christie is one of the world’s bestselling writers Shutterstock/Doodeez V Is for VenomKathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury Sigma) Agatha Christie’s five-decade writing career saw her poison dozens of her characters, supplying the killers in her stories with an assortment of deadly chemicals, including poisons and venoms produced by living organisms and delivered via…
Hotter Nights, Brought on by Climate Change, Pose More Health Threats When nights stay hot, more people die, many from cardiovascular problems. But there are simple methods you can use to stay cooler and healthier By Lydia Denworth edited by Josh Fischman This article was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently…
What are you doing later: roaming through Van Gogh’s landscapes, time-travelling to ancient Egypt or maybe catching a posthumous gig from a musical hero? These are the kinds of “immersive” experiences we are increasingly flooded with, spanning dizzying possibilities that each promise to place us at the centre of their story. The immersive entertainment market…
Hunting hints An ancient ambush of wild horses at a German archaeological site called Schöningen around 300,000 years ago suggests that communal hunting, along with complex social and mental skills, evolved much earlier in human history than thought, behavioral sciences writer Bruce Bower reported in “Smart hunters.” Bower also noted that Neandertal ancestors in what’s…
Black holes are invisible, yet they are among the brightest things in the universe. If a star wanders too close to a black hole, it gets torn apart in a fireworks show called a tidal disruption event. As the star approaches, it gets twisted and pulled, and about half of it ends up flung outward….
Was the UK’s iconic Sycamore Gap tree felled in an act of revenge? VAUGHAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Science of RevengeJames Kimmel Jr. (Harmony Books) Few people may readily own up to thirsting for revenge – yet it is undeniable that some of us do. From US President Donald Trump’s fixation on score-settling to the “cancel culture” of…
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses which should scare you more: sharks or ticks and fungus — and why sharks might actually be the least of your worries.
In New York State’s Hudson Valley, Lilly Marsh weaves scarves, shawls, and other apparel out of fibers sourced from the Northeast. The items are beautiful and informed by historical techniques—for her Ph.D., Marsh studied contemporary North American hand knitting—but her interest in producing woven goods goes far beyond the final product. In 2017 Marsh co-founded…
A Mexican redknee tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) Shutterstock/Milan Zygmunt When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my biology-professor dad brought me a present home from work: a jar of sticks. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. When some of them started moving he explained that they were stick insects. I kept…
July/August 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago Toxic cigars; dueling with a swordfish By Mark Fischetti 1975, Particle Annihilation: “A positron propagates as a wave toward an electron in the bulk of a crystal (left). When the two particles annihilate each other, the resulting gamma rays carry away the momentum of…
