How poetry can light up our darker moments
In this fast-moving technological world, lines of poetry can help people with mental illness
David Lowenthal obituary
Scholar who established heritage studies as an academic discipline in its own right
The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen review – Earth under threat
Are we heading for a sixth mass extinction? This is a journey into the past to evaluate our future
Not the Booker: Three Dreams in the Key of G by Marc Nash review – curiously impressive
This fiendishly complicated story is made even tougher by its tricksy prose, but it’s not hard to admire its daring
The forensic pathologist who got PTSD: ‘Cutting up 23,000 dead bodies is not normal’
Richard Shepherd’s career saw him work on some of the most high-profile cases of the past 30 years, such as Harold Shipman and Stephen Lawrence. But it came at a terrible personal cost, he says
The human league: what separates us from other animals?
From masturbating dolphins to chimps using tools, animals often display behaviours that we’d consider human. So what makes us unique?
Sex, drugs and social media – Hooked review
Science Gallery, LondonSugar, shopping, cash, drugs, booze and smartphones … this great show details how artists have responded – and succumbed – to addictive vices down the ages
Mind power in Auschwitz – and healing decades later
Her mother’s wisdom helped Edith Eger create a happy inner life in Auschwitz – but true healing meant going back there
Is the future female? Fixing sci-fi’s women problem
When sci-fi fan Molly Flatt was asked to write a story about women in the future, she re-examined her relationship with the male-dominated genre – and why she remained immune to ‘the Scully effect’
How walking – and then a pilgrimage – lifted Guy Stagg’s depression
A 60-mile trek brought deep calm. So the author headed for Jerusalem, 5,500 kms away
The Observer’s ultimate guide to autumn culture
A musical Twelfth Night, Michelle Obama’s memoirs and the last ever gig by Ennio Morricone: our critics preview the new season
I was scared of losing my sight… then writing brought me clarity
After being told disease would destroy her vision, Paola Peretti wrote a children’s novel – and found a template for life
The Consolations of Physics: Why the Wonders of the Universe Can Make You Happy by Tim Radford – review
From the Voyager mission to detecting the merging of black holes over a billion years ago, an argument for the pleasures of theoretical thinking
Carl Zimmer: ‘We shouldn’t look to our genes for a quick way to make life better’
The science writer and Harvard professor on intelligence, the promise and dangers of gene editing, and how we get heredity wrong
The book that fights sexism with science
With Inferior, Angela Saini counters long-held beliefs that biology stands in the way of parity between the sexes. Now her message is set to reach thousands of schools