51¶¯Âþ

2023 news review

Read 51¶¯Âþ’s selection of the biggest science and technology news stories of 2023

Environment

Read an extract from Alex Foster’s sci-fi novel Circular Motion

In this passage from the opening of Circular Motion, the latest read for the 51¶¯Âþ Book Club, our protagonist boards a vessel which can circle the world in a matter of hours – with dangerous consequences for the Earth’s rotation

Culture

In The End of the World As We Know It, other writers are telling stories set in the post-apocalyptic world of Stephen King's The Stand

Comment

The best new science fiction books of August 2025

Culture

Chemistry

Extra-hard hexagonal diamonds can now be grown in a lab

51¶¯Âþ

2JD8W56 ALICIA VIKANDER, EX MACHINA, 2014,

Comment

Fictional female robots have a long history, and it's often quite dark

Culture

2JHN167 HUGH JACKMAN, THE PRESTIGE, 2006

Comment

The Prestige is just as clever and thrilling 30 years on

Culture

The greatest robot of all time? The cooker on the moon, from A Grand Day Out

Comment

The 25 best fictional robots – according to 51¶¯Âþ

Culture

TOPSHOT - A prong extending from the CIRA-03 remote-controlled robot prototype approaches the mouth of a volunteer to extract a throat swab sample, as part of a self-funded project to assist physicians in running tests on suspected COVID-19 coronavirus patients in a bid to limit human exposure to disease-carriers, at a private hospital in Egypt's Nile delta city of Tanta, on March 20, 2021. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Technology

Can amazing tech reboot healthcare? A new book explores the future

Culture

JG9R47 Emoticons

Technology

New book is an illuminating but flawed look at the impact of emoji

Culture

Environment

Built-in fire extinguishers can prevent battery explosions

51¶¯Âþ

2001: A Space Odyssey still

Video

Which sci-fi movies predicted the future accurately?

Astronomer Ed Bloomer examines how well science fiction films have predicted futures that, by now, are already part of our past

Video

Comment

Foundation's new season has dramatic potential – but sadly falls flat

Culture

Humans

Provocative new book says we must persuade people to have more babies

Culture

Comment

The best science fiction books of 2025 so far

Culture

Comment

The best popular science books of 2025 so far

Culture

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