Darya Afanasyeva remembers sitting at a sewing machine, in the factory of a penal colony in south-eastern Belarus. In front of her was a round cushion, which she had studded with three pins: two white ...

It was a similar story with plant life: crops selected for greater production (wheat and barley were two of the first) were often in proximity to their wild relatives and exchanged genes. This entry ...

Although he has on occasion crossed the line to become a parody of himself – in Asteroid City, twee charm is not quite enough to suspend disbelief about a vending machine selling real estate. But I ...

As Reform UK top the polls, Labour moves right and Tommy Robinson leads huge nationalist marches, it is easy to despair. But that is exactly what the people funding the far-right hope for: that decent ...

Historian Jonathan Israel's magisterial three-volume history of the 'Radical Enlightenment' is the intellectual version of a JCB, ripping up the terrain around him. Kenan Malik follows him down the ...

This piece accompanies Marcus Chown's feature on the discovery of cosmic background radiation, from the Spring 2015 edition of New Humanist. Perhaps the most famous accidental discovery of all is ...

Robert Prevost's election as Pope brought hope to reformers. But will he push for peace and resist ultra-conservative influence? Pope Leo XIV visits the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

In an era defined by “fake news”, public trust in institutions is increasingly under threat, along with our ability to discern fact from fiction. In the UK, 94 per cent of people say they have ...

It is one of the most notorious moments in cinema – the Duke of Salò, inflamed by the tears one of the slaves is shedding for the death of her mother, squats down to defecate. The act is initially ...

For many generations in societies shaped by Christianity, monogamy has been the almost undisputed champion of relationship norms. In Britain and the US, it has been held up as the dominant – really ...

This article is a preview from the Winter 2017 edition of New Humanist. How many of us haven’t in some idle moment imagined what the world might be like if it had always been run by women? Not that ...

Twenty years ago, John P. A. Ioannidis published an essay with the eye-catching title “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False”. It has since been accessed millions of times and accumulated ...