Books & Arts in 2016

Ananyo Bhattacharya looks back at a science-fiction touchstone on the ethics of experimental biology.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

For many, plastic is a dirty word — a pollutant that can't degrade soon enough. But for polymer scientist Brenda Keneghan, it's a precious material that looms large in design history. A conservator at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, Keneghan spends her days saving plastic items from furniture to toys from the ravages of time. Here she talks about the war against the warping, yellowing, crumbling and stickiness that plague polymers.

Steven Aftergood weighs up a study that gauges the gap between oversight and the onward rush of innovation.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Adrian Woolfson examines four books on the microbiological universe that churns within us.

Jonathan Portes parses Joseph Stiglitz's analysis of the euro in the context of the global financial crisis.

Josie Glausiusz relishes Alison Gopnik's study on how child-rearing demands the embrace of messy realities.

Andrea Janku enjoys a study of the nation-building role of China's great rivers, the Yellow and the Yangtze.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Richard Holmes ponders the discoveries that inspired the young Mary Shelley to write her classic, 200 years ago.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

John Harris probes a study on the science and ethics of genome editing.

W. Bernard Carlson hails a life of driven communications pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.

Ethan Carr traces the arc of influence in landscape creation and preservation from 'Capability' Brown to Frederick Law Olmsted and the US National Park Service.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Colin Macilwain talks to the curators of the National Museum of Scotland on the eve of a grand expansion.

Ann Finkbeiner examines a study that probes how drones have 'remixed' warfare.

Diane Coyle savours a history of the long-standing economic measure and possible alternatives.

Graham Farmelo ponders Malcolm Longair's study of the Cavendish, a physics laboratory with few rivals.