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Modern computers are a triumph of technology. A single computer chip contains billions of nanometre-scaled transistors that operate extremely reliably and at a rate of millions of operations per second.

Every year in the highlands of Ethiopia, when the rain returns after a parched dry season, a dazzling sight unfolds. Vast fields of a plant known as the Ethiopian red hot poker revive from their crinkled, withered state, and bloom into fiery torch-like flowers. From June to November, these bright…

A physicist, a chemist and a mathematician walk into a bar. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but in my case, it was the start of an idea that could reshape how scientists think about the history of the Moon.

The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, while a stark reflection of frustration with the American health insurance industry, also highlights a longstanding and contradictory cultural fascination in the United States with street justice and punitive criminal justice.

The act of handing over hard-earned cash has long been associated with pain. And historically, research has also found that consumers tended to spend less using cash rather than a payment card.

400,000 years ago, early humans in Europe, Asia and Africa lived alongside giant straight-tusked elephants, far bigger than their modern-day cousins. Their evolution has long been a mystery to palaeontologists, but an extraordinary, enormous and near-complete skull is helping us uncover an obscure episode in the evolutionary history of these…

Israel recently closed its embassy in Ireland, blaming its decision on Ireland’s allegedly “extreme anti-Israel policies”. This followed the Irish government announcement that it would formally intervene in the South African case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which South Africa alleges that Israel is engaged in genocide…

Forbidden Territories: 100 years of Surreal Landscapes, a new exhibition showing at The Hepworth Wakefield, is a bold and engaging exploration of the important, if unwieldy, body of work that comes under the category of surrealism.

With Something Good, the arts and culture newsletter from The Conversation UK, we aim to cut through the noise and recommend the very best in new releases every fortnight. In 2024, we’ve been spoiled for choice when it comes to recommending non-fiction.