Top stories

top stories

Ben Chu Why the illusory over-confidence of politicians is such a curse

In 1995 a 44-year-old man called McArthur Wheeler set out to rob two banks in Pittsburgh. In preparation for the crime he smeared his face with lemon juice. Wheeler’s bizarre logic was that since lemon juice can be used as a kind of invisible ink on paper, the liquid would also render his face invisible to the banks’ security cameras.

Black-on-black crime, black-on-black punishment in America

The US locks up more people than any other country on the planet, and a vastly disproportionate number of its prisoners are black. Less commonly discussed is that so too are many of the officials who jailed them. Andy Martin meets James Forman, author of a revealing new book on the subject

American Gods is more relevant than ever

For years, directors have been begging Neil Gaiman to adapt ‘American Gods’ for the screen. With the meteoric rise of long-form TV, this mystical tale has finally found a medium where it can visually thrive

Why we need to start listening to insects

To fight malaria, researchers are reviving a field of study grounded in both music and biology: wingbeat frequency. Daniel A Gross traces the story from Finland to Tanzania, and looks at where this collision of disciplines could lead

How jaw-dropping architecture breathes new life into tired cities

From the Guggenheim in Bilbao to the Angel of the North to Zaha Hadid’s Glasgow Riverside Museum, jaw-dropping architecture and public art has almost magical powers of rejuvenation in run-down urban areas. But does it encourage gentrification and crowd out local artists?

Developing stories

Into the Water, review

There’s no doubt that Into the Water will sell a lot of copies. Like Paula Hawkins’ 2015 hit The Girl On the Train, this, her second thriller, is one that will appear on those “beach reads” round-ups and stick around on bestseller stands at airports for months to come. Then, just when even your friend who “doesn’t do books” has read it, the film will come out ­– the rights have already been sold – and it will start again, this time with a Hollywood A-Lister on the cover. But is it any good? Well, I won’t deny that I was semi-gripped. Not quite still-reading-it-on-the-Tube-escalator gripped, but sufficiently so that I eschewed company at lunchtime for a few days to finish it.