More Intelligent Life

THE GENOME GADGET

The Music of Science: Oliver Morton reckons Alan Turing would love this: a gadget the size of a matchbox which can read a genome sequence...

MORE THAN A BIG MERINGUE

Stove Notes: Simon Hopkinson explains that Pavlova, a pudding that's fit for a star, requires a magic transformation...

BED AND ABOARD

Quarter Finalists: Claire Wrathall straddles land and sea in five hotels that operate their own boats...

From a first visit to the Little Theatre, Bolton, to the role of chief theatre critic on the Times and beyond, few people have seen as many plays as Irving Wardle. In this memoir, he distils what he has learnt...

FUENTES ON TIME AND SPACE

The great Mexican novelist and essayist Carlos Fuentes has died aged 83. Two years ago, he wrote this piece for our series Authors on Museums. “Museums, like lovers," he said, "can lose their charms”, but when he returned to an old haunt in Xalapa, Mexico, he found he was smitten all over again... read more »
THE SHAPES WE'RE IN

Are you a leggy Edwardian? Or a nip-waisted New Look? With help from four actresses, Isabel Lloyd matches bodies to decades... read more »
RESCUING "ALIEN"

This Season: Nicholas Barber selects "Prometheus", Ridley Scott's bid to save the "Alien" franchise from its sequels... read more »
MAN OF MANY PARTS

Notes on a Voice: this year marks Charles Dickens's 200th anniversary. Emma Hogan tunes into a mind teeming with other people's thoughts... read more »
SOUND AND REVISION

Mood Music: With the exam season approaching, Matthew Sweet picks tunes to go with hard work—or blind panic... read more »
WHERE THE WIND HOWLS

A Walk on the Wild Side: in a new series, Robert Macfarlane, acclaimed author of “The Wild Places”, walks the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, formed 60m years ago... read more »
DON'T MENTION SKIN COLOUR

It's been the most exciting English Premiership season for years, but the game has been marred by two racial incidents. Patrick Barclay shows how football can move on... read more »