Rise of the Zombie Bugs takes readers on a jaw-dropping tour of the parasite world

Parasites do creatively gruesome things to their host.

Alex Dittrich, Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Nottingham Trent University • conversation
May 29, 2025 ~6 min

Travelling to my ancestral home in China unearthed tragedy tinged by the climate crisis – it inspired me to write Red Pockets

In Chinese folk religious beliefs, neglected ancestors become hungry ghosts, unleashing misfortune and environmental destruction.

Alice Mah, Professor in Urban and Environmental Studies, University of Glasgow • conversation
April 28, 2025 ~5 min


The Living Mountain: why a second world war meditation on nature’s fragility and wonder is still relevant today

Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is a meditation on the Cairngorms. Decades on, its quiet wisdom remains urgent, reminding us how to truly see nature.

Sam Illingworth, Professor of Creative Pedagogies, Edinburgh Napier University • conversation
March 17, 2025 ~5 min

The five best non-fiction books of 2024 – according to our experts

From politics to environment, here are five books published in 2024 for all sorts of readers

Olaya Moldes Andrés, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Cardiff University • conversation
Dec. 18, 2024 ~8 min

People who are good at reading have different brains

Reading can change the brain.

Mikael Roll, Professor of Phonetics, Lund University • conversation
Dec. 9, 2024 ~6 min

Five speculative novels that can help to understand our relationship with soil

By looking at how it is represented in works of fiction, we can try to understand how we relate to soil. And through soil, how we relate to the environment more broadly.

Meg Meredith, PhD Candidate, School of English, University of Sheffield • conversation
Dec. 2, 2024 ~6 min

Bestselling comic, World Without End, rips the fossil fuel economy apart – and controversially embraces nuclear power

World Without End is a hugely impressive feat, unfolding as a dialogue between its creators.

Jo Lindsay Walton, Senior Research Fellow in Arts, Climate and Technology, University of Sussex • conversation
Nov. 21, 2024 ~7 min

An 83-year-old short story by Borges portends a bleak future for the internet

Borges imagined an endless library that contained every possible permutation of letters. The truth is out there, but it’s embedded among hoards of lies and gibberish.

Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis • conversation
Nov. 19, 2024 ~7 min


The Serviceberry: this Indigenous understanding of nature can help us rethink economics

Robin Wall Kimmerer envisions an economy of gratitude and reciprocity with nature, using the serviceberry tree as a key witness.

Sam Illingworth, Professor of Creative Pedagogies, Edinburgh Napier University • conversation
Nov. 18, 2024 ~6 min

Orbital by Samantha Harvey win’s the 2024 Booker prize – a short but powerful story urging us to save the planet

A slim but searing novel about an international group of people living on the International Space Station.

Debra Benita Shaw, Debra Benita Shaw is Reader in Cultural Theory in the School of Architecture and Visual Arts, University of East London • conversation
Nov. 13, 2024 ~7 min

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