Mathematics
The young Descartes: I fought, therefore I thought
Descartes is most generally known these days for being the guy who was sure he existed because he was thinking.…
There are things we don’t mind paying for – and things we do
Here’s a challenge for film buffs: can anyone remember, from the entire canon of cinema and television, a single scene…
Physicists have stranger ideas than the most preposterous Old Testament preacher
The beliefs of physicists are infinitely kookier than anything in the Bible, says Alexander Masters
Is truth really beauty after all?
Mediterranean crockery has a lot to answer for. It famously spoke thus to John Keats: ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,…
Letters: The problem is not trade unions, but their leaders
Unions led astray Sir: Leo McKinstry’s article on the current problems in the trade unions (‘Counter-strike’, 11 July) brings back…
Charles Moore’s Notes: Why the Greek No is a great moment for socialism
Even if everything goes wronger still, the Greek No vote is a great victory for the left. Until now, the…
Making physics history
The European philosophical tradition, Alfred North Whitehead claimed, consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. If you really want…
The mathematical revolution behind ‘the greatest picture in the world’
The Indian inspiration with which Piero della Francesca created ‘the greatest picture in the world’
What the O.J. Simpson jury didn’t know (and schools should teach)
During the O.J. Simpson trial, the prosecution made much of the fact that Simpson had a record of violence towards…