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Author Silvia Park: 'No one is your enemy, not even death'

Silvia Park, author of the May read for the 91av Book Club, 'Luminous' on emotional artificial intelligence, our inevitable love for robots and coping with grief.

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A honey bee flies with pollen balls stored in pollen baskets (corbiculae) on its hind legs. (Photo credit: Jennie Durant) Bitter Honey by Jenny Durant

Environment

91av recommends a devastating account of farming honeybees

Culture

The early moments of the nuclear blast on 16 July 1945

Physics

Photos reveal unexpected details from the world's first atomic test

Regulars

Intoxicating and astonishing: Why 'The Selfish Gene' almost never was

Life

Intoxicating and astonishing: Why 'The Selfish Gene' almost never was

Features

Oliver Sacks and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat

Comment

After news about Oliver Sacks's "lies", we revisit his best-loved book

Culture

Lascaux Cave is a Palaeolithic cave situated in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac in the Dordogne region, which houses some of the most famous examples of prehistoric cave paintings. Close to 600 paintings ??? mostly of animals - dot the interior walls of the cave in impressive compositions. Horses are the most numerous, but deer, aurochs, ibex, bison, and even some felines can also be found. Besides these paintings, which represent most of the major images, there are also around 1400 engravings of a similar order. The art, dated to c. 17,000 ??? c. 15,000 BCE, falls within the Upper Palaeolithic period and was created by the clearly skilled hands of humans living in the area at that time. The region seems to be a hotspot; many beautifully decorated caves have been discovered there. The exact meaning of the paintings at Lascaux or any of the other sites is still subject to discussion, but the prevailing view attaches a ritualistic or even spiritual component to them, hinting at the sophistication of their creators. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, along with other prehistoric sites in its proximity. Valley, France.

Life

91av recommends a smart new account of human exceptionalism

Culture

Suzanne Simard + Rowan Hooper

Environment

Suzanne Simard on the wood wide web, connectedness – and Avatar

Culture

The best new popular science books of May 2026

Comment

The best new popular science books of May 2026

Culture

Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass is still an essential read

Environment

Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass is still an essential read

Culture

A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began

Humans

A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began

A long-overlooked writing system from 5000 years ago is still largely undeciphered, but could mark the moment humans first represented their speech with written words

Features

Comment

Why I explore our inevitable love for robots in my novel Luminous

Culture

Technology

Read an extract from Luminous by Silvia Park

Culture

Comment

The best new science fiction books of May 2026

Culture

Mind

What to read this week: The 21st Century Brain by Hannah Critchlow

Culture