Thomas Lewton

Complex systems, be they living beings or fundamental particles, need to have enough structure to hang together along with unpredictability that can allow for change. Columnist Thomas Lewton explores whether this idea is simply a pattern seen across the cosmos or could be a “theory of everything”

By the time we’re born, our brains have all the hardware in place to form thoughts, and possibly even some conscious awareness

Bleaching has devastated reefs around the world, raising fears of an irreversible shift. Yet new interventions have revealed that corals can be remarkably resilient if we can give them enough help to recover

Jennie Durant's Bitter Honey is a great exposé of the true cost of industrially farming US honeybees, finds Thomas Lewton. But the book's grim figures of bee death alone may not prompt deep change – how about seeing them as fellow creatures?

Uta Frith has spent her career grappling with the neural underpinnings of autism, and now she wants to reassess the spectrum

Jennie Durant's Bitter Honey is a great exposé of the true cost of industrially farming US honeybees, finds Thomas Lewton. But the book's grim figures of bee death alone may not prompt deep change – how about seeing them as fellow creatures?

After a career spent grappling with the neural underpinnings of autism, Uta Frith is unwavering in her controversial call to scrap our current view of the condition and start again

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

In a shift that is reshaping entire ecosystems, the open oceans are letting less light in. We don't fully understand the consequences yet, but there is still hope, says oceanographer Tim Smyth

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week