This month, we take a peek behind the curtain with Gemma Milne’s Smoke & Mirrors. In her first book, the technology journalist looks at headline-grabbing science present and past – from cancer treatments to fusion energy and quantum computers. Will the book deliver on its promise to be a guide on how to recognise hype and how to cut through it?  Find out what we thought about the book, and hear from Milne herself as she talks about the human experience of hype – and how it can be used as...

This time we're reading Ingredients, a book that promises to make chemistry more fun than Hogwarts. First-time author George Zaidan investigates the stuff inside stuff and tries to answer the question of whether you should eat that cheeto or not. 

Why don't we think of coffee as a drug? Are you hooked on heroin the moment you take it...or is the answer more complicated? In Say Why to Drugs: Everything You Need to Know About the Drugs We Take and Why We Get High Suzi Gage looks at the misconceptions, theories and attitudes surrounding all kinds of drugs – and attempts to separate fact from fiction.

Will artificial intelligence take over the world? Just how clever are machines, really? Janelle Shane's new book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You, looks at all this and more. You may not look at your gadgets the same way again!

This month, we’re delving deep into chemistry’s history as we discuss Peter Wothers' book Antimony, Gold, and Jupiter’s Wolf: How the Elements Were Named. Some chemists may know Wothers’ writing in the form of chemistry textbooks, but this is his first popular science book. As Wothers unearths the stories behind the elements’ names, he also explores our understanding of the nature of matter itself.

In her new book Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time Gaia Vince assembles everything you need to know about the world and how human beings have come to rule over so many aspects of it.

This month, we’re delving into the science of language as we’re discussing linguist David Adger’s book Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power. Adger takes on one of the most debated questions in the linguistics community: Do humans come up with languages because they are very good at recognising patterns and remembering things? Or do human brains have a built-in ability for the types of languages we speak (or sign)?

Have you ever considered the practicalities of building a swimming pool out of cheese? Or wondered what it would take to surround your house with a lava moat? Even if you have never thought about these outlandish questions, Randall Munroe has the answers in his new book How to: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems.

The Chemical Detective takes in both Slovenia and Chernobyl with an audacious, female-led thriller story that puts chemistry firmly in center focus.

In Superior: The Return of Race Science, Angela Saini examines the history of race science and the people who devote their academic lives to studying it. 

This time in our Book Club podcast, we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Primo Levi, the man behind The Periodic Table. In this collection of short stories, the Italian author of If this is a man and If not now, when? offers a startling insight into both fascist Italy, and the harrowing events of the second world war. Filtered through the unique perspective of Levi – a man held back by his Jewish heritage, but saved on many occasions by his expert understanding of chemical processes –...

For this month’s Book Club podcast, it’s a highly unusual review scenario, as we get to grips with Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table, written by none other than Kit Chapman (yes, the very same Kit Chapman who was, up until recently, Chemistry World’s cosplay loving Comment editor).  We were in the privileged position to hear about Kit’s book from almost the moment he decided to write it. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, was a task which required him to travel around the globe...

This time in Book Club, we follow sustainability journalist Tim Smedley as he pursues one of humankind’s greatest challenges and looks at the dangers posed by air pollution. Intrigued by some casual facts and figures he’d stumbled across in a newspaper, Smedley investigated further, then decided to travel around the world to look at the factors affecting air quality in major cities – and what can realistically be done about it.

In this month’s book club podcast, Anthony Warner – ‘The Angry Chef’ behind the popular blog of the same name that then spawned a book – tackles the enormous problem of obesity and how our perception about it may be the key to minimising the problem. A veteran of the food industry, Warner introduces us to some intriguing and thought-provoking ideas about where obesity comes from and its causes – and suggests where the real, hidden issues lie.

In this month’s podcast, Australian author Matt Parker looks at the unique relationship that exists between human beings and numbers, and how it inevitably leads to mistakes large and small. 

This month's podcast features Inventing Ourselves by cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. The book explores the complex changes that take place in the human brain during adolescence and typical teenage behaviours such as risk-taking, impulsivity and self-consciousness.

This time, we discuss and scrutinise Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome, by Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan. By the time Venki had earned a PhD in physics from Ohio University in the US, he had already made the unusual decision to change direction and focus full-force on uncovering the secrets of the ribosome, which eventually led to him co-winning the Nobel prize in 2009.

This month’s podcast features I’m a Joke and So Are You, in which comedian Robin Ince examines what makes us human by reflecting on his own experiences and through conversations with other comedians. Ince also talks to leading neuroscientists and psychologists to learn more about phenomena such as creativity, anxiety and imposter syndrome.

How Brian Keating lost the Nobel Prize, the fallout that ensued, and a history of cosmology.

This month’s podcast features material scientist Mark Miodownik’s latest book Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives. Fascinated by what defines a liquid and the mechanisms behind their working, the author uses his experiences on board an every-day commercial flight as the backdrop for his writings, describing every liquid he encounters along the way, showing how there is magic in everything from aviation fuel to orange juice.

For this month’s podcast, we take a slight diversion from our usual non-fiction theme, and take a look at Jennifer Rohn’s lab-lit novel Cat Zero. Being a scientist as well as a writer, Rohn finds herself in a unique position, enabling her to combine the drama of a traditional thriller with hard science details that most books either ignore or get wrong.

Emma Stoye presents this month’s podcast about immunology professor Daniel Davis’s latest book – The Beautiful Cure. The book explores the history of immunology, along with insights from the author’s career and findings from his recent research. As a leader in the field of immunology, Davis breaks down the various factors that can affect the human immune system, explains how complex a thing it is, and goes on to explore how sensitive it is to things like sleep, stress, age and even our...

In this month’s podcast presented by Emma Stoye, Helen Thomson reveals fascinating insights about some of the rarest neurological conditions known to science.

Join Emma Stoye at the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. She speaks to New Scientist's Rowan Hooper about his book Superhuman, finds out from Phillip Ball why quantum physics is Beyond Weird, and discusses the genesis of a new book with Gabrielle Walker. Plus, an in-depth chat about the very nature of the universe with Peter Atkins, whose textbook Physical Chemistry has graced the shelves of chemistry students since the 1970s.

For this month’s podcast, we explore the world of anti-GM campaigning which Mark Lynas was a part of for years, and discover what it was that made him turn his back on his extreme views. The book looks at how and why he decided to help scientists on the other side of the divide, and explores the work he has done to help farmers in developing countries.